ARAM, 15 (2003), 97-108 97

THE ROAD FROM TO THE SAYINGS OF THE : DESTINATION AND DESTINY

JOHN CHRYSSAVGIS

(I) INTRODUCTION

On account of its privileged situation – in terms of geography, climate, and history – the Gaza region was to prove a remarkable place of welcome and continuity for toward the end of the fourth century. Owing to its accessibility by sea and road, its proximity to Egypt and Syria as well as the , but also its prominence in Hellenistic and Roman times, Gaza would provide a critical haven for particular expressions offering fresh perspectives in the spiritual and intellectual tradition of the monastic phenomenon. A major commercial area from biblical times, this southern coastal region was always coveted territory throughout history. The Apostle Philip also evangelized the Ethiopian eunuch on the way to Gaza (Acts 8.26). Monasticism in this region, from the fourth to the sixth centuries, is revealed as a vast range of complex dimensions, encompassing religious, social, intel- lectual, cultural, political, and artistic aspects. “The monastic experience of Byzantine Palestine is amply documented in a substantial number of literary sources and in a wealth of archaeological evidence, growing year by year, largely thanks to the excellent work of Israeli scholars.”1 The Christian emperors, the numerous pilgrims, and the monastic develop- ments; the deserts, the rivers, and sand dunes; the roads, the letters, and the renowned produce of spices and wines: all of these were to play a critical role in the formation of this unique area. Travelers journey from Palestine to Egypt to visit the elders of the Egyptian desert. Even Letters 30-31 exchanged between and John of Beersheba recall a journey by boat made by the latter to Egypt. From as early as the mid-fourth century, some of the better-known pilgrims include and Rufinus, Palladius and Evagrius, as well as who later translated this tradition to the West. Toward the end of the same century, a movement began in the opposite direction, from

1 L. Perrone, “Monasticism as a Factor of Religious Interaction in the Holy Land during the Byzantine Period,” in A. Kofsky and G.G. Stroumsa, Sharing the Sacred: religious contacts and conflicts in the holy land. First-Fifteenth Centuries CE, Yad Izhak Ben Zvi: , 1998, p. 67. 98 THE ROAD FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE

Egypt to Palestine, as monastics fled the wilderness following the condemna- tion of Origenism by Theophilus of in 400. Three hundred , including the “tall brothers,” left Egypt definitively for Sinai, Jerusalem and the region around the Dead Sea, some of them even traveling as far as Asia Minor.

(II) PALESTINIAN MONASTICISM

Monastics in Palestine were well aware of their biblical roots, owing to the historical significance of the region in the Jewish and Christian scriptures. Barsanuphius is convinced that: God revealed the way of life through the prophets and the apostles.2

This was the land where the prophets wandered, the desert where prayed and fasted, the soil where the seeds of the were planted. They were also characterized by a keen memory of the martyrs and confessors, who made the ultimate ascetic sacrifice of their very lives, beginning in this same region with the death of Stephen the Protomartyr. Like other monastics before and after him, Barsanuphius would draw connections between the and the martyr: To renounce one’s proper will is a sacrifice of blood. It means that one has reached the point of laboring to death and of ignoring one’s own will.3

And, of course, monks in this region were abundantly familiar with the ascetic figures, monastic developments and particular practices that had pre- ceded them, admitting their indebtedness especially to the desert fathers and mothers of Egypt. One will frequently read in the Letters of Barsanuphius and John statements such as: we have also seen in the ancient Fathers such an example the Fathers have said this is the way of the Fathers let us speak those things which contribute to edification, from the Sayings of the Fathers4

Yet, Gaza had its own proper history of monasticism, the origins of which are recorded by Jerome and Epiphanius. (291-371) lived for almost twenty of the earlier years in this region. Born in Thavatha, some five miles south of Gaza, he was schooled in Alexandria, during which time he also met Anthony. On returning to his native region, he assumed a small cell near

2 Letter 605. Translation forthcoming by J. Chryssavgis (Cistarcian Publications). 3 Letter 254. 4 See Letters 60, 86, 212, and 469. The relationship between the Sayings and the Letters is discussed below. J. CHRYSSAVGIS 99 the port of Maiouma, whence he also received numerous visitors for counsel. He abandoned Palestine – in order to avoid the increasing number of visitors – around 356, the year of Anthony’s death, settling during the final years of his life in . Although not unhistorical in its basis, Jerome’s account of Hilarion’s life is romantic and even problematic in its detail. He may have received his information from Epiphanius, who seems to have been a pupil of Hilarion while living in his own near Eleftheropolis and before being ordained of Salamis in Cyprus (367). Jerome is apparently unaware of the pre-history of the region. tells how, at the end of the second century, a bishop, Narcissus, fled to the wilder- ness near Jerusalem in order to avoid calumny. And the anonymous sixth-cen- tury Life of Saint Chariton relates the story of a confessor of the faith during the reign of Aurelian (c.275), who later founded a monastery in the desert just north of Jerusalem. This monastery was to become famous in the next century, when Euthymius arrived there.5 Although it is difficult to reconstruct any his- torical details of Chariton’s activity, owing to the gap that separates his life from his biography, he is believed to have established monasticism in the Judaean wilderness. The historian was born in Bethelea near Gaza (c. 380) and, while writing in around 440, recalls the influence of monks such as Hilarion on the region generally but also the impact of monks such as Silvanus and his group on his family and on himself.6 Thavatha, of course, was to become familiar as the site of the monastery of Abba Seridos. The scenic section along the Mediterranean Sea, between Thavatha and Maiouma, quickly became a crossroad for those coming from north and south, searching for God “in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground” (Heb. 11.38). From 380 onwards, and especially from the turn of the fifth century, the desert dwellers of Egypt also directed their steps to the region near the Gaza region, known for its fertility and its solitude at once. The decid- ing factors for this massive monastic emigration seem to include, on the more personal and religious planes, the deaths of the two Macarii – of the Egyptian in 390, and of the Alexandrian in 393 – and, on the more political and social planes, the persecution of intellectualists and Origenists at the time. At some time between 380 and 400, Abba Silvanus, a Palestinian by birth and one of the renowned elders of the Egyptian desert, moved with his twelve disciples briefly to Sinai and, finally, to Palestine. In Scetis, the Abba lived with his dis- ciples in the semi-eremitic manner, with scattered cells around his own dwelling and a central church for worship on Saturday and Sunday. The same

5 See Chitty, The Desert a City, Oxford, 1966, pp. 14-15. 6 The Life of Hilarion may be found in PL 23: 29-54. It was translated into Greek by Sophro- nius, a contemporary of Jerome. See also Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica I, 12-13 PG 67: 896- 900 and V, 14-15 in Sources Chretiennes 306, Paris 1983, pp. 215-216. 100 THE ROAD FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE lifestyle was adopted near Gerara, where the group settled. Silvanus died before 414 and was succeeded by Zaccharias, his foremost . Another of his disciples, Zeno the Prophet, enjoyed a considerable role in the first half of the 5th century, largely as a result of his own disciple, , who became the non-Chalcedonian bishop of Maiouma. Another well-known monk and monastic author in this region was Abba of Scetis. A later emigrant from Egypt, Isaiah had spent many years in a monastery but also in the desert of Scetis. He moved to Palestine, fleeing fame, between 431 and 451. He first settled near Eleftheropolis, moving finally to Beit Daltha near Gaza, some four miles from Thawatha. There he stayed for several decades, serving for his contemporaries and visitors as a liv- ing example of the old Scetiote ascetic life, until his death in 489.7 It is not the last that we hear of these places. For Gaza and its environs will be indelibly marked by the presence of two remarkable elders in the next cen- tury, Barsanuphius and John, and by the products of their teaching, both their Letters: Questions and Answers as well as their disciples, especially Doro- theus. Indeed, the city of Thavatha is mentioned on the Madeba Map, a mosaic map from a church in Madeba (modern Jordan) dating from the latter part of Justinian’s era8 and therefore almost coinciding with the latter part of the lives of Barsanuphius, John, and Seridos.

(III) THE SAYINGS OF THE DESERT FATHERS: DESTINATION AND DESTINY

One of the fascinating puzzles confronting scholars of this period concerns the origin and development of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. How were the sayings recorded and where? However, more importantly and interest- ingly, just how were these sayings ultimately collected and published? Already the biography of Hilarion, written by Jerome around 390, endeavors to forge a connection between Hilarion and Anthony of Egypt. Hilarion, it seems spent several months in the circle of Anthony and his friends. This pos- sibly occurred during the time of Anthony’s first emergence from the desert around 304-305. It was Anthony who inspired Hilarion to return to Palestine where his parents had died, and to give away his inheritance, albeit at the ten- der age of just fifteen, in order to live a life based on that of Anthony. It appears that Egypt constituted a kind of model for those who aspired to a life of seclusion and silence:

7 More on Abba Isaiah in J. Chryssavgis and P.R. Penkett, Abba Isaiah of Scetis: Ascetic Dis- courses, Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo MI, 2002. 8 See C.A.M. Glucker, The City of Gaza in the Roman and Byzantine Periods, BAR Interna- tional Series 325, Oxford, 1987, pp. 18-20; and M. Avi-Yonah, The Madeba Mosaic Map, Jerusalem, 1954, pp. 16-18. J. CHRYSSAVGIS 101

An Egyptian brother came to see Abba Zeno in Syria, and accused himself to the old man about his temptations. Filled with admiration, Zeno said: “The Egyptians hide the virtues that they possess and ceaselessly accuse themselves of faults that they do not have. Whereas the Syrians and the Greeks pretend to have virtues that they do not have, and hide the faults of which they are guilty.”9

If Jerome is correct – for he is mostly a good story-teller – then Hilarion marks the beginning of a long and significant connection between the ways and words of the Egyptian elders and the rules and writings of their Palestin- ian successors. Therefore, both Epiphanius and Jerome brought back to Pales- tine a way of life that they clearly learned in Egypt. Another personality from this period, Porphyry, spent some five years in Scetis, returning in 377 to inhabit a cell in the valley of the Jordan and, later, to become bishop of Gaza (395-420). Indeed, the Sayings of the Desert Fathers include the names of other Palestinian monks, whether by origin or by adoption: Gelasius, Epipha- nius, Theodore of Eleftheropolis, Hilarion, Cassian, Phocas, and Philagrios. The connection, however, between the desert of Egypt and the dunes of Gaza becomes particularly noticeable when Abba Silvanus settles with his disciples in Gerara in the early fourth century. We have at our disposal twenty-six say- ings, in the alphabetical collection alone, from this group of monks. We know the names of four of Silvanus’ disciples: Zaccharias, Mark, Netras, and Zenon. Zaccharias was perhaps the first and closest of the disciples, who also succeeded Silvanus. “The old man loved Mark because of his obedience.” He is the one who heard his elder calling him and left the letter “omega” which he was writing incomplete; he was a copyist.10 Netras became bishop of Pharan in the Sinaite peninsula, while Zeno was among the youngest of the group.11 This small group was quite probably refined and cultivated. From the Say- ings attributed to them, we already know that they had a copyist among them, Zaccharias knew Hebrew, Netras was qualified to be ordained to the episco- pate, they liked to entertain visitors, and – at least in Sinai – tended to a gar- den. In addition, Mark’s mother was wealthy These may be among the reasons that they left Egypt in the first place during the first Origenist crisis. After a brief sojourn on Sinai, they moved to Palestine, near Gerara and the river that flowed in that area.12 The fifth Saying of Mark records Mark’s wish not to accompany the group to Palestine but to remain in Sinai, where he died.

9 Sayings, Zeno 3. 10 Sayings, Mark 1, in ed. B. Ward, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Alphabetical Col- lection, Mowbrays: London-Oxford, 1975. On the development of the sayings from an oral to a written culture, cf. P. Rousseau, Ascetics, Authority, and the Church (Oxford University Press: 1978), especially pp. 68-76. 11 See Sayings, Silvanus 1-2, Mark 1, and Netras 1. For a detailed account of the lifestyle and movements of this group, cf. M. Van Parys, “Abba Silvain et ses disciples” in Irénikon 61 (1988) pp. 315-330. 12 Silvanus, Saying suppl. 1, in J.-Cl. Guy, Researches sur le tradition graceque des Apoph- thegmata Patrum, Brussels, 1984 (2nd ed.), p. 47. While the Sayings of the Desert Fathers pro- 102 THE ROAD FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE

Silvanus died before 412, and Zaccharias became the of his commu- nity, acquiring the reputation of a learned and spiritual man. Information about the later history of the community, and particularly about Abba Zeno, comes to us through the writing of John Rufus,13 who attests that the monastery still existed in the early sixth century and had not accepted the decisions of the . The date of this council (451) also marks the death of Zeno. John Rufus and his friend Peter the Iberian were both inspired by Melanie the Younger during her visit to Constantinople in late 436-early 437 together with her chaplain Gerontius, abbot of a monastery of monks founded on the around 435-436. The two friends decided to become monk and in 437 visited Jerusalem where she lived on the Mount of Olives. With the assistance of John, Peter decided to establish a monastery near the Tower of . This community became famous for its hospitality, especially of foreign and non-Chalcedonian visitors to the holy city, particularly Geor- gians. It is during this time that they also became acquainted with Abba Zeno, who lived as a and was called “the prophet.” It may even be that Melanie and/or Gerontius recommended to the two young monks that they make contact with the renowned elder, whose advice would be sought by many monastics in the region. The Life of Peter the Iberian informs us that, later, Peter “consulted Zeno all the time.”14 And the Plerophories observe that Zeno was accessible to many inasmuch as he was a kukleutßs,15 namely a monk who wandered a great deal. The same is evident from the Sayings attrib- uted to Zeno: “Do not live in a famous place, do not settle close to a man with a great name, and do not lay foundations for building yourself a cell one day.” Another time, the same Abba Zeno was walking in Palestine and he was tired. …16

Zeno spent the last year of his life (451) in total seclusion, in the same way as both Abba Isaiah of Scetis (in c.489) and the “Great Old Man” Barsanuphius (in c.543) later also did. The lifestyles of the virtuous living in Egypt and later in Palestine – or, indeed, their ascetic ways of dying unto themselves and the world – were not the only aspects that were imitated and copied during this period. In particular, vide much material for someone hoping to reconstruct the daily routine and the general develop- ment of the group around Silvanus, Sozomen offers the clearest historical evidence outside of the monastic milieu. See his Historia Ecclesiastica VI,32,8 in J. Bidez and G.C. Hansen eds., in GCS 50, Berlin, 1960, pp. 288-289. 13 See his Plerophoriae, ed. Nau, F. in Patrologia Orientalis, vol. VIII, 1 (Paris 1912) and his Life of Peter the Iberian, originally written in Greek around 512-518, but later only preserved in Syriac. Cf. R. Raabe, Petrus der Iberer, Leipzig, 1895. 14 See op. cit. pp. 49-50. 15 Op. cit., pp. 20f. 16 Sayings, Zeno 1 and 6. J. CHRYSSAVGIS 103 it was the Apophthegmata Patrum that permeated throughout the Christian world and were preserved by the disciples of these same sages, and the disci- ples of their disciples. Thence, they were transferred into the whole ancient world and translated into all languages of early Christendom. One of the most likely places that these saying were recollected and then collected was in Palestine, partly due to its geographical proximity to Egypt but also due to the progression of Egyptian monks to the southern parts of Judaea. This diffusion of the Apophthegmata on the one hand, and the emigration of the Patres on the other, cannot be unrelated. Already, Fr. Lucien Regnault has demonstrated how the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, in both their alphabetical and anony- mous or systematic collections, are found in seminal texts of the time. Such texts are The Life of Saint Melanie the Younger (d. 439), attributed to her con- fidant and chaplain Gerontius and dating to the middle of the fifth century; The Life of Saint Euthymius (d. 473), written by Cyril of Scythopolis in the lat- ter half of the sixth century; the Discourses of Zosimas, who founded a com- munity in the first half of the sixth century. In particular, Regnault highlights the role of the of Seridos and of Dorotheus in the Gaza region, and the Correspondence of Barsanuphius and John as well as the Works of their disciple Dorotheus, all of which offer the richest documentation in this regard.17 Melanie’s Life refers to one of the sayings; Euthymius’ Life contains three sayings; while Zosimas’ writings make numerous citations to the sayings, implying that the latter borrowed these from existing written texts. Euthymius and Zosimas also reveal having heard from others various sayings, which attests to the fact that these were widely known and, perhaps, even accessible more or less everywhere in monastic circles of lower Palestine by the middle of the sixth century. Indeed, Zosimas’ reference to “tà âpofqégmata t¬n ägíwn geróntwn”18 is perhaps the earliest such characterization of the sayings with this specific title. The Letters of Barsanuphius and John, again dating to the first half of the sixth century, frequently quote or evoke the sayings. There are at least eighty references to the Apophthegmata themselves, while numerous phrases recom- mend them as a basis for spiritual practice and progress, sometimes by name (sixteen times) but mostly implicitly (thirty-four times). On other occasions, the Old Men adopt alternative phrases: The Fathers have said (fourteen times) It is written in the Fathers (once) It is written in the Elders (once)

17 Regnault, L. “Les Apophtegmes des Pères en Palestine aux Ve et VIe siècles” in Irénikon 54 (1981) pp. 320-330. 18 Cf. Discourses, ch. 12 (Avgoustinos edition, Jerusalem, 1913) p. 17. Also found in , Spiritual Meadow, ch. 212 PG87:3104-3105. 104 THE ROAD FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE

It is written in the Sayings of the Elders (twice) The Lives of the Fathers (twice) The Sayings of the Fathers (once) The Sayings of the Fathers and their Lives (twice) The Life of the Fathers and the responses (once) The books of the Elders (once) The Gerontika (once).

There are at least fifty-five references from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers in the writings of Dorotheus alone. He also seems to be the first writer to designate the Apophthegmata as “to Gerontikón.”19 Might, therefore, this Dorotheus also be one of those responsible for the collection of the sayings themselves? Certainly Dorotheus is the only ancient witness to the single say- ing attributed to Basil in the alphabetical collection of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers,20 while both Barsanuphius and Dorotheus refer to the Rules of Saint Basil. During the fourth and the early fifth centuries, the golden age during which the sayings flourished, the words of the elders were preserved in the heart and by word of mouth. They were precisely that: sayings. And these sayings cir- culated both in Egypt and in Palestine as a result of the fluid movement between the two “seminal” lands but especially as a result of the eastward influx of monks from Egypt to Palestine, whether forcefully or freely. Eva- grius and John Cassian included several sayings in their influential writings.21 Abba Isaiah of Scetis inserts numerous sayings, both recognizable and origi- nal, in his Ascetic Discourses, possibly regarding himself as responsible for preserving and promoting the words of the elders that he knew and lived with in Egypt. The abundant references to the sayings in the Letters of Barsa- nuphius and John further attest to their concern that the ways and words of the ancient elders be pondered and practiced. Indeed, the Letters of Barsanuphius and John, and especially the ones addressed by and to (Letters 252-338), reveal yet another element that gradually disappears from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, as these begin to be collated and edited. For, the original transmission of the wis- dom of the Egyptian desert preserved the spontaneity of the profound advice and impressive actions of the desert fathers and mothers. However, during the stage of transition from an oral culture to a written text, the Sayings become a little more static and we begin to lose sight of the personal element that

19 See his Teachings I, 13 PG88:1633C in SC 92 (Paris, 1952). G.W.H. Lampe’s Patristic Lexikon (Oxford 1991, p. 313) refers to a letter by Nilus; however, this is not an authentic letter by this author. 20 See L. Regnault, “Les Apophtegmes des Peres,” p. 328; and Dorotheus, Teachings 24 in SC 92, pp. 182-184. 21 Evagrius toward the end of the Praktikos and in chapters 106-112 of his treatise On Prayer PG79:1189-1192. Cassian in his Institutes V, 24-41. J. CHRYSSAVGIS 105 sparked these words, and more especially the process and struggle that shaped these words are also concealed. What is “received” is the intense drop of wis- dom, without the stages that led to the final product. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, for instance, often present the spiritual reality in the way that is should be, rather than in the way that it is – with all the denials, the doubts, and the temptations. Yet, in Barsanuphius and John, we witness each of the painful stages unfolding in slow motion. What might normally have taken place on a face-to-face level is recorded in writing, with the mutuality or back- and-forth of a personal relationship As the French translator of this correspon- dence, Fr. Lucien Regnault, has written: What the Sayings of the Desert Fathers allow us to glimpse only in the form of fleeting images, is here played out like a film before our very eyes.22

The following exchange of letters is one example of the struggle to under- stand the subtleties and insights of the spiritual way: Question 293. Question from the same brother to the same Old Man: If a brother does something that is not very significant, but I am afflicted by this act on account of my own will, what should I do? Should I keep silent and not give rest to my heart, or should I speak to him with love and not remain troubled? And if the matter afflicts others, and not me, should I speak for the sake of the others? Or would this appear as if I have just taken on a cause? Response by John. If it is a matter that is not sinful but insignificant, and you speak simply to give rest to your heart, then it is to your defeat. For you were not able to endure it as a result of your weakness. Just blame yourself and be silent. However, if the matter afflicts others, tell your abbot; and whether he speaks or tells you to speak, you will be carefree. Question 294. Question from the same one to the same Old Man: If I speak to the abbot for the sake of the others, I suspect that the brother will be troubled; so what should I do? And if he afflicts both the others and me, should I speak for the sake of the others, or should I keep silent in order not to satisfy myself? If I sus- pect that he will not be grieved, should I also speak for myself, or should I force myself against this? Response by John. As far as the turmoil of the brother is concerned, if you speak to the abbot, then you have nothing to worry about. When it is necessary to speak for the sake of others, and you are worried about it, then speak for them. As for yourself, only force yourself not to speak. Question 295. Question from the same to the same: But my thought tells me that if my brother is troubled against me, he will become my enemy, thinking that I slandered him to the abbot. Response by John. This thought of yours is wicked, for it wants to prevent you from correcting your brother. Therefore, do not prevent yourself from speaking, but do so according to God. For indeed, the sick who are being healed even speak against their doctors; yet the latter do not care, knowing that these will thank them afterward. Question 296. Question from the same to the same Old Man: If I look at my thought and notice that it is not for the brother’s benefit that I wish to speak to the

22 Cf. Barsanuphe et Jean de Gaza: Correspondance (Abbaye de Solesmes: 1972), p. 6. 106 THE ROAD FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE

abbot, but with the purpose of slandering him, should I speak or keep silent? Response by John. Advise your thought to speak according to God and not for the sake of slander. And if your thought is conquered by criticism, even so speak to your abbot and confess to him your criticism, so that both of you may be healed – the one who was at fault and the one who was critical. Question 297. Question from the same to the same: If my thought does not allow me to confess to the abbot that I am speaking to him with the purpose of slander- ing the brother, what should I do? Should I speak or not? Response. Do not say anything to him, and the Lord will take care of it. For it is not neces- sary for you to speak when harming your soul. God will take care of the brother’s correction as He wills.

There is a further reason why the collector and editor of the Apophthegmata may be from this circle of monks. Isaiah, Barsanuphius and Dorotheus all seem to display certain characteristics in common with and in contrast to the desert dwellers. For instance, each of these three prominent figures is balanced and un-polemical in their nature and in their counsel, much like the disposition of the Egyptian monastics whose sayings are preserved in the collections. They do not in general reveal the confessional rifts that affected so much of Christendom during this period. They are far less militant than other represen- tatives of both the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian circles. Other contem- porary ascetics, such as Sabas (d.532), while compassionate and non-judg- mental in their outlook, are nevertheless deliberately and defensively concerned with confessional doctrine. It is no wonder, then, that an of the Great Old Man graces frescoes of the altar-cloths at the Great Church of Wis- dom in Constantinople, beside those of Anthony of Egypt and Ephraim the Syrian. This is perhaps why was anxious to defend and affirm the of Isaiah, Barsanuphius and Dorotheus.23 Yet, the Gaza elders differ from their Egyptian counterparts inasmuch as they are on the whole educated and widely read. This feature may not be unknown among the Desert Fathers, but it is on the whole exceptional. Barsanuphius responses to questions about Origenist tendencies among certain representatives of the monastic tradition, in Letters 600-607, together with John’s explanations of the Great Old Man’s words, reveal an elder who appre- ciates fine intellectual distinctions without at the same time being absorbed by these to the detriment of his life of prayer. Thus, in another set of thirteen questions, between Letters 151 and 167, being responses to a certain Euthymius whose mind is almost obsessed with allegorical interpretations and details, Barsanuphius recommends humility and silence. 23 See his Testament in PG88:1813-1816 and PG99:1028. These three had been anathema- tized by in a synodical letter to Patriarch Sergius of Const- ntinople in 634: cf. PG87, iii:3192-3193. Barsanuphius was considered un-orthodox because of his reference in Letter 701 only to the first in Nicaea (325), without however making any mention of the fourth Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon (451). J. CHRYSSAVGIS 107

(IV) CONCLUSION

At some point in time between the work of Abba Isaiah and the correspon- dence of the two Old Men of Gaza, there appears to have occurred a shift in the appreciation of the sayings. Abba Isaiah senses that he is a part of the tra- dition of the Desert Fathers, that he has transplanted this tradition from the chosen land to an adopted land, and that he is obliged to keep that memory alive in his new homeland. Abba Barsanuphius and his disciples, particularly the gifted Dorotheus, sense that they are a part of a new tradition, closely linked to the past and yet at the same time clearly looking to a different expe- rience and a different environment. Abba Isaiah’s attitude is backward-looking to the golden age of Egypt; Barsanuphius and Dorotheus are forward-looking to the diverse monastic population that they are serving and the diverse monas- tic culture that they are confronted with. In fact, their presence in the region of Gaza, that intersection and cross-section of peoples and pilgrims, may well be the reason why the alphabetical collection of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers bring together so many pieces from the worlds of Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, Asia Minor, Syria, and as far east as Persia. The region also numbered Arabs, Greeks, Latins, Armenians, Georgians, and others. And the monks of this region were deeply influenced by Barsanuphius’ openness toward foreigners (âlloeqne⁄s) imposed by a dynamic of positive interaction.24 Indeed, Barsa- nuphius was quite clear about the role of his contemporaries; it was, as he determines in Letter 569, to pray for the salvation of the whole world, ortho- dox and non-orthodox, pious and pagan: There are three men, perfect in God, who have exceeded the measure of human- ity and received the authority to loose and bind, to forgive and hold sins. These stand before the shattered world, keeping the whole world from complete and sudden annihilation. Through their prayers, God combines His chastisement with His mercy. And it has been told to them, that God’s wrath will last a little longer. Therefore, pray with them. For the prayers of these three are joined at the to the spiritual altar of the Father of lights. They share in each other’s joy and gladness in heaven. And when they turn once again toward the earth, they share in each other’s mourning and weeping for the evils that occur and attract His wrath. These three are John in and Elias in Corinth, and another in the region of Jerusalem. I believe that they will achieve His great mercy. Yes, they will indeed achieve it. Amen.

Undoubtedly, Barsanuphius possessed the discerning boldness before God and humanity to claim within his heart that he was the third of these ascetics.25

24 See Letters 686, 733 and 777. Cf. also I.A. Voulgarakis, “Missionsangaben in den Briefen der Asketen Barsanuphius und Johannes,” in A. Kallis (ed.), Philoxenia, Munster, 1980. 25 This is the estimation of Nikodemus of in his foreword to the Volos edition of the Letters by Barsanuphius and John, published by S. Schoinas published in 1960. 108 THE ROAD FROM EGYPT TO PALESTINE

In brief, Abba Isaiah lamented over the loss of the past, while Barsanuphius and Dorotheus learned ways of relating to the present and looking to the future. Isaiah’s song declared with sorrow: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept, when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137.1); Barsanuphius and Dorotheus discerned the challenge: “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137.4)