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francis franciscan sister sisters little falls minnesota community serve gospel peace donate clare women prayer music mission earth franciscan sisters little falls francis music music center  jesus christ roman catholic  francis music center
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The Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota, is a community of Roman Catholic women religious who follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ, walking in the footsteps of Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi.

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What's your preference:
Mac or PC?
Coke or Pepsi?
Dunkin' or Krispy Kreme?

It's nice to have options, isn't it? We do not live in a one-size-fits all world. Folks have different tastes and preferences when it comes to computers, cola drinks, and donuts, just to name a few.

Well, the same can be said for spirituality. When it comes to exploring and nurturing one's relationship with God, there are options available. One of the most popular options in Catholic spirituality is Ignatian spirituality. So, just what is Ignatian spirituality?

In his book, Christian Spirituality (Loyola Press), George Lane, S.J., defines spirituality as "a way to holiness." Christian spirituality, of course, seeks holiness in and through Jesus Christ. Even within the Christian Tradition, there are numerous spiritual paths that come to us from the traditions of various religious communities such as the Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Benedictines. One of the most popular and widely practiced spiritual paths in the Catholic Tradition is Ignatian Spirituality-a path articulated by Saint Ignatius of Loyola who founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1540. St. Ignatius outlined this spirituality in his Spiritual Exercises, originally written as a handbook for a thirty-day retreat. With this in mind, let's take a closer look at the characteristics of Ignatian spirituality.

According to Fr. Paul Brian Campbell, S.J., Ignatian spirituality encourages us to...

1. find (recognize) God in all things

2. develop a personal relationship with Christ and love for the Church (bruised and broken as it often is)

3. live a life of reflection (self-awareness/discernment) leading to gratitude and a life of service (becoming a man or woman for others)

4. live a life of contemplation in action-not a monastic existence, but an active one that is, at the same time, infused with prayer

5. live with an inner freedom (the result of self-awareness and discernment)

6. translate our faith into working for justice-the realization that there can be no true expression of faith where concerns for justice and human dignity are lacking

7. recognize, like Jesuit Gerard Manley Hopkins, that "the world is charged with the grandeur of God"-the positive, energetic and engaged vision of God's constant interaction with creation

8. live according to the maxim "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam" (For the Greater Glory of God)-praising God and dedicating oneself to participate in God's healing work in the world

9. be flexible and adaptable, following the example of the 16th century Jesuits who wore Chinese robes and generally adapted to various cultures; respecting people's lived experience

10. seek the union of minds and hearts-as brothers and sisters, we listen for the God who is present among us, admitting no division based on ethnicity, nationality, background, age or gender

These principles and ideas are not unique to Ignatius. Rather, they flow from the Gospel of Jesus. However, Ignatius has gathered and synthesized them in such a way as to create a path to Jesus-a path that countless millions of Catholics have traveled over the past 450 years, a path called Ignatian spirituality.

Joe Paprocki, D.Min.

Joe Paprocki, D.Min., has been a catechetical leader and religious educator in the Chicago area for more than thirty years.

See More

Books by Joe Paprocki, D.Min.

Living the Sacraments

Finding God at the Intersection of Heaven and Earth

Joe Paprocki demystifies the Catholic sacraments and presents them as a way of life to be experienced each day, rather than as standalone events.

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Llamados por nuestro nombre

Prepararse para la vocación de líder catequético

El libro Llamados por nuestro nombre se centra en la vocación del líder catequético y en lo que el líder catequético necesita ser, en contraste con lo que este necesita saber o hacer.

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The Catechist's Backpack

Spiritual Essentials for the Journey

Written by two nationally known, expert lay catechists, The Catechist's Backpack gives catechists the resources that speak to the spiritual dimension of their call to share the Catholic faith.

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Practice Makes Catholic

Moving from a Learned Faith to a Lived Faith

Why do Catholics do what they do? Practice Makes Catholic from Loyola Press gets to the heart of the question-and to the heart of what it really means to be Catholic.

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Called by Name

Preparing Yourself for the Vocation of Catechetical Leader

This book focuses on what catechetical leaders need to be, as opposed to what they need to know or do, if they are to lead effectively.

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A Church on the Move

52 Ways to Get Mission and Mercy in Motion

52 specific, practical, and achievable strategies to help Catholic parishes embody the broad themes of Pope Francis' papacy-mission, mercy, and evangelization.

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Vivir la misa

Cómo una hora a la semana puede cambiar tu vida

Explica detallademente cómo cada parte de la misa se relaciona con la llamada que recibimos en el bautismo, poniendo en estrecha relación la misa dominical y el resto de nuestra semana.

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Under the Influence of Jesus

The Transforming Experience of Encountering Christ

In Under the Influence of Jesus, Joe Paprocki explains that by opening ourselves to encountering Christ, we can learn how to live the Gospel and be models of faith.

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La mochila del catequista

Lo indispensable para el camino espiritual

La mochila del catequist brinda a los catequistas recursos que atienden a la dimensión espiritual de su llamado a compartir la fe católica.

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What's your preference: Mac or PC? Coke or Pepsi? Dunkin' or Krispy Kreme? It's nice to have options, isn't it? We do not live in a one-size-fits all world. Folks have different tastes and preferences when it comes to computers, cola drinks, and donuts, just to name a few.

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Ignatian spirituality, also known as Jesuit spirituality, is a Catholic spirituality founded on the experiences of the sixteenth-century theologian Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. The main idea of this form of spirituality comes from Ignatius's Spiritual Exercises , the aim of which is to help one "conquer oneself and to regulate one's life in such a way that no decision is made under the influence of any inordinate attachment."

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Happy Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - Patron of the Order of Carmelites! The Sacred Scriptures speak of the beauty of Mount Carmel in Palestine where the Prophet Elijah defended the faith

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Franciscan Spirituality Center, Retreat, Spirituality, Programs, FSC is dedicated to supporting anyone in their search for God, meaning and wholeness.

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The Benedictines: An Introduction by Abbot Primate Jerome Theisen OSB. Liturgical Press.

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Abbot Primate Jerome Theisen OSB writes about the Benedictines for the New Catholic Encyclopedia published by Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN 56321, Saint John's Abbey.

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Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert

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Timeless Spiritual Wisdom Found in the Sayings and Stories of the Early Christian Monks of the Desert
The earliest Christian monks inhabited the desert land of the Middle East starting at the end of the second century AD. Known as the "Desert Fathers", they left everything in search of knowing Jesus Christ by making the Gospels absolutely integral to their daily lives. They wanted to commit themselves totally (body, soul, mind, and will) to being a disciple of the Lord Jesus with a profound holy zeal moving them to become ever more like Christ. These monks practiced integrity of character with an unrelenting courage that required their whole being to remain in the state of constant humility that comes from knowing that they were loved by God. Paradoxically, their extraordinarily harsh penances often resulted in gentleness and patience towards others, especially other monks but also visitors who came seeking an understanding of the essence of spiritual life. These monks sought most of all to experience union with God in the quiet of the desert and in the silence of their hearts. The Monastery of Christ in the Desert offers for your spiritual edification a short alphabetical collection of sayings from various Desert "Abbas" and a topical collection of such stories and sayings that list a number of monastic and Christian virtues that are integral to an authentic spiritual life.
The brothers praised a monk before Abba Anthony the monk came to see him, Anthony wanted to know how he would bear insults; and seeing that he could not bear them at all, he said to him, 'You are like a village magnificently decorated on the outside but destroyed from within by robbers.'

Abba Anthony said also, 'He who wishes to live in solitude in the desert is delivered from three conflicts: hearing, speech, and sight; there is only one conflict for him and that is with fornication.'

Abba Daniel said, 'The body prospers in the measure in which the soul is weakened, and the soul prospers in the measure in which the body is weakened.'

Abba Elias said, 'An old man was living in a temple and the demons came to say to him, "Leave this place which belongs to us," and the old man said, "No place belongs to you." Then they began to scatter his palm leaves about, one by one, and the old man went on gathering them together with perseverance. A little later the devil took his hand and pulled him to the door. When the old man reached the door, he seized the lintel with the other hand crying out, "Jesus, save me." Immediately the devil fled away. Then the old man began to weep. Then the Lord said to him, "Why are you weeping?" and the old man said, "Because, the devils have dared to seize a man and treat him like this.' The Lord said to him, "You had been careless. As soon as you turned to me again, you see I was beside you." I say this, because it is necessary to take great pains, and anyone who does not do so, cannot come to his God. For He himself was crucified for our sake.

Abba Epiphanius said, 'The acquisition of Christian books is necessary for those who can use them. For the mere sight of these books renders us less inclined to sin, and incites us to believe more firmly in righteousness.'

He also said, 'Reading the Scriptures is a great safeguard against sin.'

Abba Hyperechius said, 'It was through whispering that the serpent drove Eve out of Paradise, so he who speaks against his neighbor will be the serpent, for he corrupts the soul of him who listens to him and he does not save his own soul.'

Abba Or said to his disciple Paul, 'Be careful never to let an irrelevant word come into this cell.'

One of the Fathers used to tell of a certain Abba Paul, from Lower Egypt, who lived in the Thebaid. He used to take various kinds of snakes in his hands and cut them through the middle. The brethren made prostration before him saying, 'Tell us what you have done to receive this grace.' He said, 'Forgive me, Fathers, but if someone has obtained purity, everything is in submission to him, as it was to Adam, when he was in paradise before he transgressed the commandment.'

Abba Poemen said of Abba John the Dwarf that he had prayed God to take his passions away from him so that he might become free from care. He went and told an old man this: 'I find myself in peace, without an enemy,' he said. The old man said to him, 'Go, beseech God to stir up warfare so that you regain the affliction and humility that you used to have, for it is by warfare that the soul makes progress.' So he besought God and when warfare came, he no longer prayed that it might be taken away, but said, 'Lord, give me strength for the fight.'

Abba Poemen said to Abba Joseph, 'Tell me how to become a monk.' He said, 'If you want to find rest here below all circumstances say, 'Who am I? and do not judge anyone.'

A brother lived in the cells and in his solitude he was troubled. He went to tell Abba Theodore of Pherme about it. The old man said to him, 'Go, be more humble in your aspirations, place yourself under obedience and live with others.' Later, he came back to the old man and said, 'I do not find any peace with others.' The old man said to him, 'If you are not at peace either alone or with others, why have you become a monk? Is it not to suffer trials? Tell me how many years you have worn the habit?' He replied, 'For eight years.' Then the old man said to him, 'I have worn the habit seventy years and on no day have I found peace. Do you expect to obtain peace in eight years?' At these words the brother went away strengthened.

He also said, 'In these days many take their rest before He gives it them.'

Abba Theophilus, the archbishop, came to Scetis one day. The brethren who were assembled said to Abba Pambo, 'Say something to the archbishop, so that he may be edified.' The old man said to them, 'If he is not edified by my silence, he will not be edified by my speech.'

He also said that there were three philosopher who were friends. The first died and left his son to the care the others. When he grew up he had intercourse with the wife of his guardian, who found them out and turned the boy out of doors. Although the young man came and asked his guardian to forgive him, he would not receive him, but said, 'Go and work for three years as a ferryman and I will forgive you.' After three years the young man came to him again, and this time he said, 'You still have not done penance; go and work for three more years, and give away all you earn, bearing all insults.' So he did this, and then his guardian said to him, 'Now go to Athens and learn philosophy.' There was an old man who sat at the philosophers' gate and he used to insult everyone who entered it. When he insulted this young man, the boy began to laugh, and the old man said, 'Why are you laughing, when I have insulted you?' He told him, 'Would you not expect me to laugh? For three years I have paid to be insulted and now I am insulted free of charge. That is why I laughed.' Abba John said, 'The gate of the Lord is like that, and we Fathers go through many insults in order to enter joyfully into the city of God.'

Abba Zeno said, 'If a man wants God to hear his prayer quickly, then before he prays for anything else, even his own soul, when he stands and stretches out his hands towards God, he must pray with all his heart for his enemies. Through this action God will hear everything that he asks.'

For more wisdom from our Desert Fathers, explore the topical collection indexed on this page.

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Sayings and Stories from the Desert Fathers - Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert

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The earliest Christian monks inhabited the desert land of the Middle East starting at the end of the second century AD. Known as the "Desert Fathers", they left everything in search of knowing Jesus Christ by making the Gospels absolutely integral to their daily lives.

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The Desert Fathers - Bringing Mysticism to Today's Church

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The Rule of Saint Benedict has been used by Benedictines for 15 centuries, and thus St. Benedict is sometimes regarded as the founder of Western monasticism due to reform that his rules had on the current Catholic hierarchy.

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The Desert Fathers or Desert Monks were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The Apophthegmata Patrum is a collection of the wisdom of some of the early desert monks and nuns, in print as Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The first Desert Father was Paul of Thebes, and the most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in AD 270-271 and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony had died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to living in the desert following Anthony's example, leading his biographer, Athanasius of Alexandria, to write that "the desert had become a city." The Desert Fathers had a major influence on the development of Christianity.

The desert monastic communities that grew out of the informal gathering of hermit monks became the model for Christian monasticism. The eastern monastic tradition at Mount Athos and the western Rule of St Benedict both were strongly influenced by the traditions that began in the desert. All of the monastic revivals of the Middle Ages looked to the desert for inspiration and guidance. Much of Eastern Christian spirituality, including the Hesychast movement, had its roots in the practices of the Desert Fathers. Even religious renewals such as the German evangelicals and Pietists in Pennsylvania, the Devotio Moderna movement, and the Methodist Revival in England are seen by modern scholars as being influenced by the Desert Fathers.

Paul of Thebes is often credited with being the first hermit monk to go to the desert, but it was Anthony the Great who launched the movement that became the Desert Fathers. Sometime around AD 270, Anthony heard a Sunday sermon stating that perfection could be achieved by selling all of one's possessions, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Jesus. He followed the advice and made the further step of moving deep into the desert to seek complete solitude.

Anthony lived in a time of transition for Christianity-the Diocletianic Persecution in AD 303 was the last great formal persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Only ten years later, Christianity was made legal in Egypt by Diocletian's successor Constantine I. Those who left for the desert formed an alternate Christian society, at a time when it was no longer a risk to be a Christian. The solitude, austerity, and sacrifice of the desert was seen by Anthony as an alternative to martyrdom, which was formerly seen by many Christians as the highest form of sacrifice. Anthony quickly gained followers eager to live their lives in accordance with this solidarity and separation from material goods. From these prohibitions, it is recorded by Athanasius that Anthony received special privileges from God, such as the ability to heal the sick, inspire others to have faith in healing through God, and even converse with God on occasion. Around this time, desert monasticism appeared nearly simultaneously in several areas, including Egypt and Syria.

Over time, the model of Anthony and other hermits attracted many followers, who lived alone in the desert or in small groups. They chose a life of extreme asceticism, renouncing all the pleasures of the senses, rich food, baths, rest, and anything that made them comfortable. They instead focused their energies on praying, singing psalms, fasting, giving alms to the needy, and preserving love and harmony with one another while keeping their thoughts and desires for God alone. Thousands joined them in the desert, mostly men but also a handful of women. Religious seekers also began going to the desert seeking advice and counsel from the early Desert Fathers. By the time of Anthony's death, there were so many men and women living in the desert that it was described as "a city" by Anthony's biographer.

The Desert Fathers advocated three main approaches to monasticism. One was the austere life of the hermit, as practiced by Anthony and his followers in lower Egypt. Another was the cenobitic life, communities of monks and nuns in upper Egypt formed by Pachomius. The third was a semi-hermitic lifestyle seen mostly in Nitria, Kellia and Scetis, west of the Nile, begun by Saint Amun. The latter were small groups (two to six) of monks and nuns with a common spiritual elder-these separate groups would join in larger gatherings to worship on Saturdays and Sundays. This third form of monasticism was responsible for most of the sayings that were compiled as the Apophthegmata Patrum ( Sayings of the Desert Fathers).

The small communities founded by the Desert Fathers were the beginning of Christian monasticism. Initially Anthony and others lived as hermits, sometimes forming groups of two or three. Small informal communities began developing, until the monk Pachomius, seeing the need for a more formal structure, established a monastery with rules and organization. His regulations included discipline, obedience, manual labour, silence, fasting, and long periods of prayer-some historians view the rules as being inspired by Pachomius' experiences as a Roman soldier.

The first fully organized monastery with Pachomius included men and women living in separate quarters, up to three in a room. They supported themselves by weaving cloth and baskets, along with other tasks. Each new monk or nun had a three-year probationary period, concluding with admittance in full standing to the monastery. All property was held communally, meals were eaten together and in silence, twice a week they fasted, and they wore simple peasant clothing with a hood. Several times a day they came together for prayer and readings, and each person was expected to spend time alone meditating on the scriptures. Programs were created for educating those who came to the monastery unable to read.

Pachomius also formalized the establishment of an abba (father) or amma (mother) in charge of the spiritual welfare of their monks and nuns, with the implication that those joining the monastery were also joining a new family. Members also formed smaller groups, with different tasks in the community and the responsibility of looking after each other's welfare. The new approach grew to the point that there were tens of thousands of monks and nuns in these organized communities within decades of Pachomius' death. One of the early pilgrims to the desert was Basil of Caesarea, who took the Rule of Pachomius into the eastern church. Basil expanded the idea of community by integrating the monks and nuns into the wider public community, with the monks and nuns under the authority of a bishop and serving the poor and needy.

As more pilgrims began visiting the monks in the desert, influence from the monastic communities began spreading. Latin versions of the original Greek stories and sayings of the Desert Fathers, along with the earliest monastic rules coming out of the desert, guided the early monastic development in the Byzantine world and eventually in the western Christian world. John Cassian played an important role in mediating the influence of the Desert Fathers to the West. This can be seen, for example, in the Rule of Saint Benedict, where Benedict of Nursia urged his monks to read the writings of John Cassian on the Desert Fathers. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers was also widely read in the early Benedictine monasteries.

Many of the monks and nuns developed a reputation for holiness and wisdom, with the small communities following a particularly holy or wise elder, who was their spiritual father () or mother ( amma). The individual Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers are mostly known through The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, which included 1,202 sayings attributed to twenty-seven abbas and three ammas. The greatest number of sayings are attributed to Abba "Poemen", Greek for "shepherd". Because of the wide disparity of dates for the sayings attributed to Abba Poemen, some scholars believe that "Poemen" was a generic name for a combination of different unnamed Abbas. Others conclude that the sayings attributed to Abba Poemen are accurate, based on a notable and historical Abba Poemen. Among the notable Desert Fathers and Mothers with sayings in the book, in addition to Anthony the Great, were Arsenius the Great, Poemen, Macarius of Egypt, Moses the Black, and Syncletica of Alexandria.

Other notable Desert Fathers include Pachomius, Abba Or, and Shenouda the Archimandrite, and many individuals who spent part of their lives in the Egyptian desert, including Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Evagrius Ponticus, and Hilarion. John Cassian's works brought the wisdom of the Desert Fathers into a wider arena.

The legalization of Christianity by the Roman Empire in 313 gave Anthony a greater resolve to go out into the desert. Nostalgic for the tradition of martyrdom, he saw withdrawal and asceticism as an alternative. He insisted on selling all his material possessions-he left his younger sister a small amount of money to live her life in a convent, and donated the rest to the poor. When members of the church began finding ways to work with the Roman state, the Desert Fathers saw that as a compromise between "the things of God and the things of Caesar." The monastic communities were essentially an alternate Christian society. The hermits doubted that religion and politics could ever produce a truly Christian society. For them, the only Christian society was spiritual and not mundane.

Hesychasm (from the Greek for "stillness, rest, quiet, silence") is a mystical tradition and movement that originated with the Desert Fathers and was central to their practice of prayer. Hesychasm for the Desert Fathers was primarily the practice of "interior silence and continual prayer." It did not become a formal movement of specific practices until the fourteenth century Byzantine meditative prayer techniques, when it was more closely identified with the Prayer of the Heart, or "Jesus Prayer". The prayer's origin is also traced back to the Desert Fathers-the Prayer of the Heart was found inscribed in the ruins of a cell from that period in the Egyptian desert. The earliest written reference to the practice of the Prayer of the Heart may be in a discourse collected in the Philokalia on Abba Philimon, a Desert Father. Hesychast prayer was a meditative practice that was traditionally done in silence and with eyes closed-"empty of mental pictures" and visual concepts, but with the intense consciousness of God's presence.

The words hesychast and hesychia were frequently used in 4th and 5th century writings of Desert Fathers such as Macarius of Egypt, Evagrius Ponticus, and Gregory of Nyssa. The title hesychast was used in early times synonymously with hermit, as compared to a cenobite who lived in community. Hesychasm can refer to inner or outer stillness, though in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers it referred to inner tranquility.

The Desert Fathers gave a great deal of emphasis to living and practicing the teachings of Jesus, much more than theoretical knowledge. Their efforts to live the commandments were not seen as being easy-many of the stories from that time recount the struggle to overcome negative emotions such as anger and judgment of others. Helping a brother monk who was ill or struggling was seen as taking priority over any other consideration. Hermits were frequently seen to break a long fast when hosting visitors, as hospitality and kindness were more important than keeping the ascetic practices that were so dominant in the Desert Fathers' lives.

The lives of the Desert Fathers that were organized into communities included frequent recitation of the scriptures-during the week they chanted psalms while performing manual labour and during the weekends they held liturgies and group services. The monk's experience in the cell occurred in a variety of ways, including meditation on scripture. Group practices were more prominent in the organized communities formed by Pachomius. The purpose of these practices were explained by John Cassian, a Desert Father, who described the goal of psalmody (the outward recitation of scripture) and asceticism as the ascent to deep mystical prayer and mystical contemplation.

Excerpts from The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

"A hermit said, 'Take care to be silent. Empty your mind. Attend to your meditation in the fear of God, whether you are resting or at work. If you do this, you will not fear the attacks of the demons."

Abba Moses, "Sit in thy cell and thy cell will teach thee all."

"Somebody asked Anthony, 'What shall I do in order to please God?' He replied, 'Do what I tell you, which is this: wherever you go, keep God in mind; whatever you do, follow the example of Holy Scripture; wherever you are, stay there and do not move away in a hurry. If you keep to these guide-lines, you will be saved.'"

"He (Evagrius) also said, 'A monk was told that his father had died. He said to the messenger, 'Do not blaspheme. My Father cannot die.'"

Abbot Pastor, "If someone does evil to you, you should do good to him, so that by your good work you may drive out his malice."

An Elder, "A man who keeps death before his eyes will at all times overcome his cowardliness."

Blessed Macarius said, "This is the truth, if a monk regards contempt as praise, poverty as riches, and hunger as a feast, he will never die."

"It happened that as Abba Arsenius was sitting in his cell that he was harassed by demons. His servants, on their return, stood outside his cell and heard him praying to God in these words, 'O God, do not leave me. I have done nothing good in your sight, but according to your goodness, let me now make a beginning of good.'"

When one desert father told another of his plans to "shut himself into his cell and refuse the face of men, that he might perfect himself," the second monk replied," Unless thou first amend thy life going to and fro amongst men, thou shall not avail to amend it dwelling alone."

"Abba Anthony said, 'Whoever hammers a lump of iron, first decides what he is going to make of it, a scythe, a sword, or an axe. Even so we ought to make up our minds what kind of virtue we want to forge or we labour in vain.'"

He also said, "Obedience with abstinence gives men power over wild beasts."

"It was said of Abba John the Dwarf, that one day he said to his elder brother, 'I should like to be free of all care, like the angels, who do not work, but ceaselessly offer worship to God.' So he took off his cloak and went away into the desert. After a week he came back to his brother. When he knocked on the door, he heard his brother say, before he opened it 'Who are you?' He said, 'I am John, your brother.' But he replied, 'John has become an angel, and henceforth he is no longer among men.' Then the other begged him saying, 'It is I.' However, his brother did not let him in, but left him there in distress until morning. Then, opening the door, he said to him, 'You are a man and you must once again work in order to eat.' Then John made a prostration before him, saying, 'Forgive me.'"

There are many different collections of sayings of the Desert Fathers. The earliest writings were simply ordered by the initial letter of the Abba's name in the order of the Greek alphabet, resulting in the editors starting with Anthony the Great, Arsenius and Agathon, and concluding with Cheremon, Psenthaisius and Or. These editors were the first to use the word apophthegms (meaning: saying, maxim or aphorism), resulting in this collection being known as Apophthegmata Patrum Alphabetica (The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection). This collection contains about a thousand items.

The same editors also recognised a number of anonymous sayings and tales of the Desert Fathers and Mothers that circulated popularly. This material was gathered into a collection now known as Anonymous Patrum Apophthegmata (Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers). These sayings were placed in order of more or less similar subjects (for instance: humility, charity etc.).

The collection now known as the Systematic Collection began to emerge a century later (AD 500), and features sayings from the Alphabetic Collection and the Anonymous Sayings, combined and systematically ordered under twenty-one chapters. This collection contains about 1200 items and therefore does not completely combine the two older collections.

A partial list of Desert Fathers:

1. ^ Harmless, J. William (22 March 2018), "Historia Monachorum in Aegypto", The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8

2. Russell, Norman, trans. ^ The Lives of the Desert Fathers: The "Historia monachorum in aegypto". CS 34. Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Publications, 1981.

Athanasius of Alexandria (1892). "Life of St. Anthony" . In Schaff, Philip; Wace, Henry (eds.). A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series. Vol. 4. Buffalo, New York: Christian Literature Publishing Company.

Binns, John (2006). "Modern Spirituality and the Orthodox Church". In Angold, Michael (ed.). The Cambridge History of Christianity. Volume 5: Eastern Christianity. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. pp. 580-599. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521811132.025. ISBN 978-0-521-81113-2.

Gregory, Timothy E.; Kazhdan, Alexander P. (1991). "Cassian, John". In Kazhdan, Alexander P. (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press (published 2005). ISBN 978-0-19-518792-2.

Guillaumont, Antoine (1979). "Une inscription copte sur la prière de Jesus". Aux origines du monachisme chrétien: Pour une phénoménologie du monachisme. Spiritualité orientale et vie monastique (in French). Vol. 30. Bégrolles-en-Mauges, France: Abbaye de Bellefontaine. pp. 168-183.

Harmless, William (2000). "Remembering Poemen Remembering: The Desert Fathers and the Spirituality of Memory". Church History. 69 (3): 483-518. doi:10.2307/3169395. ISSN 1755-2613. JSTOR 3169395. S2CID 162955580.

--- (2004). Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/0195162234.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-516222-6.

Merton, Thomas (1960). Wisdom of the Desert. New York: New Directions (published 1970). ISBN 978-0-8112-0102-5.

Parry, Ken; Melling, David J.; Brady, Dimitri; Griffith, Sidney H.; Healy, John F., eds. (1999). The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-0-631-23203-2.

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Waddell, Helen (1957) [1936]. The Desert Fathers. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-06008-5.

Ward, Benedicta, ed. (1984). The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection (PDF) (rev. ed.). Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications. ISBN 978-0-87907-959-8.

Wilfong, Terry G. (1998). "The Non-Muslim Communities: Christian Communities". In Petry, Carl F. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Egypt. Volume 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press (published 2006). pp. 175-197. ISBN 978-0-521-47137-4.

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The Desert Fathers or Desert Monks were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The Apophthegmata Patrum is a collection of the wisdom of some of the early desert monks and nuns, in print as Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

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The Everyday:Benedictine Life at Mount Saviour Monastery

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The Everyday explores the monastic attitudes toward everyday secular issues such as: faith, work, commitment and love. The monks offer insights to the joys and the disappointments of monastic life and in the process, lay down the groundwork for a new way of thinking about our own everyday lives.

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Ignatian Spirituality Finding God in All Things

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There are a number of outstanding resources devoted to Ignatian spirituality. Sacred Space is a popular prayer site run by the Irish Jesuits, and Jesuitprayer.org was created by the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus to provide daily online prayers and facilitate prayer requests.

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In order to foster and facilitate relationship with God, through prayer and contemplation, Carmelite spirituality proposes certain means, both personal and communal, namely meditation on the word of God, liturgy, silence and solitude, and asceticism. The Rule of St.

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In this transcript of a retreat talk, Trevor Miller offers an outline for Understanding Desert Monasticism.

DESERT FATHERS

In the early centuries of the Church's history, spreading as it did along the trade routes of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlands, places of worship were the homes of believers or the open air, wherever they could meet unseen because there was much persecution of the followers of Christ.

This all changed early in the 4th Century, when the Roman Emperor Constantine embraced Christianity, elevating it to the state religion through the Edict of Milan in 313 AD and by doing so ushered in a major cultural shift. After 3 centuries of 'being homeless in the world' Christians began to find themselves in favour, rather than persecuted. The result was confusion and bewilderment in those who had accepted themselves as aliens and strangers in this world. Many accepted Constantine's edict of toleration but it resulted in the cutting edge of the Church's life being blunted as for the first time nominalism took root (believers in name only) further resulting in mediocrity, accommodation and compromise as social standing became the reason for faith and not love of Jesus Christ.

It was at this point, when Christians began to find themselves at home in the world, where those who had previously persecuted the Christians were putting out the welcome mat and sitting in the 'same pew', that the response to the 'call of the desert' began to gain momentum, beginning at first with a few, and then a multitude.

Thomas Merton wrote "It should seem to us much stranger than it does, that this paradoxical flight from the world attained its greatest dimensions (I almost said frenzy) when the 'world' officially became Christian."

Was this Christian withdrawal into the desert purely a negative move? Was it a retreat from all the complications and compromise in those attempting to Christianise society? Was it a judgmental act, motivated to shame those Christians who had decided to stay and work out their salvation in the city? Which group of Christians made the right response to this new and 'favourable' situation, those who stayed in the 'city' or those who withdrew to the desert? In the mystery of God the answer has to be - BOTH.

One of my favourite stories, which I think will illustrate this point, comes from Elizabeth Goudges' book on the life of St Francis of Assisi. There is a moment when St Francis meets with Cardinal John, and the two embrace. You can imagine the scene, Francis in his robes of poverty and the cardinal dressed elegantly. Yet as they embrace they realise they share the same heart and devotion for the Lord. Yet, one is called to the temptations of poverty, and the other to the temptations of riches or, to put it another way, one is called to the temptations of the desert, and the other to the temptations of the city.

The moral of the story is that we each have to follow our vocation; to be who we are. Our Hild liturgy puts it well as we each pray, 'Lord, show me the right seat; Find me the fitting task; Give me the willing heart.'

The Desert Fathers and Mothers retreated to the outskirts of the cities and into the Deserts of Egypt, Syria and Palestine to think through the meaning of such change and to find a different way of being a Christian in the world.

Paradoxically so many people came to them for spiritual guidance, help and instruction so that within 50 years eyewitness accounts reported that the population of the desert equalled that of the towns. Some of the pilgrims stayed and this became the beginnings of Community. However, the Desert Fathers again sought solitude and withdrew from the new Community expression but the cycle repeated itself, resulting in many Communities springing up all over. Much of what was taught was in the form of pithy sayings and observations of wisdom. Here is a good example:

A brother came to visit Abba Sylvanus at Mount Sinai. When he saw the brothers working hard, he said to the old man, "Do not work for food that perishes, for Mary has chosen the good part." Then the old man called his disciple, "Zachary, give this brother a book and put him in an empty cell." Now when it was three o'clock the brother kept looking out of the door to see if someone would call him for the meal. But nobody called him, so he got up, went to see the old man, and asked: "Abba, didn't the brothers eat today?" The old man said, "Of course we did." "Then why didn't you call me?" he said. The old man replied, "You are a spiritual person, and do not need that kind of food, but since we are earthly, we want to eat and that's why we work. Indeed you have chosen the good part, reading all day long, and not wanting to eat earthly food." When the brother heard this he repented and said, "Forgive me, Abba." Then the old man said to him: "Mary certainly needed Martha, and it is really by Martha's help that Mary is praised'.

MONASTICISM

Antony of Egypt is generally regarded as the original desert father. He exemplified the Anchorites, those who were largely hermits, living in isolation. His life became the first written account of the monastic expression becoming widely read and revered.

Community life in a monastic sense first appeared with Pachomius in the 4 th Century. These were Cenobites, paradoxically described by Pachomius as 'a community of hermits', each living alone in their own cells yet together in work and worship.

The term Monasticism helps us to answer the question, what is a monk? The root word Monachos means 'alone, solitary'. In the beginning it stood for the ascetic who was not married and lived alone. Cenobites did not use this word in the beginning preferring 'brother'. However it quickly acquired a deeper meaning: a person who is 'one' in his inmost being. It means a person united within himself, a person with a single gaze, a single desire. Monos = monk, one, single minded; and this 'one thing necessary' was seeking God in repentance because it was a continual confrontation with the Cross, with self, with sin, with the wrong of the world.

The link between Celtic spirituality and desert spirituality is monasticism and Celtic spirituality embraced the meaning of the desert symbolically and metaphorically. Jesus used the term 'desert' in this way - a good example is Mark 6:31 where Jesus using the word for desert says 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest' Not a reference to desert dryness, uninhabited waste but a picture of solitude, stillness, the heart alone with God. Same word used in Luke 4:42 'At daybreak Jesus went to a solitary place.' Also Luke 6:12, 9:18, 11:1 - a place of privacy, aloneness, often whole nights in close company with his Father, expressive of his single minded devotion to the Father's will. Latin = solitudo. Russian = Poustinia, Greek = Eremos - stillness, desert, lonely place. A further understanding was seen in the example of the Temptations of Jesus. The desert for Jesus was a period of testing and discovery and just as He was 'led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted of the devil' so it would be for those who sought to follow Him. There is a strong tradition that Jesus (like his cousin John the Baptist before him) spent many of the so called hidden years in the desert regions. Jesus spent 18 years hidden; and only 3 years in public ministry.

So putting these together the desert was not just a place, a physical location but a type of Christian experience. It was a journey - an inner journey of the heart. The Bible begins in a Garden and ends in a City but much of the terrain in between is a desert. This was the ethos of what became monasticism - the inner journey of abandonment, stripping away, a place of encounter and discovery, of identity and vocation, of testing and preparation of heart for the life God has for us.

NORTHUMBRIA COMMUNITY

As a Community we are following on in our own generation this tradition. Our core vision is to respond to the call of God to seek Him in and through the embracing, exploring and expressing of a new monastic spirituality as a different way of living in and relating to, today's world.

This is our heart, our reason to be, the constant theme of Psalm 27. 'One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.' It is the daily renewal of our vows encapsulated in our morning office 'Who is it that you seek?'

It is the continual commitment to 'the one thing necessary.' Single minded focus on the mystery of God in Christ, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, not only in the narrow 'evangelical' interpretation of doctrinal exclusiveness but in the deeper awareness that all things come together in and through Christ. Then to offer the fruit of our life in incarnational ordinariness with all who come our way, cross our path in the everydayness of our roles, responsibilities and relationships, asking with them 'How then shall we live? How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?'

BACKGROUND

As a Community we have been and are united in this quest for 'a new monasticism' a Northumbrian spirituality. Not as an escapist, nostalgic quest for a golden era that didn't exist or to replicate the past but informed by the Celtic monastic tradition which is our heritage, we are 'looking with them to Him who inspires us both' in order to find a way to engage with the paradox and complexities of real life as it is, by drawing from the well of faith and love for the Lord expressed in that period of our history, and applying it to our contemporary situation.

Two of the more significant milestones in the journey of seeking to understand ourselves was a] the discovery of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and in particular his belief that 'The renewal of the church will come from a new type of monasticism which only has in common with the old an uncompromising allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. It is high time men and women banded together to do this'

And b] strongly identifying with those believers described by William Stringfellow in his book 'An ethic for Christians and other aliens in a strange land' as the hidden future of the Church 'Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent. Ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then but unsettled institutionally. Almost monastic in nature but most of all enacting a fearful hope for society.'

All this resonated with us as we firmly believed (and still believe) that we are experiencing as a Community, (along with many, many others) a 'holy restlessness' and a 'divine concern' regarding the nature of faith, which for us has only begun to make sense of the nonsense within us and around us through an embracing of monastic values and disciplines. Why is this? Because these distinct values enable us to 'marry' the inner journey, the landscape of the heart - a call to repentance, a call to self denial, and a call to recognise and to resist evil - with the outer journey, the landscape of the land, which has given us a platform to 'find a different way' of being a Christian in the society that we live in.

The whole purpose of the Nether Springs was to have a place, a residential centre, rooted in the spirituality of Northumbria, where we could explore and research this call of God, where we could be ourselves, no pretence or having to behave, while seeking God for Himself and getting to know our own hearts and at the same time, provide a facility for others to join us in their individual search for God.

MONASTICISM OLD AND NEW

In order for us to understand about 'a new monasticism' we needed to understand a little about 'old' monasticism because it was from that tradition that we drew so much. In this we were influenced by the way of life expressed in the monastic Community's at Roslin in Scotland and at Clonfert in Ireland, where Roland Walls and Michael Cullen respectively gave significant example.

We discovered that monasticism is 'a way of life with a spiritual goal which transcends the objectives of this earthly life. The attainment of this goal is considered the 'one thing necessary.' Christian monasticism i.e. that which is centred in and consecrated to Christ being informed, inspired and illumined by His Love) has three essential elements namely, Separation from the world, Ascetical practices, Mystical Aspiration.

A] Separation from the world - the physical separation of the enclosure; a tonsure, a distinctive habit etc. all of which marked the separateness.

B] Ascetical Practices - Poverty, chastity, obedience, regularity of life in a Community under a Rule, stability, self denial, silence, solitude, cultivation of lectio divina, public prayer of the Church e.g. the story in Exodus 17 where the continuous prayer of the liturgical offices is likened to the holding up the hands of Moses, and engaging in spiritual warfare.

C] Mystical Aspiration - Searching for God in his Absolute Mystery and Beyondness. God is both concealed and revealed. Contemplation of Christ the Living Word and of Christ in the written Word, allowing self to be caught up in the movement of repentance, of returning to God. Giving oneself to His action in us thro Availability and Vulnerability, surrender, abandonment, and prayer.

A new monasticism which is 'An interior monasticism of the heart' seeks to draw from these truths and attempts to live a contemporary expression of 'contemplation in a world of action.' So the differences are in emphases

A] Separation - not separatism, isolationist but withdrawal as strategic retreat. An awareness of the importance of the inner journey, poustinia, cloister of the heart, solitude, hiddenness, alone yet together.

B] Ascetical practises - a way for living that incorporates the spiritual disciplines to encourage this interior vigilence. Ascesis = training, living. It is training for life needing a Rule of life, a rhythm of prayer, a reason to be. Seeking God, knowing self so as to better live with others. So we have both solitude and Community, both Alone and Together as spiritual disciplines. This is seeking "truth in the inward parts" Ps 51, a life of repentance, humility and teachableness with a willingness to embrace the spiritual disciplines that bring life.

C] Mystical aspiration - awareness of God as Mystery, seeking God, longing, monasticism of the heart, compunction, a contemplative approach to life and prayer where an awareness of the cell, Desert, dark night, inner life, logismoi, monsters is needed. This is where God is concealed from us yet revealed to us in the paradoxical 'ever-present absence of God'..

All the spiritual disciplines and monastic values are there not as ends in themselves but as aids, tools, signposts to the heart of it all which is Christ. Thus we have many of our daily meditations (e.g. Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 17, 21 etc ) pointing to the inner journey as paramount and foundational.

This is our ethos, our heart, that which gives us identity. It is something we can only do alone but we are Together in our Aloneness. We have many Companions sharing our journey. It is the 'single minded search for God' given coherence by desert and Celtic spirituality which was essentially monastic and any expression of Monasticism stands in the wisdom tradition which is not an accumulation of knowledge for its own sake, but a constant application to life actually lived 'A wise person does not gather and dispense insights, but rather has the heart to live those insights'

1] MONASTIC DISCERNMENT - Relationship with God, self and others

2] MONASTIC DISCIPLINE - Rule of life - Availability and Vulnerability

3] MONASTIC DAY - Rhythm of prayer and life, giving a pattern to my days

MONASTIC DISCERNMENT

This was the purpose of going to the Cell. Your cell may have a physical representation; a hut or poustinia, a chair in a corner of a room etc. But whatever it is, it is symbolic of the heart alone with God. This is the heart of the inner journey. It is encounter and discernment of that which is constructive and destructive, enabling us to choose life and not death.

That process of looking inward in order to discover the true self as opposed to the false self, the deeper meaning of all your actions and reactions, and this 'going to the cell' would eventually teach you everything and so bring you closer to the true humanity of Christlikeness.

One of the first effects of 'going to the cell' is the release of the energies of the unconscious, which gives rise to two different psychological states:-

a] Exposure to the love of God: expressed and experienced in our personal development in the form of spiritual consolation; experiencing his mercy, grace and forgiveness in Christ through his Cross.

b] Exposure to the sinfulness of humanity: experiencing our own human weakness through humiliating self knowledge and encounter with the false self, the dark side of our personality. 'It takes a moment to get you out of Egypt but a lifetime to get Egypt out of you.'

This dual awareness is what the Fathers called 'compunction' and it's captured in the hymn 'Beneath the Cross of Jesus two wonders I confess: the wonder of his glorious love and my own worthlessness.

MONASTIC DISCIPLINE

This is why a Rule of life is absolutely essential to any monastic expression. It says this is who we are, this is our story and all who are part of us must keep to and live in the story that God has written as foundational. Monastic stability is to be accountable to a Rule of life NOT to a set of rules that restrict or deny life. It is, to use the words of Benedict 'simply a handbook to make the very radical demands of the gospel a practical reality in daily life'.

A Rule is like a pair of eye glasses (spectacles) - we don't look AT them but THROUGH them to life. How foolish to constantly look at them, the gold frames the bi-focul lenses and never look through them so as to actually see.

The word comes from the Old English REULE. In Latin it is REGULA which means 'rhythm, regularity of pattern, a recognisable standard' for the conduct of life. Esther De Waal writes that the Latin REGULA 'is a feminine noun which carried gentle connotations'. Not harsh negatives that we often associate with the phrase 'rules and regulations' today.

Esther De Waal tells us that the word has a root meaning of 'a signpost' which has a purpose of pointing away from itself so as to inform the traveller that they are going in the right direction on their journey. It would be foolish to claim we have arrived at our destination if in fact we are only at a signpost, however near or far from the destination it is.

Another root meaning of REGULA is 'a banister railing' which is something that gives support as you move forward, climbing or descending on your journey.

A Rule of life gives creative boundaries and spiritual disciplines while still leaving plenty of room for growth, development and flexibility. It gives us something to hold on to as we journey in our search for God, and when we be blown off course, it gives a safe haven to come back to. It gives us a means of perception, a way of seeing so that we can attempt to handle our lives and relationships wisely. This is why we can all be helped by embracing a

MONASTIC DAY

A workable rhythm to your day that draws from Monastic values that actually works for you according to your own unique situation and circumstances. It has to bring life and freedom not straightjacket you.

Our Rule of life is deliberately flexible and adaptable. It is also timeless because it does not PRESCRIBE, it PROVOKES. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive! It's the very opposite - its seek God for yourself, who you are, where you are - with your unique experience, knowledge and understanding of life. With all your idiosyncrasies, prejudices and crap - bring it all to the Rule of Availability and Vulneraility. We must hold it loosely so as to make our own discoveries. To realise there won't always be an answer so we keep asking/living the questions.

How then shall we live? Who is God? Who am I? What is Real?

It is to realise that God gives different answers to different people in different situations and circumstances, which is why we can't prescribe, can't meet individual agenda's and expectations.

In many ways it would be so much easier to say this is the prescription - do this, don't do that - take 3 Hail Mary's, 2 Our Father's 4 times a day. It has to be broad strokes, general principles to which you apply your specifics - your own unique set of circumstances and relationships.

Henri Nouwen expresses it well when he speaks of the spiritual life being a constant reaching out in the midst of paradox and chaos to these three areas of connectedness. This Reaching Out constitute the three Movements of the Spiritual Life.

1] Connecting in relation to self - From loneliness to solitude. With courageous honesty to our inmost selves, facing inner restlessness, our passions, weaknesses.

2] Connecting in relation to others - From hostility to hospitality. With relentless care to others, despite our mixed feelings and hostility.

3] Connecting in relation to God - From illusion to prayer. With increasing prayer to God, facing our doubts, disappointments and darkness. Living in incarnational reality.

It is the call to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, strength - to love our neighbour as ourselves - to love one another as Christ has loved us.

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Understanding Desert Monasticism - Northumbria Community

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In this transcript of a retreat talk, Trevor Miller offers an outline for Understanding Desert Monasticism. DESERT FATHERS In the early centuries of the Church's history, spreading as it did along the trade routes of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlands, places of worship were the homes of believers or the open ...