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Who were the desert mothers?

These women lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, C.E. Their way of life came into being after Christianity had become legal and Christians were no longer under persecution. Some had deep questions about an expression of the faith that was taking on the trappings of the Roman Empire. The "red martyrdom" (sacrificing one's life rather than recanting faith in the resurrected Lord) was no longer possible. So the practice of the "white martyrdom" began to appear - women and men going to the deserts of Egypt and the Holy Land, and seeking to live out the Great Commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Luke 10:27, Dt. 6:5, Lev. 19:18) As scholar Roberta Bondi has pointed out, the desert mothers and fathers are remarkable for their daily practice of seeking to "love as God loves."

What do we know about these women?

For one thing, we know there were a lot of them. One historian of the times tells us that there were twice as many women as men in the deserts. Another scholar said that there were so many Christians who sought to live this life in the desert that "the desert became a city." There were even accounts of "tourists" going out to the deserts to observe the ammas and abbas.

We know the names of four of these women whose sayings have been preserved: Amma Matrona, Amma Sarah, Amma Syncletica and Amma Theodora. And we know a little about their lives. We know, for example, that Amma Theodora was what we might call a spiritual director to bishops and other men in public position. We know that she was clear in her teaching and strong in her rebukes. We know that Amma Syncletica and her sister sought the life in the desert after their parents died.

Yet surrounding what we know is a vast silence. We have very little record of the thousands of women who lived this life of simplicity, silence and stillness. We have stories of others, such as Mary of Egypt (one good reference for that is Harlots of the Desert by Benedicta Ward).

What does "amma" mean?

The word means "mother." It came to refer to those women who were spiritual mothers to many. They were wise teachers who were sought out for guidance in living the Christian life.

The book is structured around nine concise sayings from the desert mothers. How did we receive these?

The desert tradition was an oral tradition which was then later written down. It was often the case that someone seeking to live a more faithful life would go to an amma (or an abba) and seek guidance with a decision, or a state of confusion, or the life of prayer. The sayings are pretty terse, and sometimes seem completely odd to us. We are inevitably reading them out of context; it helps to imagine two women sitting together, one asking the guidance of the other.

We have many more sayings from the desert fathers. In fact, we have a whole book worth of sayings ( The Sayings of the Desert Fathers). The sayings of those four known ammas are included in that collection. Thanks to the work of scholars like Roberta Bondi and Mary Forman, we are beginning to see the ammas in their own light, and to reclaim women's history in this period of the life of the church.

What do these desert mothers have to offer to us today?

I tell students that when we study the desert mothers and fathers, we have to remember that we are looking at a galaxy far, far away. I think it may be beyond the capacity of our imaginations to conceive of their time and culture. That said, it is also true that their sayings speak to deep human yearnings and to perennial human difficulties. We still judge one another constantly, thereby anointing ourselves as if we were God. We still stumble in the practice of living faithfully, and we need support. We still have difficulty being honest with ourselves and with God. The ammas know intimately these movements of the heart and soul, and they encourage us, they confront us and they guide us.

I also find their insistence on practicing silence, solitude and stillness a kind of medicine for our over-heated, frenetic culture. Many women today are trying to balance work, family, volunteering, and participation in a faith community. Our lives are harried, and we have no sense of being able to rest in the divine silence, the Source from which we come and to which we will return. When I am teaching this material, I always begin and end the class with simply sitting in silence. Inevitably, participants remark that it is like getting a drink when you are really thirsty, so thirsty you had forgotten what water tasted like.

The practices that the desert offers us are down to earth, simple ways of allowing ourselves to be reminded that we are always living in the Love which creates, redeems and sustains us. The ammas draw us away from the assumption that technique is what matters. They remind us that this is a way of life.

Do you mean we should all go to the desert and become solitaries?

Certainly not. I mean that the human dimension of life in the desert is common to all of us. We are made for relationship with God and one another - one of the gifts of the Great Commandment is that it calls us to remember that basic truth. Knowing that in the abstract is one thing. Living it out in the nitty gritty of daily rounds is another. The ammas help us to find ways to gently pay attention to God's presence with us in all places and through all things. And they teach us to grow in the awareness that we are each unique, remarkable parts of a vast, vital, interconnected cosmos. We are reminded that we ARE one - that is reality from God's perspective. Our task is to align our lives and our loves in such a way that we participate in that reality. Most of us think we have to make the oneness. The desert knows the fallacy of that perception.

What have you personally learned from the ammas?

First, I have learned to experiment. When these women decided to leave their lives - some of them were learned, some were fairly wealthy, some were prostitutes - they made a choice to try to create something new with one another and with God. There were a variety of models. Some were solitaries. Some were living in community. Some were solitaries who lived in huts, yet came together regularly for worship and meals. Initially, there was no single monolithic pattern. At midlife, I know that many women are trying to find patterns for living that are congruent with their experience and their faith. And sometimes we need examples from women's history to help us find what fits.

Second, the ammas have taught me to set aside time for quiet. There are so many pressures that lead us to be fragmented. The tradition does not deny the pressures. The ammas tells us that God is present even in those daily struggles. I can remember that more readily if I have taken time for quiet.

Third, the ammas take me back to basics. We live in a time in which so much polarization has happened in both the national political arena, and within the church. The ammas invite us to look beyond all the divisive fussing - not to deny it, but to see it as surface reality. They invite us to gaze more deeply, especially in the most tensive of circumstances.

And lastly, the ammas tell me that from the beginnings of the life of the Church, women have been initiators of new patterns and teachings, opening the way for knowing the wholeness that God offers in Christ. When I am reading the stories and sayings of the desert ammas, I am struck by their utter confidence that no matter what, this world belongs to God, is loved by God, and that each person, each creature, each aspect of the created order, is an expression (some would say a theophany, a showing) of God's love.

This Q&A was graciously provided to SpiritualityandPractice.com by Morehouse Publishing.

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Who were the desert mothers? These women lived in the fourth and fifth centuries, C.E. Their way of life came into being after Christianity had become legal and Christians were no longer under persecution. Some had deep questions about an expression of the faith that was taking on the trappings of the Roman Empire.

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Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained | Abbey of the Arts

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When people ask us "What is a monk", we often have to decide on the short, medium or long answer.

SHORT: We are 40 Benedictine monks of the Roman Catholic Church living in Subiaco, Arkansas, USA. We follow the 1,500 year old Rule as written by our holy father Saint Benedict who lived in Italy (you can learn more about that Rule by clicking HERE). This Rule and monastic way of life flow from the ancient biblical model of radical Christian discipleship as found in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-35. Those men and women who lived out this radical way of life (most often alone in the desert) were referred to as "monks" or "monastics". Our balanced life of prayer and work (known in Latin as "Ora et Labora") has existed in Arkansas since our founding in 1878 by monks from St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana.

MEDIUM: The life of a monk is concerned with the one thing necessary: quaerere Deum (to seek God). He lives in the Monastery, submits to the authority of the Abbot, and follows the Rule of Our Holy Father Benedict. Monasticism is the most ancient manifestation of the religious state in the Church, which itself has always been held to be the highest and most privileged means to the universal end of the Christian religion.

Through the three vows of Obedience, Stability, and Conversatio Morum a monk pursues the perfect fulfillment of the Gospel precepts. He sacrifices the lesser goods of this world in order to make room for Christ above all and before all, who is Goodness Itself. The monk accepts Christ's words to the rich young man: "If you wish to be perfect, go and sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." (Matthew 19.21). This Rule and monastic way of life flow from the ancient biblical model of radical Christian discipleship as found in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-35.

The monk seeks here and now that union that Jesus Christ shares with the Father. Like the prophet Elijah in the Old Testament, or St. Paul in the New Testament, the monk leads a celibate life as a means to this union. This is an eschatological sign of his exclusive dedication to God, the infinite Good. This union grows through prayer and charity, and the daily joys and sufferings of life in this valley of tears. In prayer the monk spends time with the one he loves. In as much as the neighbor is made in the image of God and redeemed by Christ's Precious Blood, the monk practices Christian charity towards his brethren for the sake of God and in God. A similar dynamic occurs in marriage.

The monk seeks God exclusively. Detached from all creatures, he gives himself totally to the Creator. For the sake of Our Lord, he renounces the highest natural goods: marriage, children, and free will. The monk makes an oblation of his whole being to God, intellect and will, body and soul.

As monks called to such a vocation, unworthy though we be, we hope in the words of Our Holy Father Benedict to "persevere in fidelity to God's teaching in the monastery until death so that through our patience we may be granted a share in the sufferings of Christ, and so receive a share in His Kingdom." ( Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue).

LONG: Because of the long and varied history of Benedictine Monasticism over the past 1,500 years, it would take volumes of books to do justice to the subject. We will, though, show you one really cool papyrus and direct you to one nicely written LONG article.

First, we know that monks exhisted in the Church from its earliest days. In fact, the presence of those Christians that we now call monks were attested by scholars well before the end of the first century. These were men and women who were called by God to live out the radical Christian discipleship that was lived by the early church found in Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-35. Some of these men and women lived alone in the desert ("monochos"), others lived in cities, and even others lived this way of life as a group in a single monastic community (sometimes referred to as "coenobitic monasticism"--St. Augustine was a monk and liked to quote Psalm 133:1 in this regard--"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!") The earliest "written" use of the word "monk" ("monachos") can be found in a petition that was written in Greek by Arsinoites of Karanis (south of Cairo), Egypt, sometime around 324 AD. The writer was suing his neighbor (and seeking justice) because the neighbor's cow kept getting loose and trampling the writer's garden. The writer was able to grab the cow out of the garden, when the owner and friends with clubs started beating him. Luckily, a Deacon named Antonius was traveling on the road with a MONK named Isaac. They came to the aid of Arsinoites so he was not killed (If you would like to see a copy of this actual papyrus, then click HERE. You can also click the link on this page to see the Greek with it's English translation). The existence of Christian monks certainly pre-dated this, but this is the first instance we have of where the actual word MONACHOS was used in writing. We also know from the ancient Pilgrimage Diary of Egeria that a diverse group of monks (coenobitic and anchorites/hermits) were present in vast numbers throughout Egypt and the Holy Land when she made her pilgrimage in 381-384 AD.

Next, the history of monasticism (and in particular where St. Benedict enters the story) is so extensive that a former Abbot Primate, Jerome Theisen, took the time to provide a brief introduction for the general public. This introduction has numerous links which you can use to further explore this fascinating subject. You can find this introduction by clicking HERE

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When people ask us "What is a monk", we often have to decide on the short, medium or long answer. SHORT: We are 40 Benedictine monks of the Roman Catholic Church living in Subiaco, Arkansas, USA.

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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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Meditation Retreats and Monastic Lifestyles

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Benedictine Monasticism - Mount Michael Abbey

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Part one of Mount Michael Abbey's Promotion Video

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Today, the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, we take a look at Carmelite spirituality and at a new and growing community of Carmelite monks in Wyoming.