The Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers
A Select Edition and Complete English Translation

The first full edition and English translation of the 'Anonymous' collection of The Tales and Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

John Wortley (Edited and translated by)

9781108439022, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 October 2017

659 pages
23 x 15.2 x 3.5 cm, 0.97 kg

'Despite the 'Anonymous' of the title, many of the stories are attached to the names of great monastic saints, but the overall sense is of an almost folkloric world of nameless governors, farmers, ascetics, soldiers, husbands, and wives. There is plenty more research to be done on what this family of texts brings to light, both theological and historical, and this handsomely produced volume is a welcome invitation to further study.' Rowan Williams, Common Knowledge

The Tales and Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Apophthegmata Patrum) are a key source of evidence for the practice and theory respectively of eremitic monasticism, a significant phenomenon within the early history of Christianity. The publication of this book finally ensures the availability of all three major collections which constitute the work, edited and translated into English. Richer in Tales than the 'Alphabetic' collection to which this is an appendix (both to be dated c.AD 500), the 'Anonymous' collection presented in this volume furnishes almost as much material for the study of the late antique world from which the monk sought to escape as it does for the monastic endeavour itself. More material continued to be added well into the seventh century, and so the spread and gradual evolution of monasticism are illustrated here over a period of about two and a half centuries.

Note on the translation
Introduction
Text and translation
Select bibliography
Indices.

Subject Areas: Christian life & practice [HRCV], Church history [HRCC2], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]