Know Your Faith IV The Fathers of the

Know Your Faith IV: The Fathers of the Church Lesson 13 The Desert Fathers Ss Paul, Pachomius and the Flight from Worldliness 1

Early Jewish Desert Monastics Elijah Elisha Sampson Essenes of Qumran 2

The Dead Sea Scrolls: How did they get there? 3

Nazarenes and Essenes 4

Christ, the Type of a Desert Dweller 5

THE ASCETIC IDEAL AND THE NEW TESTAMENT Wisdom from Fr Georges Florovsky THE ASCETIC IDEAL AND THE NEW TESTAMENT: Reflections on the Critique of the Theology of the Reformation 6

Official Toleration of Christianity The Edict of Milan, 313 AD Therefore, we have decreed the following ordinance… that no freedom at all shall be refused to Christians, to follow or to keep their observances or worship; but that to each one power be granted to devote his mind to that worship which he may think adapted to himself, that the Deity may in all things exhibit to us his accustomed favour and kindness. It was just and consistent that we should write that this was our pleasure, that all exceptions respecting the Christians being completely removed…and whatever measures were wholly sinister and foreign to our mildness, that these should be altogether annulled; and now that each one of the Christians may freely and without molestation, pursue and follow that course of worship which he has proposed to himself… 7

The Egyptian Desert: A Training Ground for Holiness 8

Cells and Sketes 9

Principle Types of Desert Fathers Hermitic: Solitary, with no relation to any particular place. Utter and extreme solitude. Anchoritic: Tied to a particular place Cenobitic: Living in a community, governed by a common rule of life. 10

St Paul of Thebes • c 230 - c 341 • Fled earthly riches • First Hermit in the Desert • Fed by a raven • Friend of St Anthony the Great 11

St Pachomius the Great • c 296 -348 • Secularly educated • Founder of Cenobitic Monasticism • Communal and Solitary Life • Wonderworker • Fighter of Demons • Director of 3000 Monks • His Cenobitic Rule: • Monastic attire • Obedience to the Abbott • No possessions • No gifts allowed from family • Exact obedience to the rule • Chastisement of the lazy 12

Theodosius the Great, the Cenobiarch • 423 -529 • Yearned for Solitary Life in Palestine • Soon many monks gathered in his cave • Organized and led a Cenobitic Community 13

Discussion Selected Sayings of the Desert Fathers 14