The Desert Fathers

Status
Not open for further replies.
G

gmcbroom

New member
Hello all,
Ever since I was baptized I’ve been interested in The Desert Fathers and Mothers those pioneering men and women who went into the desert to reach God by leaving society behind and devoting themselves to God in prayer. As a Maronite I’m enriched by the monastic heritage of the Eastern Catholic Church I’m a member of. I was wondering what everyone thought of them and this is open to catholic and non catholic alike.
 
gmcbroom said:
Hello all,
Ever since I was baptized I’ve been interested in The Desert Fathers and Mothers those pioneering men and women who went into the desert to reach God by leaving society behind and devoting themselves to God in prayer. As a Maronite I’m enriched by the monastic heritage of the Eastern Catholic Church I’m a member of. I was wondering what everyone thought of them and this is open to catholic and non catholic alike.
Click to expand...
Great Saints. There is a little legend about them nevertheless, they were grest.
 
Haha, I just finished an absolutely stunning snapshot study of the literature of early desert monasticism-

Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism, by William Harmless, S.J.

I must highly recommend this text if you are interested in the early Christian monastics. It truly is inspiring and offers us a wonderful taste of just how powerful the ancient practice of contemplative prayer truly is.
 
mwb85611 said:
Haha, I just finished an absolutely stunning snapshot study of the literature of early desert monasticism-

Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism, by William Harmless, S.J.

I must highly recommend this text if you are interested in the early Christian monastics. It truly is inspiring and offers us a wonderful taste of just how powerful the ancient practice of contemplative prayer truly is.
Click to expand...
I just got this book but haven’t read it yet - thanks for the review!

I love the Desert Fathers - in our age of self-centered Christianity, it is amazing to read about the humility they displayed.
 
We live somewhat near many of the little Catholic Missions built by some of the Desert Father’s down here. Most are built of hand chisled rocks, or adobe bricks.
We went on a little, spiritual pilgrimage in Spring, to a town called Concho in Arizona. There is a precious little Catholic Mission there. I think it was built close to 1900, or maybe earlier.
There were some historical plaques there telling the history of that Mission, and the Padres that built it. It was such a peaceful time while sitting on a old pew in front of the Tabernacle.
Beautiful, very old banner’s in there also, and some extremely old Saint statues.
Sometime’s we attend Holy Mass at one of the little, 100+ year old Mission’s built by the Desert Father’s close by.
They all experienced a pretty rough life, as Summer type weather usually begins from late March thru late October, with temps well over 90-100 degrees. Many areas have no tree’s for shade either. At least our evening’s from 6’ on can drop 30-40 degrees until late morning.
Many of them had to use donkey’s only as there mode of travel over some of the mountain’s, or mesa’s. Then later on some had the assistance of people helping them with auto’s in the 20’s and 30’s onward. But, when reading some of the true stories, those car’s broke down alot out in the middle of nowhere, in scorching heat, and rattle-snakes all around.
I really admire what the Desert Father’s did in the South West U.S.
 
Desertmesa said:
We live somewhat near many of the little Catholic Missions built by some of the Desert Father’s down here. Most are built of hand chisled rocks, or adobe bricks.
We went on a little, spiritual pilgrimage in Spring, to a town called Concho in Arizona. There is a precious little Catholic Mission there. I think it was built close to 1900, or maybe earlier.
There were some historical plaques there telling the history of that Mission, and the Padres that built it. It was such a peaceful time while sitting on a old pew in front of the Tabernacle.
Beautiful, very old banner’s in there also, and some extremely old Saint statues.
Sometime’s we attend Holy Mass at one of the little, 100+ year old Mission’s built by the Desert Father’s close by.
They all experienced a pretty rough life, as Summer type weather usually begins from late March thru late October, with temps well over 90-100 degrees. Many areas have no tree’s for shade either. At least our evening’s from 6’ on can drop 30-40 degrees until late morning.
Many of them had to use donkey’s only as there mode of travel over some of the mountain’s, or mesa’s. Then later on some had the assistance of people helping them with auto’s in the 20’s and 30’s onward. But, when reading some of the true stories, those car’s broke down alot out in the middle of nowhere, in scorching heat, and rattle-snakes all around.
I really admire what the Desert Father’s did in the South West U.S.
Click to expand...
Hi Desertmesa,

I wouldn’t want to minimize the contribution of the Spanish missioners in America, which was an enormous undertaking, so please don’t misunderstand.

The Desert Fathers are from the early centuries of the church, perhaps the third through fifth centuries, which would be about 1000 years and more before the events you describe. They lived as monastics in the margins of Egypt, Syria and Palestine mostly, and they are known to us through their writings or quotes of what they said.

‘The soul’s true peace lies in the gentle name of Jesus and in its emptying itself of impassioned thoughts.’
St Hesychios the Priest -Watchfulness, 122.
 
The Ladder of Divine Assent and The Sayings of the Desert Fathers have been big stuff to me. I made a chart that maps out the 8 principle evil thoughts (passions) and the way that they can be overcome to become wedded to Holy Dispassion, as explained in The Ladder. I also picked out 70 of my most favorite sayings of the Desert Fathers and plugged them into a program that I wrote that displays one of them at a time at random. I used to post these as “Thoughts for the day” on an Orthodox forum until some Orthodox didn’t agree with what some of the sayings said and had a few nasty things to say to me about it!

I’m just telling you this to let you know that I for one, like yourself, am very much into the Desert Fathers. But since I brought up how some other Orthodox didn’t care for some of the sayings, let me post a saying from the Desert Fathers which seemed to get the worst review:

" The Elders used to say, ‘If someone has faith in another, and hands himself over to him in complete submission, he does not need to pay attention to God’s commands but he can entrust his whole will to his father. He will suffer no reproach from God, for God looks for nothing from beginners so much as renunciation through obedience.’ "

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.

Check out this video about Hermits in our time: youtu.be/ZqEDhKKPl-o
 
Hesychios said:
Hi Desertmesa,

I wouldn’t want to minimize the contribution of the Spanish missioners in America, which was an enormous undertaking, so please don’t misunderstand.

The Desert Fathers are from the early centuries of the church, perhaps the third through fifth centuries, which would be about 1000 years and more before the events you describe. They lived as monastics in the margins of Egypt, Syria and Palestine mostly, and they are known to us through their writings or quotes of what they said.

‘The soul’s true peace lies in the gentle name of Jesus and in its emptying itself of impassioned thoughts.’
St Hesychios the Priest -Watchfulness, 122.
Click to expand...
OMG! Oh My Goodness. Ok, wrong thread that I posted my little (name removed by moderator)ut on. We call the Padres down here, from 1800’s and the early 1900’s Desert Father’s too.
Oh well, at least some can read some nice words about the “other one’s”. 😃
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top