fbpx
Wikipedia

Desert Mothers

October 21, 2023

Desert Mothers is a neologism, coined in feminist theology as an analogy to Desert Fathers, for the ammas or female Christian ascetics living in the desert of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the 4th and 5th centuries AD.[1] They typically lived in the monastic communities that began forming during that time, though sometimes they lived as hermits. Monastic communities acted collectively with limited outside relations with lay people. Some ascetics chose to venture into isolated locations to restrict relations with others, deepen spiritual connection, and other ascetic purposes. Other women from that era who influenced the early ascetic or monastic tradition while living outside the desert are also described as Desert Mothers.[2]

Desert Mothers Saint Paula and her daughter Eustochium with their spiritual advisor Saint Jerome—painting by Francisco de Zurbarán

The Desert Fathers are much more well known because most of the early lives of the saints "were written by men for a male monastic audience"[3]—the occasional stories about the Desert Mothers come from the early Desert Fathers and their biographers. Due to the absence of male leadership mentioned in documental texts, it is suggested that desert women acted separately, with autonomy from their male counterparts.[4] Many desert women had leadership roles within the Christian community. The Apophthegmata Patrum, or Sayings of the Desert Fathers, includes forty-seven sayings that are actually attributed to the Desert Mothers. There are several chapters dedicated to the Desert Mothers in the Lausiac History by Palladius, who mentions 2,975 women living in the desert.[3] Other sources include the various stories told over the years about the lives of saints of that era, traditionally called vitae ("life").[5] The lives of twelve female desert saints are described in Book I of Vitae Patrum (Lives of the Fathers).[6]

Christian Asceticism Edit

Christian asceticism involved the self-discipline and deprivation of bodily "worldly" desires. Ascetics practiced abstinence and honored virginity, as sexual behavior and lust were "worldly desires."[7] Ascetics also practiced fasting and the deprivation of water and sleep to ensure focus on discipline and chasteness. Values of asceticism encouraged the relinquishing of items of "worldly" value; including, but not limited to, money, property, hygiene, thirst, hunger, and rest.[7] Female ascetics were socially known and referred to as "virgins" due to the intentionality of a chaste body and mind. Varied types of female asceticism existed as women could enter into domestic, monastic, or anchoretic lifestyles.

Notable examples Edit

 
Melania the Younger, from the Menologion of Basil II
 
Syncletica of Alexandria from the Menologion of Basil II

The Desert Mothers were known as ammas ("spiritual mothers"), comparable to the Desert Fathers (abbas), due to the respect they earned as spiritual teachers and directors.[8] One of the most well known Desert Mothers was Amma Syncletica of Alexandria, who had twenty-seven sayings attributed to her in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Two other ammas, Theodora of Alexandria and Amma Sarah of the Desert, also had sayings in that book. Desert Mothers described in the Lausiac History include Melania the Elder, Melania the Younger, Olympias, Saint Paula and her daughter Eustochium, and several women whom the author does not name.[9]

According to written accounts, Amma Syncletica might have been born around AD 270, since she is said to have lived to her eighties in about AD 350, to wealthy parents in Alexandria and was well educated, including an early study of the writings of Desert Father Evagrius Ponticus. After the death of her parents, she sold everything she had and gave the money to the poor. The giving up of property, money, and items of value was a pinnacle of asceticism, due to the worldly value placed on such items.[7] Moving outside the city with her blind sister, she lived as a hermit among the tombs outside of Alexandria. Gradually a community of women ascetics grew up around her, who she served as their spiritual mother. Even though she was an ascetic and hermit, Syncletica taught moderation, and that asceticism was not an end in itself.[10]

Theodora of Alexandria was the amma of a monastic community of women near Alexandria. Prior to that, she had fled to the desert disguised as a man and joined a community of monks. She was sought out by many of the Desert Fathers for advice—reportedly Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria came to her for counsel.[11]

Sarah of the Desert's sayings indicate that she was a hermit living by a river for sixty years. Her sharp replies to some of the old men who challenged her show a distinctly strong personality.[9] According to one story, two male anchorites visited her in the desert and decided, "Let's humiliate this old woman." They said to her, "Be careful not to become conceited thinking to yourself: 'Look how anchorites are coming to see me, a mere woman.'" She replied, "According to nature I am a woman, but not according to my thoughts."[12]

Melania the Elder, the daughter of a Roman official, became widowed at a young age and moved to Alexandria, and then to the Nitrian Desert. She met several of the Desert Fathers, following them in their travels and ministering to them using her own money. At one point she was thrown into prison for supporting them, after several of the Fathers had been banished by the officials in Palestine. She eventually founded a convent in Jerusalem which had about fifty nuns.[13] Melania the Elder is an example of female power and leadership within Christian asceticism due to the influence she held in the region with the founding of monasteries and convents. Melania the Elder was also educated and held the ability to read and write, separating her from other ascetic leaders and women. Her granddaughter, Melania the Younger, was married at the age of thirteen and had two sons, both of whom died at a young age. When she was twenty, she and her husband Pinianus renounced the world, both founding convents and monasteries.[13]

According to Averil Cameron, women were quite prominent in the desert tradition, even though early accounts often leave women nameless. In Cameron’s opinion there is no distinction between the men’s wise sayings and that of Amma Sarah and Amma Syncletia. One text refers to Theodora, who had monks listening to her counsel and asking questions. Some women converted their houses into religious establishments and there were sex-mixed social/religious groups. Women could not obtain ordination as a deacon or a priest.[14]

Desert Mothers are honored with a Lesser Feast on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America[15] on January 5.[16]

Sayings Edit

  • Amma Sarah said, "If I prayed God that all people should approve of my conduct, I should find myself a penitent at the door of each one, but I shall rather pray that my heart may be pure toward all."[17]
  • Amma Syncletica said, "In the beginning there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for those who are advancing towards God and afterwards, ineffable joy. It is like those who wish to light a fire; at first they are choked by the smoke and cry, and by this means obtain what they seek ... so we must also kindle the divine fire in ourselves through tears and hard work."[18]
  • Amma Syncletica said, "There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town; they are wasting their time. It is possible to be a solitary in one's mind while living in a crowd; and it is possible for those who are solitaries to live in the crowd of their own thoughts."[19]
  • Amma Theodora said that neither asceticism, nor vigils, nor any kind of suffering are able to save. Only true humility can do that. There was a hermit who was able to banish the demons. And he asked them: "What makes you go away? Is it fasting?" They replied: "We do not eat or drink." "Is it vigils?" They said: "We do not sleep." "Then what power sends you away?" They replied: "Nothing can overcome us except humility alone." Amma Theodora said: "Do you see how humility is victorious over the demons?"[20]

See also Edit

References Edit

Citations Edit

  1. ^ Cardman 2000, p. 373: The Desert Mothers were Christian women ascetics who lived in monastic communities or, more rarely, as solitaires during the fourth and fifth centuries A.D., principally in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.
  2. ^ Cardman 2000, p. 373.
  3. ^ a b King n.d.
  4. ^ Schroeder, Caroline T. (March 2014). Women in Anchoritic and Semi-Anchoritic Monasticism in Egypt: Rethinking the Landscape (83 ed.). Church History. pp. 1–17.
  5. ^ Cardman 2000, pp. 373–374.
  6. ^ Beresford 2007, p. 10.
  7. ^ a b c Martinez, Maria Jesus Albarran (2015). Female Asceticism and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt According to Papyrological Sources (17 ed.). Journal of Coptic Studies. pp. 1–31.
  8. ^ Earle 2007, pp. 1–2.
  9. ^ a b Cardman 2000, p. 374.
  10. ^ Chryssavgis 2008, pp. 29–32.
  11. ^ Earle 2007, p. 41; Swan 2001, p. 104.
  12. ^ Forman 2005, p. 32.
  13. ^ a b Palladius 1918.
  14. ^ Cameron 1993.
  15. ^ "Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018". from the original on 2019-02-14.
  16. ^ "Sarah, Theodora & Syncletica: Thde Desert Mothers". satucket.com. Retrieved 2021-04-13.
  17. ^ Swan 2001, p. 43.
  18. ^ Swan 2001, p. 39.
  19. ^ Chryssavgis 2008, p. 30.
  20. ^ Chryssavgis 2008, p. 73.

Works cited Edit

  • Beresford, Andrew M. (2007). The Legends of the Holy Harlots: Thaïs and Pelagia in Medieval Spanish Literature. Colección Támesis, Serie A: Monografías. Vol. 238. Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Tamesis Books. ISBN 978-1-85566-144-8. ISSN 0587-9914.
  • Cameron, Averil (1993). "Desert Mothers: Women Ascetics in Early Christian Egypt". In Puttick, Elizabeth; Clarke, Bernard (eds.). Women as Teachers and Disciples in Traditional and New Religions. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. pp. 11–24. ISBN 978-0-7734-9346-9.
  • Cardman, Francine (2000). "Desert Mothers". In Johnston, William M. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Monasticism. Vol. 1. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. pp. 373–375. ISBN 978-1-57958-090-2.
  • Chryssavgis, John (2008). In the Heart of the Desert: The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers (rev. ed.). Bloomington, Indiana: World Wisdom. ISBN 978-1-933316-56-7.
  • Earle, Mary C. (2007). The Desert Mothers: Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness. New York: Church Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8192-2156-8.
  • Forman, Mary (2005). Praying with the Desert Mothers. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-8146-1522-5.
  • King, Margot (n.d.). . Peregrina Publishing. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  • King, Margot (March 1983). The Desert Mothers: From Judith to Julian of Norwich (9 ed.). 14th Century English Mystics Newsletter. pp. 12–25.
  • Larsen, Lillian I. (2008). The Apophthegmata Patrum: Rustic Rumination or Rhetorical Recitation (23 ed.). Collegium Patristicum Lundense. pp. 21–30.
  • Martinez, Maria Jesus Albarran (2015). Female Asceticism and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt According to Papyrological Sources (17 ed.). Journal of Coptic Studies. pp. 1–31.
  • Miller, Patricia Cox (2005). Women in Early Christianity: Translations from Greek Texts. Catholic University of American Press. pp. 236–249.
  • Palladius of Galatia (1918). The Lausiac History. Translated by Clarke, W. K. L. London: SPCK. Retrieved 25 June 2018 – via Internet Medieval Source Book.
  • Schroeder, Caroline T. (March 2014). Women in Anchoritic and Semi-Anchoritic Monasticism in Egypt: Rethinking the Landscape (83 ed.). Church History. pp. 1–17.
  • Swan, Laura (2001). The Forgotten Desert Mothers: Sayings, Lives, and Stories of Early Christian Women. New York: Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-4016-9.
  • Ward, Benedicta (1975). The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Cistercian Publications.

Further reading Edit

October 21, 2023
desert, mothers, neologism, coined, feminist, theology, analogy, desert, fathers, ammas, female, christian, ascetics, living, desert, egypt, palestine, syria, centuries, they, typically, lived, monastic, communities, that, began, forming, during, that, time, t. Desert Mothers is a neologism coined in feminist theology as an analogy to Desert Fathers for the ammas or female Christian ascetics living in the desert of Egypt Palestine and Syria in the 4th and 5th centuries AD 1 They typically lived in the monastic communities that began forming during that time though sometimes they lived as hermits Monastic communities acted collectively with limited outside relations with lay people Some ascetics chose to venture into isolated locations to restrict relations with others deepen spiritual connection and other ascetic purposes Other women from that era who influenced the early ascetic or monastic tradition while living outside the desert are also described as Desert Mothers 2 Desert Mothers Saint Paula and her daughter Eustochium with their spiritual advisor Saint Jerome painting by Francisco de ZurbaranThe Desert Fathers are much more well known because most of the early lives of the saints were written by men for a male monastic audience 3 the occasional stories about the Desert Mothers come from the early Desert Fathers and their biographers Due to the absence of male leadership mentioned in documental texts it is suggested that desert women acted separately with autonomy from their male counterparts 4 Many desert women had leadership roles within the Christian community The Apophthegmata Patrum or Sayings of the Desert Fathers includes forty seven sayings that are actually attributed to the Desert Mothers There are several chapters dedicated to the Desert Mothers in the Lausiac History by Palladius who mentions 2 975 women living in the desert 3 Other sources include the various stories told over the years about the lives of saints of that era traditionally called vitae life 5 The lives of twelve female desert saints are described in Book I of Vitae Patrum Lives of the Fathers 6 Contents 1 Christian Asceticism 2 Notable examples 3 Sayings 4 See also 5 References 5 1 Citations 5 2 Works cited 5 3 Further readingChristian Asceticism EditChristian asceticism involved the self discipline and deprivation of bodily worldly desires Ascetics practiced abstinence and honored virginity as sexual behavior and lust were worldly desires 7 Ascetics also practiced fasting and the deprivation of water and sleep to ensure focus on discipline and chasteness Values of asceticism encouraged the relinquishing of items of worldly value including but not limited to money property hygiene thirst hunger and rest 7 Female ascetics were socially known and referred to as virgins due to the intentionality of a chaste body and mind Varied types of female asceticism existed as women could enter into domestic monastic or anchoretic lifestyles Notable examples Edit nbsp Melania the Younger from the Menologion of Basil II nbsp Syncletica of Alexandria from the Menologion of Basil IIThe Desert Mothers were known as ammas spiritual mothers comparable to the Desert Fathers abbas due to the respect they earned as spiritual teachers and directors 8 One of the most well known Desert Mothers was Amma Syncletica of Alexandria who had twenty seven sayings attributed to her in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers Two other ammas Theodora of Alexandria and Amma Sarah of the Desert also had sayings in that book Desert Mothers described in the Lausiac History include Melania the Elder Melania the Younger Olympias Saint Paula and her daughter Eustochium and several women whom the author does not name 9 According to written accounts Amma Syncletica might have been born around AD 270 since she is said to have lived to her eighties in about AD 350 to wealthy parents in Alexandria and was well educated including an early study of the writings of Desert Father Evagrius Ponticus After the death of her parents she sold everything she had and gave the money to the poor The giving up of property money and items of value was a pinnacle of asceticism due to the worldly value placed on such items 7 Moving outside the city with her blind sister she lived as a hermit among the tombs outside of Alexandria Gradually a community of women ascetics grew up around her who she served as their spiritual mother Even though she was an ascetic and hermit Syncletica taught moderation and that asceticism was not an end in itself 10 Theodora of Alexandria was the amma of a monastic community of women near Alexandria Prior to that she had fled to the desert disguised as a man and joined a community of monks She was sought out by many of the Desert Fathers for advice reportedly Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria came to her for counsel 11 Sarah of the Desert s sayings indicate that she was a hermit living by a river for sixty years Her sharp replies to some of the old men who challenged her show a distinctly strong personality 9 According to one story two male anchorites visited her in the desert and decided Let s humiliate this old woman They said to her Be careful not to become conceited thinking to yourself Look how anchorites are coming to see me a mere woman She replied According to nature I am a woman but not according to my thoughts 12 Melania the Elder the daughter of a Roman official became widowed at a young age and moved to Alexandria and then to the Nitrian Desert She met several of the Desert Fathers following them in their travels and ministering to them using her own money At one point she was thrown into prison for supporting them after several of the Fathers had been banished by the officials in Palestine She eventually founded a convent in Jerusalem which had about fifty nuns 13 Melania the Elder is an example of female power and leadership within Christian asceticism due to the influence she held in the region with the founding of monasteries and convents Melania the Elder was also educated and held the ability to read and write separating her from other ascetic leaders and women Her granddaughter Melania the Younger was married at the age of thirteen and had two sons both of whom died at a young age When she was twenty she and her husband Pinianus renounced the world both founding convents and monasteries 13 According to Averil Cameron women were quite prominent in the desert tradition even though early accounts often leave women nameless In Cameron s opinion there is no distinction between the men s wise sayings and that of Amma Sarah and Amma Syncletia One text refers to Theodora who had monks listening to her counsel and asking questions Some women converted their houses into religious establishments and there were sex mixed social religious groups Women could not obtain ordination as a deacon or a priest 14 Desert Mothers are honored with a Lesser Feast on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America 15 on January 5 16 Sayings EditAmma Sarah said If I prayed God that all people should approve of my conduct I should find myself a penitent at the door of each one but I shall rather pray that my heart may be pure toward all 17 Amma Syncletica said In the beginning there are a great many battles and a good deal of suffering for those who are advancing towards God and afterwards ineffable joy It is like those who wish to light a fire at first they are choked by the smoke and cry and by this means obtain what they seek so we must also kindle the divine fire in ourselves through tears and hard work 18 Amma Syncletica said There are many who live in the mountains and behave as if they were in the town they are wasting their time It is possible to be a solitary in one s mind while living in a crowd and it is possible for those who are solitaries to live in the crowd of their own thoughts 19 Amma Theodora said that neither asceticism nor vigils nor any kind of suffering are able to save Only true humility can do that There was a hermit who was able to banish the demons And he asked them What makes you go away Is it fasting They replied We do not eat or drink Is it vigils They said We do not sleep Then what power sends you away They replied Nothing can overcome us except humility alone Amma Theodora said Do you see how humility is victorious over the demons 20 See also Edit nbsp Saints portal nbsp Biography portal nbsp Christianity portalBlaesilla Catherine of Alexandria Christian monasticism Demiana Domnina of Syria Eastern Christian monasticism Eustochium John Chryssavgis Macrina the Elder Macrina the Younger Margaret the Virgin Mary of Egypt Melania the Younger Menodora Metrodora and Nymphodora Paula of Rome Saint Pelagia Sarah of the Desert Syncletica of Alexandria Theoktiste of LesbosReferences EditCitations Edit Cardman 2000 p 373 The Desert Mothers were Christian women ascetics who lived in monastic communities or more rarely as solitaires during the fourth and fifth centuries A D principally in the deserts of Egypt Palestine and Syria Cardman 2000 p 373 a b King n d Schroeder Caroline T March 2014 Women in Anchoritic and Semi Anchoritic Monasticism in Egypt Rethinking the Landscape 83 ed Church History pp 1 17 Cardman 2000 pp 373 374 Beresford 2007 p 10 a b c Martinez Maria Jesus Albarran 2015 Female Asceticism and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt According to Papyrological Sources 17 ed Journal of Coptic Studies pp 1 31 Earle 2007 pp 1 2 a b Cardman 2000 p 374 Chryssavgis 2008 pp 29 32 Earle 2007 p 41 Swan 2001 p 104 Forman 2005 p 32 a b Palladius 1918 Cameron 1993 Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 Archived from the original on 2019 02 14 Sarah Theodora amp Syncletica Thde Desert Mothers satucket com Retrieved 2021 04 13 Swan 2001 p 43 Swan 2001 p 39 Chryssavgis 2008 p 30 Chryssavgis 2008 p 73 Works cited Edit Beresford Andrew M 2007 The Legends of the Holy Harlots Thais and Pelagia in Medieval Spanish Literature Coleccion Tamesis Serie A Monografias Vol 238 Woodbridge Suffolk England Tamesis Books ISBN 978 1 85566 144 8 ISSN 0587 9914 Cameron Averil 1993 Desert Mothers Women Ascetics in Early Christian Egypt In Puttick Elizabeth Clarke Bernard eds Women as Teachers and Disciples in Traditional and New Religions Lewiston New York Edwin Mellen Press pp 11 24 ISBN 978 0 7734 9346 9 Cardman Francine 2000 Desert Mothers In Johnston William M ed Encyclopedia of Monasticism Vol 1 Chicago Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers pp 373 375 ISBN 978 1 57958 090 2 Chryssavgis John 2008 In the Heart of the Desert The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers rev ed Bloomington Indiana World Wisdom ISBN 978 1 933316 56 7 Earle Mary C 2007 The Desert Mothers Spiritual Practices from the Women of the Wilderness New York Church Publishing ISBN 978 0 8192 2156 8 Forman Mary 2005 Praying with the Desert Mothers Collegeville Minnesota Liturgical Press ISBN 978 0 8146 1522 5 King Margot n d The Desert Mothers A Survey of the Feminine Anchoretic Tradition in Western Europe Peregrina Publishing Archived from the original on 14 August 2014 Retrieved 25 June 2018 King Margot March 1983 The Desert Mothers From Judith to Julian of Norwich 9 ed 14th Century English Mystics Newsletter pp 12 25 Larsen Lillian I 2008 The Apophthegmata Patrum Rustic Rumination or Rhetorical Recitation 23 ed Collegium Patristicum Lundense pp 21 30 Martinez Maria Jesus Albarran 2015 Female Asceticism and Monasticism in Late Antique Egypt According to Papyrological Sources 17 ed Journal of Coptic Studies pp 1 31 Miller Patricia Cox 2005 Women in Early Christianity Translations from Greek Texts Catholic University of American Press pp 236 249 Palladius of Galatia 1918 The Lausiac History Translated by Clarke W K L London SPCK Retrieved 25 June 2018 via Internet Medieval Source Book Schroeder Caroline T March 2014 Women in Anchoritic and Semi Anchoritic Monasticism in Egypt Rethinking the Landscape 83 ed Church History pp 1 17 Swan Laura 2001 The Forgotten Desert Mothers Sayings Lives and Stories of Early Christian Women New York Paulist Press ISBN 978 0 8091 4016 9 Ward Benedicta 1975 The Sayings of the Desert Fathers Cistercian Publications Further reading Edit Ward Benedicta 1985 Apophthegmata Matrum In Livingstone E A ed Studia Patristica Vol 16 Berlin Akademie Verlag pp 63 66 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Desert Mothers amp oldid 1170846467, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.