Sayings of the Desert Fathers

The Desert Fathers spoke Coptic, the latest stage of ancient Egyptian. The sayings were originally passed on orally in Coptic, but the original written version was Greek.^[9] The earliest written record of the sayings appears to be from the end of the 4th century AD. Two versions from the 5th century, the Collectio Monastica, written in Ethiopic, and the Asceticon of Isaiah of Scetis, written in Greek, show how the oral tradition became the written collections.^[5] There are surviving fragments of the Sayings in both the Sahidic and Bohairic dialects of Coptic, but they represent back-translations from Greek. They were collected and published by Marius Chaîne.^[5]

The Sayings have been translated in whole or in part several times. Pelagius and John the Deacon made the first translations into Latin. Martin of Braga also translated some of the Sayings into Latin, followed by a more extensive translation by Paschasius of Dumium in approximately 555.^[10] That work may contain only one fifth of the original Greek text.^[11] In the 17th century, the Dutch Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde compiled and translated all the available sources on the Desert Fathers and published them in Latin as the Vitae patrum.

Two translations in Aramaic were made: the Nestorian monk Ânân Îshô's translation into Classical Syriac from the early 7th century, known as the Paradise of the Fathers; and a Christian Palestinian Aramaic translation known from dispersed fragments for the early transmission (6th to 7th century AD)^[12] as well as a fragmentary version for the later period (ca. 10th to 11th century AD), originating from or still housed at the Monastery of St Catherine, Mount Sinai^[13][14][15] There are also Armenian translations of both the Alphabetical and Systematic collections.^[5] In the period 867–872, Methodius of Thessaloniki translated the text into Old Church Slavonic, of which the original was lost in the 14th century, but several dozen copies of the Paterik' (Патерікъ) survived.^[16] Some of the Sayings are preserved in Arabic and Georgian translations.^[5] Through the Asceticon, some of the Sayings made their way into Sogdian.^[17]

Helen Waddell translated a selection of elements from the Vitae patrum into English in the early 20th century.^[18] The first complete translation of the alphabetical "apophthegmata" into English is that of Benedicta Ward (1975).^[19] English translations of the alphabetical,^[20] systematic,^[21] and anonymous collections^[22] were also later published by John Wortley from 2012 to 2014. The most comprehensive critical edition of the alphabetical "apophthegmata" was published by Tim Vivian in two volumes (2021, 2023).^[23][24]

• One time, the blessed Abba Theophilus the archbishop went to Scetis. But the brothers gathered and said to Abba Pambo: 'Tell the Father one word that he may benefit.' The old man told them: 'If he does not always benefit from our silence, then if we speak he will still not benefit.'^[25]
• Abbot Pastor said: 'If a man has done wrong and does not deny it, but says: "I did wrong," do not rebuke him, because you will break the resolution of his soul. And if you tell him: "Do not be sad, brother," but watch it in the future, you stir him up to change his life.'^[26]
• A hermit saw someone laughing, and said to him, "We have to render an account of our whole life before heaven and earth, and you can laugh?"^[27]
• Abba Longinus said to Abba Acacius: 'A woman knows she has conceived when she no longer loses any blood. So it is with the soul, she knows she has conceived the Holy Spirit when the passions stop coming out of her. But as long as one is held back in the passions, how can one dare to believe one is sinless? Give blood and receive the Spirit.'^[28]

Different Sayings collections include the Alphabetic Sayings, the Systematic Sayings, and the Anonymous Sayings.^[9]

The sections of the Anonymous Sayings (Wortley 2013) are:^[22]

The Alphabetical Sayings (Ward 1984) list the sayings of 131 Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers. Although some of the Desert Fathers quoted in the collection are well known, other names are obscure and difficult to identify.^[29]

The 20 chapters of the Systematic Sayings (Wortley 2012) are:^[21]

There are four major versions of the Systematic Collection, in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Armenian. The contents of each are:^[9]

• Asceticon
• Ethiopic Collectio Monastica
• Ethics of the Fathers
• Gospel of Thomas
• Kōan
• Lausiac History
• Vitae Patrum
• Wisdom literature

• Williams, Rowan (2004-11-19). Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert. Lion Publishing plc. ISBN 0-7459-5170-8.
• Ward, Benedicta (2003-07-29). The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks (Revised ed.). Penguin Classics. ISBN 0-14-044731-8.
• Sourozh, Metropolitan Anthony of; Benedicta Ward (June 1987). The Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Revised ed.). Cistercian Publications. ISBN 0-87907-959-2.
• Merton, Thomas (2004-11-16). The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century (Gift ed.). Shambhala. ISBN 1-59030-039-4.
• Wortley, John, ed. (2013). The Anonymous Sayings of the Desert Fathers: A Select Edition and Complete English Translation (in Greek and English). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-50988-6.
• Wortley, John (2014). Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Popular Patristics Series. Vol. 52. Yonkers, New York: St Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 978-0-88141-497-4.
• Wortley, John, ed. (2019). More sayings of the Desert Fathers: an English translation and notes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-47108-4.
• Vivian, Tim, ed. (2021). The sayings and stories of the Desert Fathers and Mothers: A–H (Ȇta). Vol. 1. Collegeville, Minnesota: Cistercian Publications. ISBN 978-0-87907-109-7.
• Vivian, Tim, ed. (2023). The sayings and stories of the Desert Fathers and Mothers: Th–Ō (Thêta–Ōméga). Vol. 2. Collegeville, Minnesota: Cistercian Publications. ISBN 978-0-87907-292-6.
• Nomura, Yushi. Desert Wisdom: Sayings from the Desert Fathers. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2001.
• Regnault, Lucien. Les chemins de Dieu au désert: collection systematique des Apophtegmes des Pères. Solesmes: Éditions de Solesmes, 1992. (complete French translation of the Greek Systematic Collection)
• Dion, J. and G. Oury. Les Sentences des Pères du Désert: recueil de Pélage et Jean. Solesmes: Abbaye Saint-Pierre, 1966. (complete French translation of the Latin Systematic Collection (Verba Seniorum of Pelagius and John))
• Chaîne M. (ed). Le manuscrit de la version copte en dialect sahidique des "Apophthegmata Patrum". Bibliothèque d'études coptes 6. Cairo: Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, 1960. (Sahidic Coptic text)
• Regnault, Lucien. Les Sentences des Pères du Désert: troisième recueil et tables. Sablé-sur-Sarthe: Solesmes, 1976. (French translation of the Bohairic Coptic version in p. 139–194, and of the Armenian version in p. 253–275)
• Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Sayings and Stories of the Christian Fathers of Egypt: The Syrian Version of the "Apophthegmata Patrum" (2 vol.). Reprint of 1934 ed. London: Kegan Paul Limited, 2002. (English translation of the Syriac Collection)
• Palladius of Galatia (1907). The Paradise or Garden of the Holy Fathers, Volume 2: Sayings of the Desert Fathers . Translated by Ernest Alfred Wallis Budge. Chatto & Windus.
• Leloir, Louis (ed). Paterica armeniaca a P. P. Mechitaristis edita (1855) nunc latine reddita. CSCO 353, 361, 371, 379. Louvain: Secrétariat du Corpus SCO, 1974–1976. (Armenian text)

Wikiquote has quotations related to Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

• Apophthegmata Patrum: The Greek Alphabetical Collection (English translation by Benedicta Ward; Greek text from Patrologia Graeca; digitized by Luke Dysinger)
• A bibliography of the various collections of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers