Customer Reviews

The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century (Shambhala Library)

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As adorable as it is, it's hard to report on it. Merton here captures nearly 150 snippets of life in the desert, stories from the early church hermits. It is entirely narrative, ranging from sentence-long to page-long vignettes about the lives of those who sought to know on the Lord. At first I though I would list the numbers of all the stories that I found significant or inspirational, but soon the list became so long that it was just a senseless string. My copy is now very dog-eared.

Given that, like the narratives of the Bible, there is a clear intention of teaching you something without a clear summary of what was taught, perhaps the best summary is a highlight of the themes that stand out.
Humility seems to be the key virtue of the desert. Removing one's self from the world and society is a way of preventing one's self from being distracted from vanity. All of the promises of earthly life draw one into considerations of personal gain rather than into an honest assessment of one's place before God. Even within the monastery, monks should avoid bragging about themselves or their sacrifices.

Secondarily, but not independently, is a flight from money. The monk is to give away his last two pence so as to be free from worry, savings, and distraction. They live on little food, mostly bread.

Lack of judgment of others is a key value. Repeatedly the stories that Merton has collected warn us that we have no basis on which to evaluate others. Beautifully, the stories lead us to evaluate ourselves without pointing fingers our way. Instead, the monk must excel in forgiveness.

It's not without humorous moments, though subtle. When a monk declares (proudly) that he does not need to work because he is so dedicated to prayer and study of God, the other monks don't call him down at dinner time.

As far as pragmatic application to my ministry, it is rare that I hear the call to humility and self-surrender. As I carry these stories around, they will shape the way I react to others.

I love this book.

Thomas Merton was perhaps the best known monastic of the last century. That he was a Trappist perhaps puts him in the best contemporary context from which to understand the Desert Fathers - the kind of hermit/distance existence that they had does not really exist in the world today (true, there are a few who carry on the tradition in the deserts of Egypt and a few other places, but often even they advise against this becoming a trend in Christian practice again). The Trappists are among those for whom silence and solitude are intentional practices, much like the Desert Fathers.

Merton, a talented writer on matters spiritual, states in the Author's note that his intention was not to produce a new 'edition' by academic standards, or to do any piece of new research. Rather, Merton set out to produce an accessible collection of wisdom sayings that had been contained in the collection 'Verba Seniorum', a Latin text of stories and proverbs handed down from the Desert Fathers and those who knew and wrote about them.

In the fourth century, while Christianity was still struggling as a minority (sometimes a violently oppressed minority) in the Empire, there were those who saw that the greater threat to the new faith was not the imperial officials and their forces, but rather the attractions and lure of the cities. It was very easy to put forth the claim that the world was not a Christian one, and that one would have to renounce the world to live an authentically Christian life - the Desert Fathers tended to do this renunciation in rather dramatic fashion (and, to varying extent, this is what monastics continue to do to this day). This renunciation was true even with official tolerance and imperial imprimatur, for Christianity was still the decided minority.

Merton states that it is a mistake to think that the Desert Fathers were isolationist individuals, however - 'the very fact that they uttered these "words" of advice to one another is proof that they were eminently social.' They sought an equality amongst themselves under God, and were welcoming toward those who sought them for instruction and wisdom.

In this collection, the 'Verba Seniorum' are perhaps the most true to the actual words of the Desert Fathers that we can get. Most writing about them came from people who added literary flourishes and often hagiographic legendary material into the mix; these are much more simple. They are 'the plain, unpretentious reports that went from mouth to mouth in the Coptic tradition before being committed to writing in Syriac, Greek and Latin.'

Over and over again, the Desert Fathers stress love above all. Their love reaches out for tolerance toward others, even as they sometimes seem to be intolerant toward themselves. Perhaps their generosity toward others came from a recognition of the faults of their own and the hope that God will deal more generously with them as they strive to deal generously with others.

'One of the brethren had sinned, and the priest told him to leave the community. So then Abbot Bessarion got up and walked out with him, saying: I too am a sinner!'

This is a wonderful, heartfelt, wise collection. It is not organised according to any overarching theme or systematic theological paradigm, but rather like a collecton of 'quotable quotes', often seemingly random. I often take the book and open it at random, to see what insights I can gain from it that day.

No, this is not a book for a `Survivor' wannabe, nor is it a guide for those who dream of crossing the great deserts of the world. But it is a guide of sorts, or more a companion for our pathways in life. This is a new reprinting of a collection of sayings from the desert fathers and mothers of the fourth century.

You might ask, "Who are the desert fathers and mothers, and what written in the fourth century could be of any use to us today?" and they would both be good questions. The desert fathers were people who felt Christianity was losing its way, so they decided to return to a simpler life and went to the desert to seek solitude and god. However to some extent their plan failed; soon people realized these men and women had wisdom and guidance if one could ask them. So some of them developed great followings.

This collection is unique among those I have seen. in that it does not sort the sayings by author, or by subject, but rather it is a random smattering that the reader can meander through in order, or randomly flip open and read whichever one they come across. Merton in his introduction states, "This collection of sayings from the Verba Seniorum is by no means intended as a piece of research scholarship--this book is designed entirely for the reader's interest and edification." I believe it lives up to that goal.

At just under 200 pages, this book is short and sweet. Some of the more obscure sayings have been omitted and what is left is a collection of thoughts, meditations and reflections that can help us examine our lives. A few examples of the wisdom are:

"XLVI
Abbot Pastor said: `If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad'."

And

"XLVII
He said, again: `Malice will never drive out malice. But if someone does evil to you, you should do good to him, so that by your good work you may destroy his malice'."
For more, pick up the book and check it out.

This should be the third review of the book and first of all I must say that the first two by Mcevoy and Messick respectively are great ones with concise description and praise of it. However, I would like to add one more point. The author corrected me, against my previous misperception that monks at that time were dull and serious, that they could be very humorous in preaching the way of God by their very own words and acts. Below please find two of the relatively short stories for your reference.

(A brother told an elder that he wouldnt give up taking revenge) The elder stood up and began to pray in these terms: O God, Thou art no longer necessary to us, and we no longer need Thee to take care of us since, as this brother says, we both can and will avenge ourselves. At this the brother promised to give up his idea of revenge. Pg 68

A devil transformed into an angel of light and said to a brethen: I am the Angel Gabriel, and I have been to thee. But the brother said: Think again - you must have been sent to somebody else. I havent done anything to deserve an angel. Immediately the devil ceased to appear. Pg 120

Of course there are many more insightful passages, like:-

For Scripture says that Abraham was hospitable and God was with him. Elias loved solitary prayer, and God was with him. And David was humble, and God was with him. Therefore whatever you see your soul to desire according to God, do that thing, and you shall keep your heart safe. Pg 33

If, wishing to correct another, you are moved to anger, you gratify your own passion. Do not lose yourself in order to save another. pg 50

If you have a chest full of clothing, and leave it for a long time, the clothing will rot inside it. It is the same with the thoughts in our heart. If we do not carry them out by physical action, after a long while they will spoil and turn bad. Pg 79

One man carries an axe all his life and never cuts down a tree. Another, who knows how to cut, gives a few swings and the tree is down. This axe is discretion. Pg 84

The devil told an abbot: I suffer great violence from you because I cannot overcome you. For see, I do all the things that you do. You fast, and I eat nothing at all. You watch, and I never sleep. But there is one thing alone in which you overcome me....Your humility. Pg 114

One of the elders was asked what was humility, and he said: If you forgive a brother who has injured you before he himself asks pardon. Pg 118

A certain philosopher asked a St. Anthony: How can you be so happy when you are deprived of the consolation of books? Anthony replied: My book is the nature of created things and any time I want to read the words of God the book is before me.

In short, a great spiritual food for thought. Dont miss it.

This book is so beautiful. Thomas Merton certainly gleaned the wisdom of the Desert Fathers. So long as you remember that these men and women were a corrective for their specific time (don't run around trying to superimpose their lives onto your own) this book can be very powerful.

The sayings of the Desert Fathers are, of course, excellent; every Christian without exception should at some point read them. They are filled with spiritual wisdom that applies even today, more than 1500 years since these great heroes of the Orthodox Christian Faith fought the good fight in the deserts of Egypt. This particular translation, though, is lacking. For instance, I'm not sure why Merton chose to use the term "abbot" rather than the original "abba" or the English translation "father" to refer to the Desert Fathers, but it is distracting and its implication (namely, that all of these men were abbots in the modern Western sense) is incorrect. While the translation is lacking, the presentation is beautiful. The book features a very nice, easy to read font, a soft chord bookmark, and a layout that makes it both easy to read and a great overall experience. If someone combined the presentation of this book with the translation of another, it would be an A plus.

This is a little book, which, like so many books that are meant to be a daily meditation (Streams in the Desert) get better the more you return to them, write in them, carry them with you and think about them. I cannot say enough about Thomas Merton and mystic spirituality. Mystic spirituality is a resonate wellspring throughout the Earth, in near every people of the Earth. The Wisdom of the Desert is nourishment, and shelter if you will simply return to it over and over again.

You guys got this to me in a week! In fact I ordered it while at school and when I came home a few days later it was waiting for me and in the exact condition stated. Good stuff you guys!

Following another read, where this book was recommended, I obtained it. I found it to be a pleasant, witty and disarming book to be read in "bite sized portions" to allow for proper digestion.

A HUGE disappointment. I was expecting some jewels that would give reflection on today's hectic society, found none. Got a good public library? Use their copy first before you buy.