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The Sayings of the Desert Fathers

The fourth-century ascetic flight to the desert indelibly marked Christianity. The faithful who did not embrace the austerity of the desert admired those who did and sought them out for counsel and consolation. The 'words' the monks gave were collected and passed around among those too far away or too feeble to make the trek themselves - or lived generations later. Previously available only in gragments, these Sayings of the Desert Fathers are now accessible in its entirety in English for the first time.

Benedicta Ward graduated from Manchester Univresity with a degree in history and received a D. Phil. from Oxford University. Among her many books and articles are Miracles and the Medieval Mind, the Prayers and Meditations of Saint Anselm, and two companion volumes to the present work: The Wisdom of the Desert Fathers, a translation of the shorter Anonymous Series of apophthegmata, and The Harlots of the Desert a translation of the lives of penitents and study of contrition in the early Church. A member of the Anglican religious community of the Sisters of the Love of God, she lectures and does research at Oxford.

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