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Give Me a Word: The Alphabetical Sayings of the Desert Fathers is unavailable, but you can change that!

When Christians first began living as monks in the Egyptian desert at the beginning of the fourth century, they had few books and almost no learning. As they gained experience, they concentrated that experience in the form of an oral tradition of tales and sayings (apophthegmata). Apart from the Scriptures (also learned by heart) this was the only training manual they had. Consequently, when the...

Dioscorus is not an uncommon name among the monks of Egypt (see HL 10–11, HME 20). It is unlikely that the following three sayings were uttered by a single person of that name. Dioscorus 1 [4.13] They related of Abba Dioscorus of Nachiastis36 that his bread was made from barley and lentils and that each year he would begin to observe one rule of life, saying: “I will not meet anybody this year,” or “I will not speak,” or “I will not eat anything cooked,” or “I will not eat fruit or fresh
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