As you'd expect, there's a lot of contradictory advice in here, but plenty of it is good. I do wish Ward had included more notes and more about the monks in question. This is very much a popularisation; not much use for we, the more academically inclined.

"The true labourer struggles that the work may not deteriorate." ( )

The desert fathers provided inspiration for Christian spirituality throughout the Middle Ages and beyond. The men and women who first embraced the life of solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine and Syria were seldom clerics or scholars. Yet these uneducated peasants, shepherds, itinerant traders, former slaves and prostitutes soon attracted so many followers they were said to have turned the desert into a city. From the fourth century onwards, along with biographies and full-length treatises, their reflections were brought together and widely circulated. Powerful and moving in their depth of religious conviction and wholehearted, even joyful, commitment to poverty, simplicity and humility, the sayings directly influenced the Rule of Saint Benedict, and set the pattern for Western monasticism.

Of course the sayings of the Desert Fathers are great. I couldn't have enjoyed reading them more and I certainly was edified along the way many times over. My reason for rating this book at 3 stars is the translation itself, with which I was very disappointed, and the introduction of the book, also written by the translator. The introduction of the book entirely ignores all Eastern monasticism; how you can write an introduction on the relevance of the Desert Fathers and skip over Mount Athos I'll never understand. The translator also seems ignorant of the continued monasticism in the Egyptian desert, on Mount Sinai and in many of the same places where the great Desert Fathers lived, such as at St. Anthony's monastic community. The conscious choice of the translator to leave out the title "Abba" or "Father" for the monks (and its equivalent "Amma" or "Mother" for the nuns) seems to me to be disrespectful at least, no matter her justification. I'm sure there's better translations. ( )

http://nhw.livejournal.com/892620.html

Simply gives the complete text of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers compiled by Pelagius in the early fourth century. There is an uneasy and sometimes consciously very funny tension running through the writings, between on the one hand being deeply devout and determined, and pulling up the other monks who are not trying hard enough; and on the other hand not showing off one's own piety. But at the same time you can't help but be impressed with the seriousness and dedication with which these people tried to develop their understanding of their creator and themselves by cutting themselves off from the world.

The Penguin edition is interesting for completeness, to see what Helen Waddell chose to leave out; but she got most of the good bits. ( )

Even with a quick read through, I found much that was interesting and instructive and that I would do well to think about and try to apply to my own life. I shall definitely go through it again more slowly taking time to absorb the lessons it teaches. ( )