Thomas Merton

In the fourth century, the wildernesses of Egypt and Palestine were inhabited by a strange breed of spiritual nonconformists: the first Christian hermits. Thomas Merton's affection for these "Desert Fathers" shines in this much-loved treasury of their acts and words of wisdom. His free translation from the Latin source Verba Senorium illuminates their radical lives with insight and humor and sets them in close relation to Zen recluses, Hindu renunciants, and all those who have ever fled conventional life in search of higher wisdom.

Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century

The Wisdom of the Desert

Dana Kraft

This wasn't as interesting as I expected. Only a few of the quotes really hit home for me. I liked the introduction, especially Merton's explanation that the life of the Desert Fathers was their own unique way to seek salvation based on their world. Our world is different in some ways, so these quotes are not a recipe but rather an example of how some very wise men sought God.

"Another of the elders said: When the eyes of an ox or mule are covered, then he goes round and round turning the mill wheel:but if his eyes are uncovered he will not go round in the circle of the mill wheel, So too the devil if he manages to cover the eyes of a man, he can humiliate him in every sin. But if a man's eyes are not closed, he can easily escape from the devil."

"An elder was asked by a certain soldier if God would gorfive a sinner. An he said to him: Tell me, beloved, if your cloak is torn, will you throw it away? The soldier replied and said: No. I will mend it and put it back on. The elder said to him: If you take care of your cloak, will God not be merciful to His own image?"

"One of the elders said: It si not because evil thoughts come to us that we are condemned; but only because we make use of the evil thoughts. It can happen that from these thoughts we suffer shipwreck, but it can also happen that because of them we may be crowned."

Another elder said: It happens that one man eats more and yet remains hungry, and another man eats less, and is satisfied. The greater reward belongs to the one who ate more and is still hungry than to him who ate less and is satisfied.

"The ascetics of Scete and the Thebaid in the Egyptian Desert have been more often admired than known or understood. Translations by such scholars as Helen Waddell have done much to restore the true perspective. This new selection from the Latin 'Sayings of the Fathers' (Verba Seniorum) has been made by Thomas Merton with a special purpose. It is not only a translation and selection, but a new monastic redaction in the spirit of our own time. Merton has felt free, as a monk, to do what generations of monks before him have done. He has made a wholly independent and original use of material which is the traditional basis of Christian monastic spirituality." -- Dust jacket.

The Wisdom of the Desert Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century

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