The saintly austerities of Mary of Egypt so impressed early monks that they recorded her life to edify their brethren. Many versions circulated and the tale traveled from Palestine to Europe, from Greek to Latin to French to Spanish, from prose to poetry, from hagiography to literature, and from the monastery into the world outside. Here we see Mary through the eyes of three medieval poets: Flodoard, a canon of Reims ( 966), Hildebert of Lavardin, a bishop, ( 1134), and an Anonymous Spaniard.
Ronald E. Pepin received his Ph.D. in Classics from Fordham University. After serving as...
The saintly austerities of Mary of Egypt so impressed early monks that they recorded her life to edify their brethren. Many versions circulated and...
A ninth-century monk of Saint Mihiel near Verdun, Smaragdus composed his Commentary after the 816 Council of Aachen imposed the Rule of Saint Benedict on al monasteries in the vast Carolingian Empire. His deep devotion to Christ and great reverence for Saint Benedict led him to encourage monastics to update the observance of the Rule to meet the needs of a society, period of history, and monks very different from those Benedict had known. He reminds readers today as well as then that monastic life is organized for the goal of attaining union with God by following Christ.
A ninth-century monk of Saint Mihiel near Verdun, Smaragdus composed his Commentary after the 816 Council of Aachen imposed the Rule of Saint Bened...
Gregory of Narek (c. 945-1003), a monk and a priest, is best known for his poetic works, and one of the few commentators on the Song of Songs, which was so great a focus among western monastic writers of the patristic and medieval periods. Living during a period of cultural and religious renaissance which preceded the Turkish and Mongol invasions of Armenia, and in a period of conflict between the non-Chalcedonian Christians of his native land and their Byzantine neighbors, Grigor worked from the Armenian text of the Song, which is slightly longer than the Septuagint or Hebrew versions and...
Gregory of Narek (c. 945-1003), a monk and a priest, is best known for his poetic works, and one of the few commentators on the Song of Songs, which w...
First published in 1989, A Cloud of Witnesses has been completely rewritten to incorporate a multitude of minor amendments and a considerable amount of additional information. Like the first edition, it is intended as an introduction to the formative first five hundred years of the Christian theological tradition. In these pages the opinions and personalities of the Fathers of the Church that emerge are presented against the intellectual, social, and political world of their times, but since the book is only an introduction, the author presents the development of Christian doctrine in a...
First published in 1989, A Cloud of Witnesses has been completely rewritten to incorporate a multitude of minor amendments and a considerable amount o...
The pearlers we meet in this book were early monks of Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq), and Persia (Iran), They saw themselves as pearl-divers and pearl-merchants searching, through asceticism and prayer, for the precious pearls of mystical experience. Their quest led them into the wilderness, to a state of silent solitude in remote caves and hermitages. Working from Syriac manuscripts in the British Museum and the Vatican Library, and from the Greek monastery of Saint Catherine in the wilderness of Sinai and the Coptic monastery of the Syrians (Der es-Suriani) in the Egyptian desert, Brian E....
The pearlers we meet in this book were early monks of Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq), and Persia (Iran), They saw themselves as pearl-divers and pearl-merc...
In a short span this book contrives to be a masterly introduction to one of the major figures of early English history, in all aspects of his scholarship and personality. Students and general readers will find it invaluable, while professional scholars, not least those interested in Bede the historian, will be very grateful for the survey of his scriptural writings. Sister Benedicta combines good judgement with an almost preternatural sympathy for her subject. Her style is lucid and readable, her choice of quotations inspired.
In a short span this book contrives to be a masterly introduction to one of the major figures of early English history, in all aspects of his scholars...
The Egypt of Mena, bishop of Nikiou, was a country under relatively tolerant Muslim administration, with a long history of conquest and reconquest, and a deep antipathy to the Byzantine Empire and Melkite ('imperial') ecclesiastics. Staunchly monophysite, deeply devoted to the patriarchs of Alexandria, and determinedly opposed to the Council of Chalcedon (451) and all that it represented, the Christians of Egypt continued their witness and their worship all but hidden from outside view. These two works by Mena introduce modern readers to the Church of Egypt in the eighth century: its internal...
The Egypt of Mena, bishop of Nikiou, was a country under relatively tolerant Muslim administration, with a long history of conquest and reconquest, an...
Sebastian Brock is Reader in Syriac Studies in the University of Oxford, where he is also a Fellow of Wolfson College. He has written extensively on Syriac subjects and served on the translation panel which produced The Psalms: A New Translation for Worship (1977). He is a member of the Editorial Board of Sobornost/Eastern Churches Review, and is curator of the Mingana Collection of Manuscripts at the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. Before taking up his present position, Dr. Brock taught in the Department of Theology at the University of Birmingham and in the Faculty of Oriental Studies at...
Sebastian Brock is Reader in Syriac Studies in the University of Oxford, where he is also a Fellow of Wolfson College. He has written extensively on S...
Born in 1090, Bernard of Clairvaux died sixty-three years later, and was canonized in 1174. His friends and brothers began writing his official life even before he died, so convinced were they of his personal holiness and his importance to the Church of his day. Not everyone who knew him, however, liked him, no matter how much they may have admired his holiness. For nine centuries, those who have read his works and studied his activities have experienced a similar ambivalence. Some regard this 'most controversial and provocative of saints' as a great director of souls; others consider him an...
Born in 1090, Bernard of Clairvaux died sixty-three years later, and was canonized in 1174. His friends and brothers began writing his official life e...
Throughout the christian world, women have chosen to lead disciplined lives of prayer and asceticism. Descriptions of early role-models 'Macrina, the two Palas and Melanias, Radagunde 'and others by contemporaries, usually men, provide details of their austerities, their aspirations, and their relationship with the Church and the world, not least with male authority figures.
Throughout the christian world, women have chosen to lead disciplined lives of prayer and asceticism. Descriptions of early role-models 'Macrina, t...
