The Desert Fathers
by Translated by Helen Waddell
The reason I chose this book is because the Sinai desert one of the most silent places in the world. Because the climate is very warm and dry, it isn’t easy to inhabit and consequently it is very quiet. It’s into this environment that the early Christians headed to experiment with what difference leading a silent life makes, and, specifically, what the effects of silence on prayer might be.
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“What the desert travellers were up to is very similar in a way to what the Buddhists do: seeking inner peace and love of God.” Read more...
Sara Maitland, Novelist
The Desert Fathers tells the stories of the early Christians who turned their backs on civilisation and retreated to the deserts of North Africa, Syria and Asia Minor. They were pioneers of the contemplative tradition and witnesses to the joys and benefits of a solitary existence. Sara Maitland, who celebrates her own remote life in the wilds of Scotland in A Book of Silence, says of The Desert Fathers, “their adventure is something Waddell describes with heartbreaking empathy.”
