Web-based Early Works about the Desert Fathers

• Apophthegmata Patrum
• A Source Book for Ancient Church History: From the Apostolic Age to the Close of the Conciliar Period by Joseph Cullen Ayer
• Christian Authors: Fifth to Twelfth Centuries
• Sayings of the Desert Fathers
• Selections from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers
• John Cassian...Conferences and Institutes
  "Cassian probably did more than anyone else to translate the desert experience for the West. Following his teacher, Evagrius Ponticus, he stressed wordless prayer and the mystical journey of the soul. St. Benedict, in his Rule, would make Cassian’s memoirs required reading in all his monasteries."...William Harmless
• Lausiac History"...conceived as a form of autobiography in the form of a history of monasticism in the fourth century.... A number of persons who appear in the Lausiac History...were associated with Origenism, either directly or indirectly..."...source: COPTIC PALLADIANA I:THE LIFE OF PAMBO
• Medieval Sourcebook: Athanasius of Alexandria: VITA S. ANTONI [Life of St. Antony] (written between 356 and 362)
• Athanasius of Alexandria...The Life of Antony
  "The Life of Antony (Vita Antonii) was one of the great religious best-sellers of ancient world and was responsible for popularizing the desert ideal throughout the ancient world. This work would shape all later lives of the saints."...William Harmless
• Palladius...Lausiac History...Introduction
  "Palladius was a disciple of Evagrius and was ordained bishop by John Chrysostom. He was also one of the earliest historians of Christian monasticism. This work is a set of vignettes of leading Desert Fathers and Mothers."...William Harmless
• Medieval Sourcebook: Palladius: The Lausiac History
• The Ladder of Divine Ascent...Saint John Climacus
  John Climacus (ca. 579 - 649), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus, and John Sinaites, was a seventh century monk at St. Catherine's monastery at the base of Mount Sinai.
• Lives of the Desert Fathers: The Historia Monachorum in Aegypto...trans by Norman Russell
  "In 394, seven Palestinian monks journeyed to Egypt to visit the great figures there. This is a vivid (and sometimes fanciful) account of what they heard and saw. This edition has a good 40-page introduction by Benedicta Ward."...William Harmless
• The Philokalia
  "The Philokalia is a collection of writings, mostly centering on practicing the virtues and spiritual living in a monastery. In recent decades it has become an important resource for Orthodox Christians, laity and clergy alike, in personal living and in some ways has achieved status as a major secondary spiritual written resource (after the primary one, Holy Scripture) along with St. John Climacus' The Ladder of Divine Ascent."
  
  "The earliest written reference to the practice of the Prayer of the Heart may be in a text from the Philokalia by Abba Philimon, a Desert Father." Desert Fathers (Wikipedia)
  
  The Philokalia, a collection of writings by Fathers living approximately between 300 and 1400 A.D., contains exalted theological writings by some thirty Fathers. These writings are essentially instructions to monks and spiritual aspirants in methods by which, to quote the full title of the collection, "the mind is purified, illumined, and made perfect through practical and contemplative moral philosophy." It contains very advanced teachings ranging from advice on the proper control of the breath during prayerful contemplation to detailed instructions for the attainment of freedom from the passions. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
"If we are asked to sum up the message of the Philokalia in not more than two words, the best way to do so would be to use the terms nepsis and hesychia" "This ideal of theosis, of direct, transforming union with the living God, constitutes a unifying thread throughout the Philokalia as a whole."...The inner unity of the Philokalia
• Excerpts from The Philokalia: Evagrius Ponticus
• Evagrios the Solitary Introductory Note
• Evagrios the Solitary Outline Teaching on Asceticism and Stillness in the Solitary Life
• Evagrios the Solitary Texts on Discrimination in respect of Passions and Thoughts
• Evagrios the Solitary Extracts from the Texts on Watchfulness
• Evagrios the Solitary On Prayer: One Hundred and Fifty-Three Texts
• Excerpts from The Philokalia: Abba Philimon
• The Potential Enigma of Philokalic Spirituality for the Western Mind
• Vitae Patrum
"The Vitae Patrum (literally Lives of the Fathers, also called Lives of the Desert Fathers) is an encyclopedia of hagiographical writings on the Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers of early Christianity. The Greek and Latin texts were compiled, edited, and translated into Latin by the Jesuit Heribert Rosweyde and printed by Balthazar Moret in 1615. The bulk of the original texts date from the third and fourth centuries.... The book is a significant part of the much broader work, Acta Sanctorum...."...Vitae Patrum (Wikipedia)
"...a collection the Apophthegmata Patrum, the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, were made available in Latin by the 500s. They had a wide circulation, not only with the Life of St. Antony but also with the Lausiac History and Rufinus’ translation of the Historia Monachorum in Aegypto — all gathered together, these are called the Vitae Patrum. Monks all over Western Europe would continue to read these works down to the Renaissance, seeking wisdom for how to live."...The Impact of the Desert Fathers
"The Vitae Patrum is in Latin and dates from 1628. It was compiled by Heribert Rosweyde SJ from ancient sources dating from the third and fourth centuries, written either in Latin or Greek. Since I retired I have been using a lot of my time translating bits and pieces from the Vitae Patrum. here are a number of books in print with selections from the Lives of the Fathers. It just occurred to me that there might be some people who have no Latin but who would like to have available long chunks of it, which no conventional publisher would want to publish. So I thought I might just as well make a Website out of it, where it will be available for anyone who wants it. I am no scholar so am not able to provide any critical apparatus. It is just that I happened to come across this large and heavy volume in a bookshop in Hay-on-Wye many years ago. It measures 365mm x 240mm x 110mm, and has 1060 pages plus indices. I find the lives of the Fathers of the Desert absolutely fascinating. I enjoy translating the Latin and I am quite happy to share this pleasure with anyone else who is interested."
• Contents of the Vitae Patrum
• De Vitis Patrum, Book II...By Rufinus of Aquileia
• De Vitis Patrum, Book VIII...by Palladius
• De Vitis Patrum...by Rufinus of Aquileia
  "The Vitae Patrum is an encyclopedia of hagiographical writings from early Christianity. The Greek and Latin texts were compiled, edited, and translated into Latin by Heribert Rosweyde. It was published in ten books in 1628. The bulk of the texts date from the third and fourth centuries."...Wikipedia
• Jerome: The Principal Works of St. Jerome
• Jerome...The Life of Paulus the First Hermit

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