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types, and the earlier collections have almost entirely disappeared. One of the few still in existence is in the Syriac Ascetikon of Abba Isaiah (Draguet, CSCO 289, pp. 30-51; 293, pp. 27-83). To some extent, monastic life appeared everywhere in the Christian world in the third and fourth centuries, but from the outset, Egyptian monachism shone with such special splendor that it appeared everywhere as the pattern to be reproduced. The apothegms contributed much to the fame of the great anchorites of SCETIS. From the sixth century, the apothegms were translated from Greek into Latin and soon also into Syriac, Arabic, Georgian, and Armenian. It is impossible to evaluate the influence they may have had in the history of spirituality. Many traces of it are found even in the profane literature of all the European countries. This influence was exercised, especially in the Coptic church, either directly through the reading of the collections in Coptic and Arabic or indirectly through the place given to the holy monks of the apothegms in the liturgy. In the monasteries, the reading of the Garden of the Monks has always had an honored place during the common meals. It is still the daily practice in the Monastery of Saint Macarius (DAYR ANBA MAQAR). The popular edition published in Cairo, which has reappeared many times, has been much appreciated also by the laity. Coptic Christians have never had a conception of spirituality peculiar to the laity, and it is in the school of the desert fathers that they are trained in the practice of the virtues, asceticism, and prayer. BIBLIOGRAPHY Bousset, W. Apophthegmata: Studien zur Geschichte des ltesten Mnchtums. Tbingen, 1923. Chaine, M. Le Manuscrit de la version copte en dialecte sahidique des "Apophthegmata Patrum." Cairo, 1969. Cotelier, J. B., ed. Apophthegmata Patrum. In PG 65, cols. 71-440. Paris, 1864. Draguet, R. Les Cinq recensions de l'ascticon syriaque d'abba Isaie. CSCO 289, Scriptores Syri 120. Louvain, 1968. Guy, J. C. Recherches sur la tradition grecque des "Apophthegmata Patrum." Subsidia Hagiographica 36. Brussels, 1962.
Hopfner, T. ber die koptisch-saidischen Apophthegmata Patrum Aegyptiorum und verwandte griechische, lateinische, koptischbohairische und syrische Sammlungen. Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien. Philosophisch-historische Klasse, Denkschriften 61.20. Vienna, 1918. Regnault, L. Les Sentences des pres du dsert: Troisime Recueil et tables. Solesmes, 1976. ______. "Les Apophtgmes des pres en Palestine au Ve-Ve sicles." Irnikon 54 (1981):320-30. ______. Les Pres du dsert travers leurs apophtegmes. Solsmes, 1987. Rufinus. Verba seniorum. In PL 73, cols. 739-1066. Paris, 1849. Sauget, J. M. "Un nouveau tmoin de collection d'Apophthegmata Patrum: Le Paterikon du Sinai arabe 547." Le Muson 86 (1973):10. Zacharias. Vie de Jean Colobos. Annales du Muse Guimet 25. Paris, 1894. Zosimus. Alloquia. In PG 78, cols. 1679-1702. Paris, 1864. LUCIEN REGNAULT