Apophthegmata Patrum

The Apophthegmata Patrum (German sayings of the fathers , also known as Gerontikon or Alphabetikon ) are a collection of short phrases ( Apophthegmata ) that are said to come from the first Christian monks of Egypt, the so-called desert fathers . Most of the sayings are assigned to monks of the 4th and 5th centuries, e.g. B. Poimen , Makarius or Antonius .

The collection was created by the end of the 5th century at the latest. She was already known to Benedict (around 480-547) through the scriptural discussions with the fathers of Johannes Cassianus . As one of their subtitles says, the sayings or the incidents of the ancestors are arranged according to the (Greek) alphabet.

The Apophthegmata were originally written in either Coptic or Greek. They were continuously edited, supplemented and translated into other languages. That is why there are other versions and further sayings from the same desert fathers in the translations. Due to their uniformity and perfect form, it cannot be assumed that the written sentences literally correspond to what the desert fathers actually said.

Some of the sayings received there are similar to the Kōan , short sentences made by Japanese Zen masters.

Quotes

Some examples:

Abbas Poimen again said: "Willingness and comfort and getting used to it bring people to ruin." (657)

Abbas Poimen told of Abbas Pior that he started every day. (659)

Abbas Poimen said: "The victory over every plague that comes upon you is silence." (611)

Abbas Poimen spoke again: “There is a person who seems to be silent, but his heart condemns others. Such a person speaks in reality continuously. And there is someone else who talks from morning to evening, and yet he remains silent, that is, he does not speak anything useless. "(601)

See also

• Vitae patrum
• Sayings of the fathers

Editions and translations

• Migne, PG 65, 71-440.
• CPG 5560-5615.
• J.-C. Guy: Les Apophtegmes des Pères . Collection systématique, Chapitres I-IX (= Sources Chrétiennes 387) 1997.
• Raffaele Caldarelli: Il Paterìk Alfabetico-Anonimo in traduzione antico-slava, I. Parte alfabetica. Edizione del testo slavo e dell'originale greco , Università degli Studi della Tuscia 1996. (Edition of the Slavic text tradition and the Greek text of the alphabetical part of the AP, i.e. CPG 5560)

• Sayings of the fathers. Apophthegmata Patrum , translated by P. Bonifatius, Graz 1963
• Benedicta Ward: The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks , Penguin Classics, London / New York 1984, new edition 2003. ISBN 0-14-044731-8 .

literature

• Rowan Williams : Silence and Honey Cakes: The Wisdom of the Desert . Lion Publishing, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-7459-5170-8 .