The model of the spiritual father

in the Apophtegmata Patrum: text, context and subtext

Assist. Prof. Daniel Lemeni*

Summary:
Starting from the research of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers - the most
complete collection of the Elders’ apophthegms in the fourth century Egypt - the
present study configures the model of the spiritual father to these venerable ascet-
ics of the Egyptian desert. Thus, the following through these sentences in Apo-
phthegmata Patrum reveals the fact that the performance of a Pater Pneumatikós
is not reduced to the theoretical transmission of spiritual experiences, but rather
that he embodies it by his very way of life. Therefore, the spiritual father shines
through his simple presence, and not by speech, which means that the practice of
spiritual direction is visible, namely it shows itself to us.
Keywords:
Abba, spiritual experience, Sayings of the Desert Fathers, spiritual father,
disciple, spiritual guidance

Introduction
This study is dedicated to the manner in which the issue of the Spiritual
Father was configured in the tradition of the fourth century Egyptian desert. The
major premise from which we start is that the archetypal figure of the spiritual
father is to be found in the desert’s elders of the Fourth Century.
From this perspective, out of the vast literature devoted to primary asceticism
Apophthegmata Patrum constitutes the main source in terms of the knowledge of
such legendary figures of the Egyptian desert.
*
Ph.D Daniel Lemeni, Assistant Profesor at Faculty of Theology, West University from Timi-
şoara , Romania. E-mail: dlemeni@yahoo.com

RT, 95 (2013), nr. 1, p. 73-84

Assist. Prof. Daniel Lemeni

Thus, taking as fundamental landmark the Apophthegmata Patrum, the pres-

ent study tries to capture the modus vivendi of the Elder of the desert spirituality.
Starting from the essential features of Abba we try to highlight the model of
the spiritual father of this period, a model which became the norm for the entire
Eastern Christian spirituality. 

1. Spiritual Father versus Spiritual Master

First off, what transpires in a strong manner in Paterikon is that an Abba1 is
never defined as a teacher (didaskalos) who teaches in theory a set of knowledge
to his disciples.
In a laconic and simplifying statement we can say that what is characteristic
for the work of a pater pneumatikos is not to communicate abstractly and discur-
sively a doctrine, but rather to propose a means of live assimilation of a teaching
to his disciple
From this perspective, Apophthegmata Patrum is predominantly concerned
with the ascetic praxis of the Desert Fathers because their doctrine is not codified
in a text, but rather in their way of life. Benedicta Ward stressed the idea that the
disciples did not seek a theological axiom, but rather they followed certain teach-
ings to be applied to their life and askesis2.
In this atmosphere of spiritual experience we think is situated the matter of
the spiritual father and this is also the argument that we want to legitimate further
on: Abba is defined primarily as an anthropos pneumatikos, in other words, a man
that through long experience in the desert acquired the secrets of spiritual life.
And, indeed, the essential and indispensable condition to become spiritual
father is “that we should make ourselves spiritual”3, since “we can not teach others
what we haven not experienced ourselves”4.
In other words what is defining for a spiritual father is precisely the spiritual
experience gained from a long spiritual asceticism which he conveys to his disciple
not ex cathedra - as does a master spiritual - but simply by his lifestyle. In the prac-
tice of spiritual guidance of the Desert Fathers, only the example is valid, the direct
experience, and not the speech or gestures, but simply the presence of the Elder.
1 
Cf. L. Regnault, Abba, dis-moi une parole, Solesmes, 1984, pp. 7-8; B. Ward, The Wisdom
of the Desert Fathers, Oxford University Press, 1975, p. xiii.
2 
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Alphabetical Collection, trans., with a foreword by
Benedicta Ward, Mowbray: London&Oxford, Cistercian Publications, 1984, p. xxii.
3 
I. Hausherr, Paternitatea şi îndrumarea duhovnicească în Răsăritul creştin, trad. de M.
Vladimirescu, Editura Deisis, Sibiu, 1999, p. 55.
4 
G. Bunge, Părintele duhovnicesc şi gnoza creştină după avva Evagrie Ponticul, trad. de
diac. Ioan I. Ică jr, Editura Deisis, Sibiu, 2000, p. 31.

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 The model of the spiritual father in the Apophtegmata Patrum: text, context and subtext

In other words a true spiritual father is the one who proposes a model to his

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disciple, because what he has to convey is not encoded into a written text, but in
his way of being. Thus, we find in an apophthegm, that a brother asked Abba Si-
soes: “Tell me a word, and he said: “ Why do you make me speak without need?
Whatever you see, do that”5. Also, Abba Sisoes asked Abba Or for a word and the
latter he said to him “Do you trust me?” He replied that he did. Then he said to
him “Go, and what you saw me do, do also“6. If Abba exercises over his disciple a
simple action of presence this means that he tacitly proposes a model of life to his
disciple, which often connotes the sayings with an ostensive significance. In this
way it is configured the essential function of any authentic spiritual father, namely,
assuming the inner guidance of his disciple in spiritual life by his own example.
Furthermore, from the two above apophthegms we understand that the opti-
mal way of reporting the disciple to the presence of his father may be defined as a
“method” (gr. methodos) of immersion, a disciple’s way of deepening himself in
the spiritual environment of the Elder. Living beside his Elder, the disciple obtains
a “content” of spiritual life, a way to use the arsenal of the spiritual fight in his
ascetic life.
In general, an Abba shines through his simple presence, so we can talk to
the Desert Fathers, about a living assimilation through a “simple vicinity” to the
Elder’s model of life.
This way of being of the Abba, in which the ascetic experience prevails
more, is predominant in the Paterikon where we quote the following apophthegm:
“Three Fathers used to go and visit blessed Anthony every year and two of them
used to discuss their thoughts and the salvation of their souls with him, but the
third always remained silent and did not ask him anything. After a long time, Abba
Anthony said to him, <You often come here to see me, but you never ask me any-
thing>, and the other replied, <It is enough for me to see you, Father>”7.
Reading this apophthegm we have the impression that the words and their
meaning matters little to the disciple who asks. The approach, the closeness to
Abba is important, getting in touch with him, tout court, the direct participation to
his presence. It is what L. Regnault noted in relation to the Desert Fathers when he
says that “the most important thing was not the word, but the practice; the disciple
learned more by seeing the Elder living and living beside him rather than listening
to long speeches”8.
5 
Abba Sisoes 45, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 220.
6 
Abba Or 7, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 247.
7 
Abba Anthony the Great 27, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 7.
8 
L. Regnault, Viaţa cotidiană a Părinţilor deşertului în Egiptul secolului IV, trad. de diac.
Ioan I. Ică jr, Editura Deisis, Sibiu, 2004, p.151.

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Assist. Prof. Daniel Lemeni

We understand therefore what cohabitation of the disciple with his spiritual

father means: to stay with him, to live beside him and he exerts on him a simple
act of presence: “Do not judge yourself, but live with someone who knows how to
behave himself properly”9.
What must be emphasized here is that the example and the way of being of
the abba is what trains and instructs the disciple and not the theoretical discourse
because this is a way of being and doing, not a way to perorate on various theo-
logical topics. In terms of strict doctrine, abba does not communicate anything
new, because what is typical of his performance is not the communication of a
doctrine, but the fact that, through contact with him, an impulse arises, an urg-
ing craving to put that doctrine into practice. This is why the verbal style of the
Elders of the desert was a downright laconic one: “Why do you make me speak
without need? Whatever you see, do that“ says Abba Sisoes to a brother who asks
for counsel and the disciple accommodates to this situation: “It is enough for me
to see you, Father”.
Similarly, talking about the relationship between an abba and his disciple,
Columba Stewart highlighted the idea that a “spiritual father or Abba, necessar-
ily teaches by example”10, and in this sense the Paterikon texts fully confess the
spiritual force of the Elder’s example in training disciples.
As a first conclusion we can state the idea that a true spiritual father does not
transmit a code of written or oral rules to his disciple, or a series of meditation
techniques, but rather a personal relationship in which both grow and develop
spiritually together. The ascetic universe of the Elders of the Egyptian Desert
therefore represented one of the privileged places where there were first devel-
oped and then applied the rules and principles that define the spiritual direction in
the Christian East. Through the filter of experience and spiritual relationship we
can better understand the essential difference between a Pater Pneumatikos and a
teacher (didaskalos): a spiritual father is never defined as a teacher, an objective
transmitter of a developed science since he does not deliver his disciples a doc-
trine, but rather helps them to experience.
In other words, the spiritual father being essentially a vehicle of grace, he
does not transmit a truth, but rather he embodies it in his own way of life.
Profane science has no relevance in the matters of spiritual order, because the
truth of Christ is a personal one, hence it is learned as if it was an algorithm, but it
transpires from an exemplary life.
9 
Abba Poemen 73, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 177.
10 
The World of the Desert Fathers. Stories and Sayings from the Anonymous Series of the
Apophthegmata Patrum, Translated with an Introduction by Columba Stewart OSB, SLG Press,
Fairacres Oxford, 1995, p.1.

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 The model of the spiritual father in the Apophtegmata Patrum: text, context and subtext

In this sense the spiritual father is the affirmative embodiment of that truth

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which the disciple seeks in pure questionability. The relationship between a father
and his disciple is based therefore on a common set of questions and problems. In
this case an essential feature of the spiritual father is configured, namely an identi-
cal space of questionability: before giving the answers, an abba must have had his
own questions from his disciple.
Abba is therefore the expression of the wholeness that the disciple has not
yet reached, the interlocutor or authority that shares with the disciple the path of
the same search. The spiritual father being the authority who, before the disciple,
walked down the same path, learning is, in the opinion of these eminent ascetics,
to walk on a trail, to learn how to walk on a path.
Thus, this form of spiritual training was done within the personal relation-
ships of an abba and his disciples, relationship in which the former takes more the
role of an authentic spiritual father rather than that of a spiritual master.

2. Abba-disciple relationship in the tradition of the Egyptian Desert

Most sentences of the Paterikon illustrate the charismata dimension as the
fundamental criterion whereby an abba assumes the role of spiritual father.
To illustrate this simple and profound tonic ascetic dimension to the Desert
Fathers we will proceed from a famous kind of apophthegms, namely those which
portray the young ascetic who comes to the abba to request a “word of salvation”:
“A brother came to see Abba Macarius the Egyptian, and said to him, <Abba, give
me a word, that I may be saved>. So the old man said, <Go to the cemetery and
abuse the dead>. The brother went there, abused them and threw stones at them;
then he returned and told the old man about it. The latter said to him, <Didn’t they
say anything to you?> He replied, <No>. The old man said, <Go back tomorrow and
praise them>. So the brother went away and praised them, calling them, <Apostles,
saints and righteous men>. He returned to the old man and said to him, <I have
complimented them>. And the old man said to him, <Did they not answer you?>
The brother said no. The old man said to him, <You know how you insulted them
and they did not reply, and how you praised them and they did not speak; so you too
if you wish to be saved must do the same and become a dead man. Like the dead,
take no account of either the scorn of men or their praises, and you can be saved”11.
This apophthegm reveals several specific features of the abba’s word to his
disciple. First, this “word of salvation” is not for every disciple, but it is addressed
to that disciple in that specific situation, even if that word can later acquire a wider
application.
11 
Abba Macarius the Great 23, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 132.

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Assist. Prof. Daniel Lemeni

This differentiate reporting of the Elder to the disciple’s “case” is to say that
the latter should not become a “copy” or a stereotypical response of the former,
so a true spiritual father will always promote in the relationship with his disciples
the spiritual flexibility.
In this sense the Paterikon is full of practical advice, but never turns into
a recipe book, quite contrary in most cases we see abba hesitate to give rules or
orders to his disciple: A brother asked Abba Poemen, <Some brothers live with
me; do you want me to be in charge of them?> The old man said to him, <No,
just work first and foremost, and if they want to live like you, they will see to, it
themselves>. The brother said to him, <But it is they themselves, Father who want
me to be in charge of them>. The old man said to him, <No, be their example, not
their legislator>”12.
In this regard abba remains “the Mystagogue rather than the legislator” since
he forms his disciple not by and imposing laws, but rather by setting an example
(typos) This attitude is summarized by J.C. Guy as follows: „The dialogue of obe-
dience will be personal first of all from the elder’s standpoint. It is not his business
to secure respect for a law whose faithful observance will ensure the disciple’s
salvation. The elder must be model and not legislator. He can expect unconditional
submission to his direction only in the measure in which he is the first to put into
practice what he prescribes for his disciple”13.
This is one of the most remarkable features of the Elders of the desert, which
is to “not seek to impose the same rules to all, reducing everything to an arbitrary
uniformity”14, but rather to propose the disciples a practical way of living.
From this perspective, Apophthegmata Patrum is not a compendium of eth-
ics because the Elders’ judgments have nothing to do with the etiquette or moral
rules, so for those who have embarked on this path there is no panacea and no
“methodology” guaranteed. As the Mystagogue, the spiritual father is like a gar-
dener who “knows the nature and type of plants, flowers, the climatic conditions
in which he lives. Similarly, a spiritual father has to help the flower (disciple) to
develop in a proper way of its own specific nature”15.
For example, we learn from the Paterikon that “A brother came to see Abba
Poemen and said to him, <I sow my field and give away in charity what I reap
12 
Abba Poemen 174, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 191.
13 
Jean-Claude Guy, „Educational Innovation in the Desert Fathers”, in Eastern Churches
Review, vol. 6, 1974, p. 47.
14 
Thomas Merton, „The Spiritual Father in the Desert Tradition”, in Cistercian Studies, nr.
3, 1968, p. 41.
15 
Antoine de Souroge, „Sur le père spiritual et la paternité spirituelle” (Confèrence prononcé
a Moscou, 1997), „Buisson Ardent”, 2004, p.187.

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from it>. The old man said to him, <That is good>, and he departed with fervor

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and intensified his charity. Hearing this, Abba Anoub said to Abba Poemen, <Do
you not fear God, that you have spoken like that to the brother?> The old man
remained silent. Two days later Abba Poemen saw the brother coming and in the
presence of Abba Anoub said to him, <What did you ask me the other day? I was
not attending>. The brother said, <I said that I sow my field and give away what
I gain in charity>. Abba Poemen said to him, <I thought you were speaking of
your brother who is in the world. If it is you who are doing this, it is not right for
a monk>. At these words the brother was saddened and said, <I do not know any
other work and I cannot help sowing the fields>. When he had gone away, Abba
Anoub made a prostration and said, <Forgive me>. Abba Poemen said, <From the
beginning I too knew it was not the work of a monk but I spoke as I did, adapting
myself to his ideas and so I gave him courage to increase his charity. Now he has
gone away full of grief and yet he will go on as before”16.
The disciple’s behavior shows as clearly as possible the fact that listening for
him does not mean obedience to a law that the Elder penalizes or interprets in a
personal manner. In a word the disciple is not subject to a law, but a person. The
meaning of true spiritual paternity, is eventually to give life to the disciple, to en-
sure its space through which he can develop in his own way, and thus he will live
up to his own vocation. We can not speak therefore of asceticism “in general”, of a
valid subject for all or of an undifferentiated ascetic effort as every disciple’s way
is dictated by his own way of being, and his inner configuration.
Thus, the sayings can not take the forms of speculative deduction, nor can
they take the form of systematic developments or constructions. Instead, there
is practised here what we might call an “existential induction, a pedagogy or a
guidance of the experienced situation, of the model caught in action. Hence the
importance of asceticism that is not exposed discursively, but illustrated experi-
mentally” (A. Plesu).
In light of the above considerations another essential quality can be drawn
from the practice of spiritual guidance of the Desert Fathers, namely the spiritual
discernment. In the monastic tradition of Egypt this charism undoubtedly repre-
sents the sign of spiritual authority, for which Abba Ammonas states, that diakrisis
is the spiritual gift that separates younger monk than his old man, because he ap-
pears as a result of a long ascetic labor17.
16 
Abba Poemen 22, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 170.
17 
Cf. Saint Ammonas, Lettres IV, X în Lettres des Pères du Désert, introd., trad., et notes par
B. Outtier, A. Louf, M. van Parys, A. Zirnheld, Spiritualité Orientale, n. 42, Abbaye de Bellefontai-
ne, 1985, pp. 23-24.

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The quality of the spiritual father to adapt his teaching to the different partic-
ular circumstances of the disciple’s life is precisely the blessing of this exceptional
gift obtained from a long asceticism.
In the practice of spiritual guidance, we often see as the gift of discernment
so much prevails over other gifts, that it may “be equivalent to a waiver of sci-
ence”: “There was a certain old man who had a good disciple. Through narrow-
mindedness he drove him outside with his sheepskin. The brother remained sitting
outside. When the old man opened the door, he found him sitting, and he repented
saying, <O Father, the humility of your patience has overcome my narrow-mind-
edness. Come inside and from now on you are the old man and the father, and I am
the younger and the disciple>”18.
In this regard, we recognize together with I. Hausherr that “most famous fa-
thers owe their fame not to their study, but to their lives and to their being worthy
of the gifts that were sent to them by God. For <the speech about faith and the
reading of dogmatic books dries one out>, while sole the purity gives one access
to real science”19.
The effigy of holiness, the abba was always regarded as the spiritual man and
the fundamental criterion whereby he becomes a “bearer of spirit” (pneumatopho-
ros) takes into account the very spiritual experience.
The spiritual father is primarily a “bearer of spirit” (pneumatophoros), whi-
ch means that the abba is not named Elder on account of his „old age and gray
hair,” but on the experience attained in the Holy Spirit: “One day Abba Moses
said to brother Zacharias, <Tell me what I ought to do?> At these words the lat-
ter threw himself on the ground at the old man’s feet and said, <Are you asking
me, Father?> The old man said to him, <Believe me, Zacharias, my son, I have
seen the Holy Spirit descending upon you and since then I am constrained to
ask you> Then Zacharias drew his hood off his head put it under his feet and
trampled on it, saying, <The man who does not let himself be treated thus, can-
not become a monk”20.
From this apophthegm it can be understood that any ascetic can get this cha-
rism, because no human condition is excluded a priori. For instance, we learn
from the Paterikon, that Abba Mios, a former slave became diakritikos at a certain
time: “Concerning an old man who was at Scetis he said that he had been a slave
and he had become a true reader of hearts”21.
18 
An Abba of Rome 2, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 210.
19 
I. Hausherr, op. cit., p. 101.
20 
Abba Zacharias 3, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 68.
21 
Abba Mius 2, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, ed. cit., p. 150.

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In the same key one can read the characterization that Palladius makes to

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abba Macarius of Egypt, calling him a “young old” (paidariogerôn), namely an
early abba.
Finally, another feature of the spiritual father refers to the efficacy of the
word savior, effectiveness that depends ultimately on the listening to it or the
implementation of it by the disciple as the intimate link between the charismatic
word of the abba and the obedience of the disciple are essential”22.
The relation between abba and his disciple assumes, therefore, the form of
a true “spiritual osmosis”, understood not as a transfer of knowledge, “but rather
as a different self-consciousness, an acquirement of a new sense of life, almost an
<early old age> that disciple assumes”23.
It is certain that only to the extent to which the Elders’ ascetic precepts are put
into practice, can the spiritual guidance system be really effective. And, indeed,
by this short striking word “Abba’s truth begins to work within his disciple”24,
because the Elder’s word has a secret redeeming power (dynamis): we learn, for
instance, from the Paterikon that the disciple, after receiving the answer to his
question by “doing so is saved”. Even when the Elders’ sentences seem absurd and
without meaning they connote, in general, an impressive, practical effectiveness.
Thus, the Abba can give value, within limits, even the nonsense, the paradox or
the disconcerting gesture25.
Through this paradigmatic expression – “Abba, tell me a word” – the dis-
ciple committed in search of salvation pursues not particularly some general
principles of spiritual life, but rather some specific advice on his particular situ-
ation in life. Moreover, through the “rumination” (ruminatio) of abba’s word

22 
William Harmless, Desert Christians. An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasti-
cism, Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 173.
23 
R. Cherubini, „La trasmissione dell’ideale di vita monastica da una generazione all’altra:
incipientes ed eisagomenoi in occidente e oriente nel IV e V secolo”, în Il monachesimo occidentale
dalle origini alla Regula Magistri. XXVI Incontro di studiosi dell’antichità cristiana (Roma, 8-10
maggio 1997), Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, Roma, 1998, p. 53.
24 
A. Louf, „Spiritual Fatherhood in the Literature of the Desert”, în Abba. Guides to
Wholeness and Holiness East and West, (ed.), by John R. Sommerfeldt, Cistercian Publi-
cations Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1982, p. 52.
25 
It is sufficient to mention here that the abba John the Dwarf, who gave his disciple
a wet load of dry wood (absurd sentence), which after three years has blossomed and born
fruit, so that old man took some of the fruit went/to church and said brothers/saying to the
brethren: “Take and eat the fruit of obedience” (Abba John the Dwarf 1, in The Sayings of
the Desert Fathers, p. 86).
Also, example of abba Saio that was sent by his spiritual father to steal (sentence immoral),
and he obediently went and stole (Abba Saius, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 229).

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and his existential assimilation, the disciple receives the personal resources of
the abba’s grace.
In other words, this “charismatic” word (Rhema) was sought with obstinacy
by the young ascetic not for a theological explanation but as “a vehicle of grace, as
a transfiguring power source” through which “the disciple lives in the very spirit
of the father”26. Abba’s word is therefore always the depositary of an experience,
which means that the Elder does not spread by his word a doctrine, but his per-
sonal experience on the spiritual life. In this sense, the Paterikon shows without
doubt that the Desert Fathers have acquired the “gift of the word” (tou logo to
charisma)27 their long ascetic experience.
This perpetual request of the disciples that resonate like a chorus in Apo-
phthegmata Patrum - “Abba, what shall I do to be saved?” - suggests that the El-
der’s sentence is a reality of nutrition rank, and as such, it is vital28. Through these
sentences the disciple participates in his father’s life, because they are “words
burst of life and embodied in life, to answer a vital question, a persisting and
pressing question”29.
In this context we admit along with Douglas Burton-Christie that “Scrip-
ture enjoyed great authority in the desert, and when someone asked an elder for
a<word>, it was often a word from Scripture that he received in reply”30.
From this perspective one can speak of an “education through the word” to
the Desert Fathers or a “guidance by word” (I. Hausherr), they being in this sense
“educational innovators” of a unique spiritual teaching.
Thus, J. C. Guy described Apophthegmata Patrum as “it is above all the
expression of an altogether original method of spiritual education”31, and Douglas
Burton-Christie suggested that “in the solitude of the desert, a vibrant and original
spirituality was born”32.
26 
A. Scrima, op. cit., p. 211.
27 
Abba Poemen was known among other ascetics as having the „blessing of the word” (Po-
emen 108), and abba Paul the Simple, disciple of St. Anthony was seen as having „he had received
the grace from the Lord of seeing the state of each one’s soul, just as we see their faces” (Abba Paul
the Simple, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 205)
28 
This relationship assumes maximum parental oral communication, verbal and direct that
has to do literally with breathing, is an „exchange of spirits”, spiritual father sent his disciple „spirit”
of his, that his spiritual life.
29 
L. Regnault,Viaţa cotidiană a Părinţilor deşertului în Egiptul secolului IV, ed. cit., p. 23.
30 
Douglas Burton-Christie, The Word in the Desert: Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in
Early Christian Monasticism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1993, p. 110.
31 
J-C. Guy, „Educational Innovation in the Desert Fathers”, in Eastern Churches Review,
Oxford, 1974, pp. 44.
32 
Douglas Burton-Christie, op. cit., p. 3.

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Both J.-C. Guy and Douglas Burton-Christie characterized the principles of the

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“university of the desert” (J.-C. Guy) as a unique innovation in which the primary
responsibility of the abba lies in teaching his disciple how to live the ascetic life.
The ascetic education or “culture of the desert” (S. Ramfos) put a particular
emphasis on the practical component of spiritual life: “Teach your mouth to say
that which you have in your heart”33 or “What is the good of giving oneself to a
trade without seeking to learn it”34. The Askesis, or the battle with the temptations
and passions remained one of the most remarkable features of the Desert Fathers,
and also via eminentiae in the spiritual maturation of young ascetics.
From this perspective, S. Ramfos offering a existentialist-psychological in-
terpretation of monastic wisdom says that the fundamental principle of the Desert
Fathers was that of practical experience, as “the true wisdom is not comes from
books but the wisdom of a pure heart”35.
Thus, the desert has become the generator of a “new culture” (P. Brown)
whereby the apophthegms of the Fathers have to the fore the discovery of a new
alphabet, that of the heart36. The transition from a culture of the book to a culture
Dei (culture of God) in Late Antiquity was rightly hailed as the greatest achieve-
ment of the Desert Fathers of Egypt, which means that the heart itself of a monk
became the new book37 that abba Arsenius wanted to assimilate so much: an asce-
tic seeing the abba Arsenius asking an Elder about his thoughts, asked him very
confused: “<Abba Arsenius, how is it that you with such a good Latin and Greek
education, ask this peasant about your thoughts?> He replied, <I have indeed been
taught Latin and Greek, but I do not Know even the alphabet of this peasant”38.
Also, Abba Arsenius admits the same doubts about his laic education when
he states that he gained nothing out of his entire profane culture, while the Desert
Fathers excelling in ascetic virtues: “We indeed get nothing from our secular edu-
cation, but these Egyptian peasants acquire the virtues by hard work”39.
From the two apophthegms of abba Arsenius we can see how his teaching
consider the true formation, namely that focused on the spiritual growth of his
disciples, and in this sense the desert spirituality is, by excellence, a spiritual guid-
ance in act.

33 
Abba Poemen 63, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 175.
34 
Abba Poemen 128, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 185.
35 
Stelios Ramfos, Like a Pelican in the Wilderness. Reflections on the Sayings of the Desert
Fathers, Massachusetts, Brookline, Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2000, p. 212.
36 
P. Brown, Trupul şi societatea, trad. de I. Zirra, Editura Rao, Bucureşti, 2000, p. 241.
37 
Ibidem, p.241.
38 
Abba Arsenius 6, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 10.
39 
Abba Arsenius 5, in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 10.

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Assist. Prof. Daniel Lemeni

Conclusions
Placing the practice of spiritual guidance in the ambience of spiritual experi-
ence, the thesis we tried to legitimate through this study refers to the fact that an
abba is defined stricto sensu as an anthropos pneumatikos.
From this perspective the desert spirituality expresses a simple and unequiv-
ocal message: the teaching of an abba must be the outcome of his own spiritual
experience.
In the lines above I insisted on this topos for the Parents themselves often
recall the strength and necessity of the example in the practice of their spiritual
guidance.
In other words, abba should first be an example or model for his disciples,
which means that their apophthegms do not represent simple doxai, but rather a
model for guiding the disciple in the spiritual life.
In this case the relationship between an abba and his disciples involves “liv-
ing together” the experience of theosis during which the disciples can check with
their eyes the coherence between the life and the teaching of the Elder.
Thus, to achieve spiritual growth, the disciple must live beside a holy man,
which means that the spiritual experience will remain the specific crest of the
spiritual father in Eastern Christian spirituality.

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