About this episode

This episode features a reading of selected teachings from the Desert Mothers, focusing on their spiritual insights and experiences in the desert.

This is a reading for meditation of selected teachings/sayings of the Desert Mothers, taken from 'Apophthegmata Patrum' (Sayings of the Desert Fathers & Mothers) translated by Benedicta Ward; and Philokia: compiled in the eighteenth century by Macarius of Corinth (1731-1805). The teachings spoken here are from the Mothers - Amma Theodora, Amma Syncletica and Amma Sarah.The Desert Mothers lived primarily in the fourth and fifth centuries, withdrawing to the arid regions of the eastern Mediterranean at a time when Christianity had become legally protected and increasingly institutionalized. Like their male counterparts, they sought the desert as a place of stripping away — a landscape where distractions fell silent and the soul was exposed before God.Some lived in loose monastic communities; others inhabited abandoned tombs, caves, or simple mud-brick cells. Their days were shaped by prayer, fasting, manual labor, and long periods of silence. Water was scarce, food minimal, and illness common. The desert was not romantic — it was a place of bodily weakness and spiritual testing.They were called ammas, meaning “mothers,” a title that conveyed both intimacy and authority. This…

People in this episode

Host: Samaneri Jayasara

Topics covered

• Christian mysticism
• Desert Mothers
• meditation
• spiritual teachings
• early Christianity
• monastic life

Keywords

• Desert Mothers
• Christian mystics
• meditation
• spirituality
• apophthegmata
• early Christianity
• monasticism

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Apophthegmata Patrum

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