![]() Contrarily, the most serious and greatest of their faults we must characterize, in front of them, as the least and unworthy of note. Indeed if such souls display even the smallest good deed, we must praise it and marvel at it, giving them encouragement in their struggle for the good. We should laud remiss and indolent souls who are easily exhausted in the struggle for good, as well as those souls who are easily discouraged and fall to despair. Here are two excerpts that I find particularly interesting, the first from the “Evergetinos”: Other nuns prevailed upon her against her will to give them guidance in the spiritual life, and it is thanks to them that the teachings of this great Amma were recorded in the first place. Eventually, however, her virtues and achievements grew so great that the Lord revealed her to others. She was soon tonsured a nun and became a strict recluse, not speaking to men or women ‘in her quest for virtue and silence’ (“Lives”, p. 234).Īfter the death of her parents, St Syncletica gave all of her wealth to the poor and retired with her blind sister to any empty sepulchre on a relative’s estate. ![]() ![]() In this way, St Syncletica was a wonderful exemplar of her own teaching: ‘It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his own thoughts’ (Syncletica 19 Benedicta Ward, trans., “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection”, rev. (“The Lives of the Spiritual Mothers: An Orthodox Materikon of Women Monastics and Ascetics”, p. Setting her sights and her thoughts solely upon the desired One, Christ, she closed her senses to bodily pleasures and conversed with her noetic Bridegroom. She had already bestowed her heart and mind solely upon the heavenly Bridegroom, Christ, and not upon an earthly one. She was beautiful and well-off, and consequently had many suitors, but. St Syncletica was born in Alexandria, into a Macedonian Christian family. in Elizabeth Bryson Bongie, trans., “The Life of Blessed Syncletica, by Pseudo-Athanasius” ), traditionally attributed to St Athanasios the Great (“Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism”, p. According to William Harmless, twenty-six sayings of St Syncletica have been preserved in various Desert Fathers compilations, but their original source is a Greek “Life and Regimen of the Holy and Blessed Teacher Syncletica” (English trans. 400-84) is one of three ammas found in the Gerontikon (the alphabetical “Sayings of the Desert Fathers”), the other two being Theodora and Sarah. “It is possible to be a solitary in one’s mind while living in a crowd, and it is possible for one who is a solitary to live in the crowd of his own thoughts.” St Syncletica (Συγκλητική) of Alexandria (Syncletica 19 Benedicta Ward, trans., “The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection”, rev.
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