08 — East and West
Arsenius in the shared monastic memory of East and West: the transmission of his sayings through the Greek collections to the Byzantine tradition and through the Latin Verba Seniorum to Western monasticism, where his threefold word and his epigram on silence became commonplaces; and his veneration across the traditions as a great father of the desert. These files trace the breadth of his reception beyond the Greek East and the forms his cult has taken.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Desert Father; father of stillness)
Arsenius belongs to the undivided Church, and his memory was carried into both halves of it. The desert sayings were among the most widely diffused texts of early Christianity, translated from Greek into Latin, Coptic, Syriac, and other languages, and read in the monasteries of East and West alike; Arsenius, with his dramatic story and his pungent sayings, traveled especially well. This section follows his sayings into the Western monastic tradition through the Latin Verba Seniorum and Cassian, traces his standing in the Byzantine and Orthodox memory, and sets out his veneration across the traditions that claim him.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Arsenius in the Monastic Memory | The transmission of his sayings through the Greek collections and the Latin Verba Seniorum; the diffusion of his threefold word and his epigram on silence in Western and Eastern monasticism; Cassian and the Latin reception. |
| Veneration | His veneration across the Orthodox and Catholic traditions as a great father of the desert; the forms of his cult; his standing in the monastic and devotional memory of the whole Church. |
See Also
- Flee, Be Silent, Be Still — the saying that traveled farthest, fuge, tace, quiesce
- The Apophthegmata and the Tradition — the recensions through which he was transmitted
- Feast and Cult — the liturgical commemoration
- The Pre-Schism Church — the undivided Church that received him
References
- Ward, Benedicta, trans. The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection. Rev. ed. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1984.
- Chitty, Derwas J. The Desert a City. Oxford: Blackwell, 1966.
- Harmless, William. Desert Christians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.