Scetis and the Great Old Men
The desert of Scetis — the remotest and most austere of the Lower Egyptian centers, founded by St. Macarius the Great, the heartland of the Apophthegmata, and the home of its greatest old men — and the fathers whose “words” fill the collection: Poemen, Arsenius, Moses, and Sisoes. The individuals are deferred to their own collections; this section treats Scetis as a place and a school.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Egyptian desert monasticism)
This section treats the setting and the school that produced most of the Sayings. The first file, the-desert-of-scetis.md, treats Scetis itself — its founding by Macarius the Great (deferred to his own collection), its life and organization, and the barbarian devastations that scattered the monks and occasioned the writing-down of the tradition. The second file, poemen-arsenius-moses-and-sisoes.md, gathers the great old men of the Sayings as a school — their characteristic “words” and the ethos they shared — while deferring each man’s life to his own collection.
Contents
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| the-desert-of-scetis.md | The great semi-eremitic center; Macarius the Great its founder (deferred); the destructions of Scetis |
| poemen-arsenius-moses-and-sisoes.md | The great old men of the Sayings (deferred to their collections); their characteristic words and shared ethos |
See Also
- The Desert Fathers (master README)
- The Sayings and Their Collections — the tradition Scetis produced
- St. Macarius the Great — the founder’s own collection