Apophthegmata Patrum

Traduction lituanienne de la collection anonyme des apophtegmes des Pères du désert à partir des quatre sources différentes : le manuscrit Coislin 126, publié partiellement par F. Nau dans la ROC ; la collection systématique éditée sous les auspices de Jean-Claude Guy dans la série des Sources Chrétiennes ; Paulus Evergetinos, Synagôgé, et enfin la traduction de Dom L. Regnault, Les Sentences des Pères du désert. Série des anonymes, Solesmes – Bellefontaine, 1985.

The portrayal of Ethiopians in early Christian literature has been interpreted in scholarship in various ways, including severe accusations of racism. Even the Desert Fathers have been blamed of "rather abrasive racism." This paper examines the Apophthegmata patrum and related ascetical sources regarding their approach to Ethiopians, the symbol of black Africans. The author argues that metaphorical expressions and mystical visions have been over-interpreted and misused, due to their having been read through the lenses of modern Western racism and its counter-reactions. In the Egyptian desert, the basic approach to actual Ethiopians seems to have been neutral or positive, as it had been already in the pre-Christian Greek Antiquity.

THIS VERSION LACKS THE VERY LAST EDITS, SO PLEASE ENJOY A FEW TYPING ERRORS. :)

This thesis examines the role which death plays in the development of a uniquely Christian identity in John Climacus’ seventh-century work, the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the Greek ascetic literature of the previous centuries. I argue that John Climacus deploys language of death, inherited from a range of Greek Christian literature, as the symbolic framework within which he describes the ascetic lifestyle as developing a Christian identity. This framework is expressed by thee ascetic practice of ‘memory of death’ and by practices of renunciation described as ‘death’ to oneself and others.  In order to understand Climacus’ unique achievement in regard to engagement with death it is
necessary first to situate the Ladder and its author within the literature of the Greek ascetic tradition, within which Climacus consciously wrote. In the Introduction I develop ways Climacus draws on and develops traditional material, while arguing that it must be treated and interpreted in its own right and not simply as his ‘sources.’ I then examine the vocabulary of death and the lines of thought opened up in the New Testament. Chapter One argues that the memory of death plays an important role in Athanasius’ Vita Antonii. Chapter Two surveys material from the fifth- and sixth-century Egyptian and Palestinian deserts in which memory and practice of death are deployed in a wider variety of ways and
are increasingly connected to ascetics’ fundamental understanding of self and salvation. Chapter Three examines the sixth-century Quaestiones et Responsiones of Barsanuphius and John of Gaza in which further elaboration of the same thematic is discernible. Chapter Four concludes this thesis with a sustained
reading of John Climacus’ Scala Paradisi in which the various thematics centering on memory and practice of death are synthesized into the existential framework and practical response, respectively.

THE USE OF BIBLICAL QUOTATIONS IN THE APOPHTHEGMATA PATRUM
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers  (Apophthegmata patrum) consists of collections of sayings and short stories attributed to fourth and ifth century Egypt monks. Two main collections are known – the  Alphabetical (the sayings are arranged in alphabetical order of the author’s names) and the Systematic Collection (the most important topics of the life of the Desert Fathers are cov-ered). The collection was very popular among the monks and has been translated into various ancient and modern languages. As one would expect, it contains nu-merous references to the Bible, which are the subject of the current research. The question of the use of biblical quotations is important both for the study of the Greek text of the Sayings and for their translations into modern languages . The interpretation of the theological topics that occupied the monks who wrote that collection also depends on the correct determination of the biblical quota-tions in it. Statistics of the use of biblical quotations in the Alphabetical Collection (ed. Cotelier) and in some of its modern translations are proposed, as well as in the critical edition of the Systematic Collection  of Jean-Claude Guy, where the Bulgarian and Russian translations are compared.

The article draws attention to an important yet understudied group of
Byzantine liturgical commentaries, of visionary character, composed in
the form of a dialogue between two of the Three Hierarchs, or one of
them (or some other saint) and the Lord. The author of the article focuses
on one of these commentaries, ascribed to St. Gregory of Nazianz, and
publishes the editio princeps of its Greek text, providing also its English
translation and an analysis. This commentary, entitled as The Disclosure
of the Divine Liturgy by [Pseudo]-Gregory of Nazianz, is proven to be
dependent on a story from the Apophthegmata Patrum (attested only in a
few manuscripts), which, in its turn, seems to be a collation of two texts
— an earlier account from the Apophthegmata Patrum (attested widely
enough), and a story from the Narrationes by St. Anastasios of Sinai.
This specific commentary has greatly influenced the Slavonic, and espe-
cially the Old Russian, liturgical theology and iconography, but its impact
is also attested in post-Byzantine Greek ecclesiastical art, and one cannot
exclude the possibility that some particular variants of the Byzan-
tine Melismos composition could have also been shaped by The Disclo-
sure of the Divine Liturgy by Pseudo-Gregory.

The Gospel of Thomas calls its readers on a path of discovery of the authentic self. This journey involves stripping away one’s exterior elements, symbolized as ‘this flesh,’ working to reach an inner core called variously this spirit, the one, or even, most simply, you or oneself. Thus begins an arduous, long process of becoming a single or solitary one (ⲟⲩⲁ ⲟⲩⲱⲧ or ⲙⲟⲛⲁⲭⲟⲥ).

Interior inspection, scrutiny of the self, and attention to what is effective in making spiritual advance, and what is not, are discussed in Thomas using the vocabulary of ascetic performance: fasting, prayer, almsgiving, renunciation of the world. A similar life of interiority is also pursued by ascetic practitioners as they are portrayed on nearly every page of the collected wisdom of the desert Christians.

Given these and other similarities, therefore, I suggest that when we search for a plausible context of meaning of the Gospel of Thomas as understood in late antique Egypt, we might find much enlightening material for comparison, and for contrast, in the traditions of the desert pioneers found in the Apophthegmata Patrum.

Traditionally acknowledged as a great preacher, church father (“great hierarch and ecumenical teacher” in the East, “doctor of the church” in the West) and biblical interpreter, St John Chrysostom is less known as one of the authors of the famous classic of monastic spirituality Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Apophthegmata Patrum). In some Greek manuscripts and editions of the Systematic Collection of the Sayings, one apophthegm is attributed to him, which is not attested in the Chrysostomian corpus (in TLG). This paper aims to present that short text, to try to answer the question to what extent it could be considered genuine, and to trace and explain its presence in the Sayings.

Moses the Black was, undoubtedly, the most prominent ‘Black Monk’ in Late Antiquity, whose fame spread far from the desert of Scetis,  and was regarded as a model of Christian virtue. Also known as the Ethiopian Moses, this figure was one of the most prominent desert fathers. His life and sayings were preserved in four ancient sources, where he is characterized as an ideal monk: Palladius’ Lausiac History (c. 420); Sozomen’s Ecclesiastical History (c. 443-448); the Apophthegmata patrum (early 6th century); and in the Acta Sanctorum (10th century).

The story of Moses is a story about a Black man, who possessed a high degree of devotion and repentance. His skin and his negative past symbolized a kind of imperfect existence, which is polarized to the ideal ascetic religious life. Moses the Black, who used to be a robber and – probably – a murderer, symbolically, ceased to be black. He was able to abandon his blackness, and as it was demonstrated, to reject his nationality, by escaping from his ethiopianess and ‘washing himself white.’ If ascetic life is the wisest choice for an Ethiopian, why it would not be for a non-Ethiopian?

John Climacus's seventh-century ascetical and spiritual masterwork, the Ladder of Divine Ascent, drew on and reformulated the themes and trajectories of Chalcedonian ascetic spirituality in ways that would prove decisive for later Byzantine theologians. This paper seeks to elaborate the conceptualization of Climacus's spirituality through a sustained exploration of his treatment of angels and his understanding of the ascetic life as 'angelic.' In the monastic literature that Climacus inherited and that formed him, three tensions emerge with respect to the predication of "angelic" to ascetics: optimism and doubt about the possibility of a 'care-free' state, alternative conceptions of "liminal" progress, and opposition of individualism and community. Climacus not only holds together these tensions, but by coupling them with his own original ideas carefully develops the possibility of ascetic imitation of angels.

Имайки предвид твърдението на св. Йоан Синайски, че „светлина за монасите са ангелите, а светлина за всички човеци – монашеският живот“, можем да си обясним голямата популярност на поученията и разказите за живота на древните монаси сред вярващите от късната античност и средновековието чак до наши дни. Тези поучения и разкази сравнително рано започнали да се записват и разпространяват, като с течение на времето били включени в сборници, известни като патерѝци, респ. патерикони (от гр. πατήρ – „баща, отец“ – т.е. „книги за отците“, „отечески книги“) или отечници. Настоящето изложение представя накратко историята и съдържанието на един от най-разпространените патерични сборници – „Изречения на светите отци“.

АНОТАЦИЯ: Св. Йоан Златоуст е добре известен като блестящ оратор, вдъхновен тълкувател на Свещеното Писание и грижовен пастир на своето паство. Малко познат факт обаче е, че негов кратък текст-апофтегма е включен в известния класически сборник на раннохристиянското монашество " Изречения на светите отци " (Apophthegmata Patrum). Тази апофтегма не е засвидетелствана в никое от запазените му съчинения. Целта на настоящото изследване е да представи този цитат и да се опита да отговори на въпроса до каква степен той би могъл да се приеме за автентичен, както и да проследи и обясни присъствието му в сборника.

Traditionally acknowledged as a great preacher, church father (“great hierarch and ecumenical teacher” in the East, “doctor of the Church” in the West), and biblical interpreter, St John Chrysostom is less known as one of the authors whose wisdom was anthologised in the famous classic of monastic spirituality, Apophthegmata Patrum or Sayings of the Desert Fathers. In some Greek manuscripts and editions of the Systematic Collection of the Sayings, one apophthegm is attributed to him. This chapter aims to present that short text, endeavouring, first, to answer the question to what extent these words could be considered genuinely Chrysostomian, then, to trace their origin, and, lastly, to explain their presence in the Sayings.

As a really popular section of the corpus known as "Vitae Patrum" or "Vitaspatrum", the collections of sayings of the Desert Fathers were widely read and translated throughout the middle ages. This paper presents the critical edition (accompanied by a linguistic commentary and an analysis of translation techniques) of a fragment of a 14th-century Sicilian collection of sayings, discovered in a parchment bifolio reused as the cover of a 16th-century volume of notarial minutes. The fragment is now kept at the archivio di Stato in Catania (ASCt), whose collection of «ex copertine di volume di atti notarili» is examined as an interesting example of how fragments of dismembered manuscripts are vital to reconstructing the libraries of a given environment, given the lack (as is the case of eastern Sicily) of manuscript collections or inventories.
as demonstrated by a structural comparison with other medieval vernacular translations of the "Vitae Patrum", this fragment represents a very small part of a seemingly much longer text, which could be paralleled to the well-known Tuscan volgarizzamento by Domenico Cavalca, the Vite dei Santi Padri. a piece of evidence from an inventory of the monastery of San martino delle Scale seems to confirm that this translation circulated in Benedictine monasteries in late 14th century.

The story about the repentant prostitute Thais (Taisia), absolved of sins and glorified as saint after years of voluntary banishment in a monastic cell, has enjoyed noteworthy popularity in West European art and society – since the end of 19th c. it was remade in novels, films and even in an opera. If we turn farther back, to the Middle Ages, we would find out that this story rouse interest too as it has Greek, Latin, Syriac and Slavic versions. In the Byzatine manuscript tradition (from which all the others derive) it circulates in several variants and genres – oral narrations became apophtegmata, one apophtegma became sermo, then finally sermo became vita.
The article examines the Slavic medieval translation of one of these Greek texts, namely Conversio Taisiae. The stress is laid on its dissemination in manuscripts that are successors of the initial Chrysorrhoas (Zlatostruy) corpus. An attempt has been made to reconstruct the stages the Slavic version’s transmission by joining data of both text critical comparison of witnesses and history of the collections that incorporate these witnesses.

This article is devoted to an important yet understudied monument of the medieval Orthodox Christian culture, “The Disclosure of the Divine Liturgy”, attributed to St. Gregory of Nazianz in manuscripts. This text has been known for a long time in Old Russian manuscripts, but its Greek original remained unpublished until 2015, when the author of this article made public his edition of the text in Bollettino della Badia Greca di Grottaferrata. The present article contains a survey of the existing studies of Slavonic translations of “The Disclosure of the Divine Liturgy” and of the relevant publications by art historians, in chronological order. The Greek text (reprinted here for the sake of convenience) is accompanied by a new translation into modern Russian and is compared to its Slavonic versions. As has been noted by Tatyana Afanasyeva, there is a number of Old Russian manuscripts among the Slavonic manuscripts of the text, containing two or three different versions of the text, and the unique (at least at the moment) South Slavonic codex containing a separate version. Afanasyeva further states that all of the Old Russian redactions can be traced to a single Old Russian translation, while the South Slavonic translation might have been made in the “Old Slavonic period”, though later reworked. In order to prove this statement, she cites a list of “archaic” linguistic features in the South Slavonic version of the piece. The present article confirms that all of the Old Russian redactions of the text do belong to the same translation. This is firmly proved by a number of mistranslated words or word combination that reoccur in all of the Old Russian versions of the text, which means that the successive Russian editors had no access to the original Greek text. Meanwhile, Afanasyeva’s claim that the South Slavonic version of the text goes back to an “Old Slavonic” translation should be decisively rejected on the basis of the following two arguments. First, the composition of the Greek text itself is dated to 12th century, as the author of this article has shown in detail earlier. Second, none of the aforementioned “archaic” linguistic features stand up to criticism. Therefore, both of the independent Slavonic translations of “The Disclosure of the Divine Liturgy” should belong to approximately the same period, namely the 12th century or the first third of the 13th century.

Traditionally acknowledged as a great preacher, church father (“great hierarch and ecumenical teacher” in the East, “doctor of the Church” in the West), and biblical interpreter, St John Chrysostom is less known as one of the authors whose wisdom was anthologised in the famous classic of monastic spirituality, Apophthegmata Patrum or Sayings of the Desert Fathers. In some Greek manuscripts and editions of the Systematic Collection of the Sayings, one apophthegm is attributed to him. This chapter aims to present that short text, endeavouring, first, to answer the question to what extent these words could be considered genuinely Chrysostomian, then, to trace their origin, and, lastly, to explain their presence in the Sayings.

The Greek text of the systematic collection of the Apophthegmata patrum date from IV-VI AD and is written in so-called late Koine Greek. The collection contain both sayings and simple narratives, composed for the most part in everyday, not literary Greek. The text therefore have the potential to provide useful evidence for the ongoing development of Greek language of its time.
The paper presents some preliminary results of a PhD research conducted at the Department of Classics at Sofia University with the same title. Its aim is to draw attention to the linguistic value of Apophthegmata, based on the study of the syntax and vocabulary of the critical edition of the systematic collection (Les Apophtegmes 1993-2005).

The article investigates an early theological justification of the radical detachment from society expressed in a saying by the famous Egyptian hermit Arsenius the Great (4 th-5 th century) who avoided contacts not only with lay people, but even with his fellow monks in the desert of Sketis. This justification is to be seen in connection with the phenomenon of monastic secluded life which suddenly emerged in the second part of the 3 rd century, in sharp contrast with traditional views of the catholic Christians of the 1 st-3 rd centuries on the way of life suitable for the followers of Christ. In this article, the radical break with this early paradigm is called the "revolution of the solitaries". Arsenius, who lived about eighty years after the first monks in Egypt started to be recognized as a distinct phenomenon in public space, does not necessarily draw on the oldest layers of the traditions justifying and explaining the religious motivation for being alone. Nevertheless, his statement is one of the first pieces of theological reflection on the subject transmitted in full which opens a number of intriguing possibilities for further research on this widely neglected field. The article provides the historical context of Arsenius' justification which includes criticism of the anachoretic monasticism in the pagan and Christian communities. Some critics of the secluded life consider it as contrary to the Jewish and pagan wisdom as well as to the revelation of Christ, a statement making Arsenius' apology most precarious. Of special inrerest is that Arsenius, when staying away remaining secluded from all kinds of people, was to a certain degree guided by the example of Socrates.

Prologue; by Alan Avery-Peck
"Advocates of rhetorical criticism recently have argued that, within broad historical and geographical limits, rhetorical art remains the same from literature to literature. While "colored by the traditions and conventions of the society in which it is applied," rhetoric, this is to say, "is also a universal phenomenon which is conditioned by the basic workings of the human mind and heart and by the nature of all human society. One important implication of this theory of rhetoric is that similar literary forms will have the same rhetorical force and meaning in all cultures in which they occur.

If the rhetorical medium indeed determines the message, then patterned language should function similarly regardless of its historical, cultural, or documentary provenance. Lists, epistle forms, or apophthegmata, for instance, will function similarly and have the same rhetorical force in literature deriving from diverse cultures and historical periods. For the form's meaning, the recent theory of apophthegmata holds, is determined as much by the universal 'workings of the human mind and heart' as by the unique conventions and ideals of the culture in which it is used.

Definitions
Apep (Aapep or Apepi) ; also spelled Apophis ( /ˈæpəfɪs/; Ancient Greek: ἄποφις) was the ancient Egyptian deity who embodied chaos ( ı͗zft in Egyptian, in slang Arabic Zift) was the adversary of light and opponent of Ma'at (order/ truth ).  Apep was the ancient Egyptian spirit of evil, darkness and destruction. As the arch enemy of the sun god, Ra, he was a malevolent force who could never be entirely be vanquished. Every night as the sun traveled though the underworld (or across the sky) his roar would fill the air and he would launch his attack. He appears in art as a giant serpent.

The Apophthegmata patrum (Sayings of the Fathers) is a collection of more than 1,000 brief stories about and sayings by the desert fathers. Some are terse aphorisms, others portray dramatic encounters in which young monks come to their elders, begging: “Abba, give me a word by which I might be saved.” Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the Fathers, late 5th cent.) One of the most influential works of Christian monasticism, the Apophthegmata Patrum is an anthology of terse anecdotes about and memorable sayings from 4th-5th-century Egyptian monks. (Oxford Scholarship)

Abba Macarius left the Scetis on his way to the far wilderness, and coming to a cemetery where old skeletons were buried. Macarius the great, the Lantern of the wilderness, picked a skull and placed it under his head. As soon as the demons observed they felt his boldness, and envied him and wished to disturb his peace; so, they shouted in a loud voice, calling a certain woman by name: “O Lilith*, we have got the soap, a comb and the bath towels; as we are waiting for you to join us.” And a voice came out from the skull under his head, saying: “I have a guest, a stranger, who is laying his head over me; I can’t join you. Just leave on your own.” But the bold saint was not at the least disturbed. Lifting his head off the skull, and moving it, he said, “Now, that I have set off you; go into the darkness with them, if you will.” Placing his head upon it back again. As the demons watched him, they  deserted him in great embarrassment, shouting out loud,"leave us, and go away old man Macarius.” And the devils eventually scattered and disappeared out in the darkness.

As to the character of the apophthegmata we find that, while they contain a certain grotesque element, the general teaching maintains a high level. They cover the whole field of the spiritual and religious life, and are a veritable storehouse of ascetic lore: Many of them have a primitive freshness and quaintness, and a directness that comes from a deep knowledge of the human heart. They almost always possess a simple beauty that makes them interesting and wholesome reading, and at times they rise to great mystic heights. Along with Cassian, the apophthegmata reveal to us the well-springs of Christian spirituality and religious life. (Catholic Encyclopedia)   

Baal Shem Tov
Israel ben Eliezer (born circa 1698, died 21 May 1760), known as the Baal Shem Tov (Hebrew: בעל שם טוב, /ˌbɑːl ˈʃɛm ˌtʊv, ˌtʊf/) or as the BeShT, was a Jewish mystic and healer from Poland, who is regarded as the founder of Hasidic Judaism. "Besht" is the acronym for Baal Shem Tov, which means "Master of the Good Name" or "one with a good reputation."The little biographical information about the Besht comes from oral traditions handed down by his students" (Wikipedia)

A central tenet in the Baal Shem Tov's teaching is the direct connection with the divine, "dvekut", which is infused in every human activity and every waking hour. Prayer is of supreme importance, along with the mystical significance of Hebrew letters and words. His innovation lies in "encouraging worshipers to follow their distracting thoughts to their roots in the divine". Those who follow his teachings regard him as descended from the Davidic line that traces its lineage to the royal house of David
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Sayings of the Desert Fathers
The first Christian monks tried every kind of experiment with the way they lived and prayed, but there were three main forms of monastic life: in Lower Egypt there were hermits who lived alone; in Upper Egypt there were monks and nuns living in communities; and in Nitria and Scetis there were those who lived solitary lives but in groups of three or four, often as disciples of a master. For the most part they were simple men, peasants from the villages by the Nile, though a few, like Arsenius and Evagrius, were well educated. 

However, the primary written accounts of the monks of Egypt are not these, but records of their words and actions by their close disciples. Often, the first thing that struck those who heard about the Desert Fathers was the negative aspect of their lives. They were people who did without: not much sleep, no baths, poor food, little company, ragged clothes, hard work, no leisure, absolutely no sex, and even, in some places, no church either - a dramatic contrast of immediate interest to those who lived out the Gospel differently.

But to read their own writings is to form a rather different opinion. The literature produced among the monks comes from the desert, from the place where the amenities of civilization were at their lowest point anyway, where there was nothing to mark a contrast in lifestyles; and the emphasis is less on what was lacking and more on what was present. The outsider saw the negations; disciples who encountered the monks through their own words and actions found indeed great austerity and poverty, but it was neither unbelievable nor complicated.

These were simple, practical men, given neither to mysticism nor to theology, living by the Word of God, the love of the brethren and of all creation, waiting for the coming of the Kingdom with eager expectation, using each moment as a step in their pilgrimage of the heart towards Christ. It was because of this positive desire for the Kingdom of heaven which came to dominate their whole lives that they went without things: they kept silence, for instance, not because of an austere preference for being solitary.

They were learning to listen to something more interesting than the talk of men, that is, the Word of God. These men were rebels, the ones who broke the rules of the world which say that property and goods are essential for life, that the one who accepts the direction of another is not free, that no one can be fully human without sex and domesticity. Their name itself, anchorite, means rule-breaker, the one who does not fulfill his public duties. In the solitude of the desert they found themselves able to live in a way that was hard but simple, as children of God.

The literature they have left behind is full of a good, perceptive wisdom, from a clear, unassuming angle. They did not write much; but they asked each other for a "word", that is, to say something in which they would recognize the Word of God, which gives life to the soul. It is not a literature of words that analyze and sort out personal worries or solve theological problems; nor is it a mystical literature concerned to present prayers and praise to God in a direct line of vision; rather, it is oblique, unformed, occasional, like sunlight glancing off a rare oasis in the sands.

Please continue reading here:
http://thenazareneway.com/paradise_of_the_desert_fathers.htm

The article presents some preliminary results of a PhD research conducted at Sofia University’s Department of Classics, and focused on syntactic and lexical features of the Greek Apophthegmata Patrum, Collectio Systematica. All the words in the text of the critical edition of APsys (Guy 1993, 2003, 2005), around 4.050, are examined and are grouped into different categories chronologically and according to their specific origin and use. 23 hapax legomena are identified. The method of investigation includes consultation of every single word with various Greek dictionaries and with the TLG database.

The article investigates an early theological justification of the radical detachment from society expressed in a saying by the famous Egyptian hermit Arsenius the Great (4th‒5th century) who avoided contacts not only with lay people but even with his fellow monks in the desert of Sketis. This justification is to be seen in connection with the phenomenon of monastic secluded life which suddenly emerged in the second part of the 3rd century being in sharp contrast with traditional views of the catholic Christians of the 1st‒3rd centuries on the way of life suitable for the followers of Christ. In the article, the radical break with this early paradigm is called “revolution of the solitaries”. One of the results of the conducted research is that Arsenius, when staying away from all kinds of people, was to a certain degree guided by the example of Socrates.

This article is a shortened version of the author’s
Master Thesis, in which I conducted a study of the
Medieval Copto-Arabic Apophthegmata Patrum
collection. My investigation has centered on the
early Medieval translation and accommodation of
the (Greek/other) Late Antique Apophthegmata
Patrum collection into the Medieval Copto-Arabic
cultural landscape.

Meeting in the Temple When the infant Jesus was presented in the Temple and raised in the arms of old Simeon, who moved stammered his Nunc dimittis, the nature and the role of youth and mature age in God's plan were revealed in the fullness of light. Hypapante (Ὑπαπάντη), that is to say, " Encounter " which the Eastern's call the salvific encounter contained in and reproduced by the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, popularly known as Candelaria. In fact, not only does the he encounter takes place between the Old and the New Covenant, between the expectation and the fulfilment, between the divinity offered and the humanity received, but also-by antonomasia-between the young and the old, between the vigor and wisdom. In the early light of that Candelaria that mutual exchange took place, that sacred trade between the generations that will be and is the secret of the vitality of families and Christian communities throughout the centuries: the silent delivery of the child answered the jubilant hymn and prophecy of the elderly; the poor and youthful offering of the Virgin echoed the praise of the widow. Jesus and Simeon, Mary and Anna the daughter of Phanuel, represent in advance, between admiration and joy, all driven by the Spirit which makes the encounter between men possible, that sacred reciprocity secular wisdom of the monks, condensed in the Rule of St. Benedict (RB), summed up in the sentence: " venerate the elders, love the younger. " 1 The two passages of the RB in which these recommendation appears are those of Benedict, in contrast to the Rule of the Master (RM), his model, which does not contain them, as noted by Adalbert de Vogüé O.S.B., (1924-2011 †). It gives the impression that this issue is particularly dear to the editor of the RB, and also the passages which emphasise the importance of the opinion of the young before the elderly, are characteristic and peculiar 2 to them. If you innovate with respect toward young people, Benedict follows the oldest tradition in the description of the role of the elders: these are the model that young people should imitate (7:55); to them they must submit in obedience (71:4); they must be treated with deference (63: 10-17); they are the comforters par excellence (27:2-3) and the guardians of the chastity of the young (22:7), and as gatekeepers (66:1) and master of novices (58:6) their mission being the welcoming of guests and postulants. In respecting and cultivating these values monasticism finds its human balance and at the same time builds a guarantee for its continuity throughout time. This generational harmony RB 4, 70-71 y 63:10. Please refer to the explanation of the abbreviations and the editions that we 1 have used in the bibliography. RB 3:3; 63:5-6; 64:2.