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Between the deep valley which contains the Jordan river and the
Dead Sea, and the hill country of Judea, in which Jerusalem and
Bethlehem are situated, lies a narrow stretch of desert which
evokes memories of great Biblical ascetics - Elijah and John the
Baptist. The empty landscape and scriptural associations drew
Christian ascetics in the third century. The new edition of this
work by Cyril of Scythopolis provides perhaps our best source of
information on the Palestinian monastic movement from AD 400-600.
He gives a history not only of holy monks, but also of the
Palestinian Church at the height of its power and prestige.
The Syrian monks of the fourth and fifth centuries led lives at the
opposite extreme from the culture of graeco-roman cities. Unwashed,
unkempt, often homeless, usually poorly educated, making a positive
virtue out of physical deprivation, they shocked and appalled
cultivated pagans. Even Christian townsmen had to overcome hellenic
prejudices before they could see in these uncouth figures the
spiritual paragons of the age. Yet the Christian laity of the day,
led by their clergy, admired and revered them, and flocked to them
to behold living examples of true perfection. In his Religious
History, Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, recorded the extraordinary
lives of these men (and women) of God, and the-to us quite
unfamiliar-spirituality which they spectacularly embodies.
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