The Wandering Fathers

Core of the lecture

The lecture explains the life of the wandering fathers — the monks who lived an ascetic life in the deserts and mountains, distancing themselves from monasteries and people for many years, some of them not seeing a human face for decades. The main idea is that these wanderers chose complete solitude and continuous prayer and renunciation of the world in search of meeting God.

Examples and biographies

The lecture mentions examples of fathers such as St. Anba Paula, Anba Karas, Samaan al-Qala’, Anba Bamou, and Anba Begimi, and presents stories about the long duration of isolation for some (like eighty years or ninety years without meeting a person) and about how they were discovered and their lives were written by fathers who visited them in their last days.

Spiritual and human dimension

The spiritual core of the lecture is the sanctification of solitude and asceticism as a way to prepare for repentance and closeness to God. The lecture emphasizes that the life of the wanderers is not myths or flying spirits, but rather mortals who practiced asceticism, got sick, erred, and confessed their sins, yet they were great saints because they lived constant prayer and forgot the world.

Relation to monasticism and anchoretic life

The speaker explains that the rank of “siyāha” (the wanderers’ life) is higher than the rank of monasticism and than anchoretic life in the mountain, because the wanderer lives for God alone completely without contact with the monastic community or visitors. It also mentions that some people were influenced by the wanderers’ lives and went into the mountains to repent.

How the wanderers were recognized and their lives documented

The lecture states that God sometimes allowed holy fathers to find these wanderers in their last days, bury them and write their lives, and that writings by fathers like Anba Bebnoudah and Anba Shenouda and others preserved their stories in the Church.

Coptic Orthodox spiritual-educational message

The spiritual message is that a person is called to purify the heart by repentance and prayer and by withdrawing from temptations, and that true holiness appears in those who live for the Lord alone without desire for fame or comfort. The blessing and spiritual benefit of their prayers are known and the Church preserves their lives as examples.

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