Dorotheos of Gaza: Discourses and Sayings

Publication Data: Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2008
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: 259
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.5 cm × 13.9 cm × 1.6 cm
ISBN: 978‒0‒87907‒933‒8

   
Dorotheos of Gaza
Translated, with an introduction, by Eric P. Wheeler

Number Thirty-three of Cistercian Studies Series

“Dorotheos is wonderfully anecdotal. [...M]uch of his charm comes from the fact that he is drawing on, not just written sources and oral tradition, but his own experience of day to day life with the brethren. And the brethren include, not only the saintly Abba Seridos, the two recluses Barsanuphius and John, and the model-monk Dositheus, but monks of a more earthy—disconcertingly earthy—stamp. Dorotheos is a shrewd observer, a master psychologist, an accomplished ranconteur. He is also a learned man, with a prodigious capacity for assimilating in an organic harmony the wisdom of his predecessors in the life of the Spirit; but he is much more interested in humbly serving the brethren than discoursing about the more recondite aspects of the hesychast experience. [...]Representing as he does a point of convergence for so many strands of tradition, Dorotheos becomes the ideal spiritual master to introduce us into the rich spiritual universe peopled by the denizens of the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria.”
—“PREFACE”

CONTENTS

Preface
A Letter to my Readers
Introduction
   The Text
   The Life of Dorotheos
   The Monastery of Thawatha
   Dorotheos at Thawatha
   Mystical Experiences
   The Turning-point
   Death
Part One: Discourses
   I. On Renunciation
   II. On Humility
   III. On Conscience
   IV. On the Fear of God
   V. On the Need for Consultation
   VI. On Refusal to Judge our Neighbor
   VII. On Self-accusation
   VIII. On Rancor or Animosity
   IX. On Falsehood
   X. On Travelling the Way of God with Vigilance and Sobriety
   XI. On Cutting off Passionate Desires Before They Become Rooted Habits of Mind
   XII. On the Fear of Punishment to Come and the Need for Never Neglecting One’s Salvation
   XIII. On Accepting Temptations Calmly and with Gratitude
   XIV. On Building up Virtues and their Harmony
Part Two: The Paschal Mystery
   XV. On the Lenten Fast
   XVI. Commentary on an Easter Hymn of St Gregory Nazianzen
   XVII. Commentary on a Hymn for the Feasts of Martyrs by the Same
Part Three: Dialogues and Maxims
   XVIII. How the President should Conduct Himself Towards the Brethren and They Subject Themselves to Him
   XIX. Dialogue with the Cellarer
   XX. Reply to Some Hermits who Asked Him About Holding Meetings
   XXI. On the Insensibility of Soul and the Flight of Love
   XXII. Maxims of Dorotheos Gaza