Yushi Nomura, a Japanese artist and theologian, studied the desert fathers while attending Yale Divinity School in 1978. He was encouraged and inspired by Henri J. M. Nouwen, who was teaching there at the time. In his introduction to this wonderful collection of Nomura's translations and illustrations, Nouwen says of these Egyptian hermits of the fourth and fifth centuries: "They were men and women who withdrew themselves from the compulsions and manipulations of their power-hungry society in order to fight the demons and to encounter the God of love in the desert. . . . Thus, they became the new 'martyrs,' witnessing not with their blood, but with their single-minded dedication to a humble life of manual work, fasting, and prayer." In the epilogue, the reader can peruse the lecture notes from a course "Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry," which Henri Nouwen taught in 1980.
These Abbas and Ammas speak to us with power and clarity across fifteen centuries. They emphasized the importance of everyday spiritual practice as a restraint of the compulsive, self-centered self. Through the rigorous disciplines of humility, silence, love, compassion, and service to others, they sought to bring to the fore the divine presence within themselves.
The demons that they faced are the same ones we face today. "Abba Isaiah said: When someone wishes to render evil for evil, he is able to hurt his brother's conscience even by a single nod." The shadow falls when we succumb to the dangerous force field of rage and vengeance. The antidote is a rich devotional life. Or "An old man said: Constant prayer quickly straightens out our thoughts."
Given the political climate of the present, we found this counter-cultural admonition most fitting: "Abba Anthony said: The time is coming when people will be insane, and when they see someone who is not insane, they will attack that person saying: You are insane because you are not like us." Perhaps the best policy is found in following this advice: "A brother who was living among other brothers asked Abba Bessarion: What should I do? The old man replied: Be silent, and do not measure yourself against the others." The wise spiritual counsel found on these pages provides much food for thought and true sustenance for the soul.
