Early Christian Lives

By (author) Athanasius; By (author) Gregory; By (author) Hilarion; By (author) Jerome; By (author) Severus Sulpicius; Introduction by White Carolinne
Short description/annotation
This selection of early saints'' lives, full of vivid incidents and astonishing miracles, consists of classics of hagiography that were all written in the second half of the 4th century.
Description
Written between the mid-fourth and late sixth centuries to commemorate and glorify the achievements of early Christian saints, these six biographies depict men who devoted themselves to solitude, poverty and prayer. Athanasius records Antony''s extreme seclusion in the Egyptian desert, despite temptation by the devil and visits from his followers. Jerome also shows those who fled persecution or withdrew from society to pursue lives of chastity and asceticism in his accounts of Paul of Thebes, Hilarion and Malchus. In his Life of Martin, Sulpicius Severus describes the achievements of a man who combined the roles of monk, bishop and missionary, while Gregory the Great tells of Benedict, whose Rule became the template for monastic life. Full of vivid incidents and astonishing miracles, these Lives have provided inspiration as models for centuries of Christian worship.
Table of contents
Chronology
Map of the World of Antony, Paul, Hilarion, Malchus, Martin and Benedict
General Introduction:
The Early Development of Monasticism
The Writing of Biography: Pagan Past and Christian Future
Principal Primary Sources relating to Early Monasticism
The Saints in Iconography
Translation Past and Present

Further Reading

Early Christian Lives
Life of Antony by Athanasius
Life of Paul of Thebes by Jerome
Life of Hilarion by Jerome
Life of Malchus by Jerome
Life of Martin of Tours by Sulpicius Severus
Life of Benedict by Gregory the Great
Notes

Biographical note

Carolinne White tutors in patristic and medieval Latin at Oxford University and has published a translation of the correspondence between St Jerome and St Augustine of Hippo (1990).


CAROLINNE WHITE works at St Hugh''s College, Oxford, dividing her time between research projects and tutoring in patristic and medieval Latin. She has worked on many projects in her field, and published several works, and now lives in north Oxfordshire.


Carolinne White divides her time between research projects and tutoring in patristic and medieval Latin at Oxford University. She has worked on the supplement to the Liddell and Scott Greek Lexicon and the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources and has published a translation of the correspondence between St Jerome and St Augustine of Hippo (1990) alongside other work.