"Your Cell Will Teach You Everything": Old Wisdom, Modern Science, and the Art of Attention

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2009

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Christianity | Religion

Abstract

A brother came to Scetis to visit Abba Moses and asked him “Father, give me a word.” The old man said to him “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” Among the Desert Fathers, Christian monks of the fourth and fifth centuries, it was customary for a novice to go to an elder and ask for “a word,” a word of advice, of counsel, a word to take home and reflect on. What does this word of advice say to us today?

Comments

DOI: 10.1353/bcs.0.0049

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