Stories from the Egyptian Desert

by Pseudo-Macarius

This is a group of spiritual short stories. Some of them are true, others are true in part, the rest are fiction. Each story contains a certain idea to deliver a spiritual lesson.In these short stories we tried to convey some of the fathers’ philosophy in asceticism, dying to the world and how they rejected the pleasures of life, to be filled from Christ and ultimately unite with HimThis is an opportunity for the reader who can not visit the monasteries to learn about the monastic life, the struggle of the fathers and the wars of the devil.

Genres: Christian

101 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 2010

Reviews

[Sincerae Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful little collection of spiritual short stories about Coptic Christians, some who are monks and nuns and others who are laypeople entering their own spiritual journey of moving toward a closer relationship with God and becoming more Christlike.

The stories occur in various periods of the Christian era. According to the narrator some are true. Various stories contained in this book are rather somber and some are quite humorous, proving there can be not only the serious in the Christian spiritual journey, but also laughter. Each story has a lesson which may not be immediate or clear, but should make the reader think.

In my opinion, the chief lesson of all these stories is that the Christian is someone who is not to conform to the world's standards but to be someone who humbly lives his or her life seeking God and treating others with love, honesty, respect, and encouragement. These stories relate that the Christian life is not one of selfishness and self indulgence, but a way of life in which we are to love God with all our strength and all our mind as the Bible says. The Christian will often struggle and stumble, but we are not to allow pride to drown us. We are be a good example for both Christians and non-Christians of admitting when we're wrong. In all these stories it is proven that life is a struggle, but with faith the Christian struggle can become a joyous one.

My two favorite stories in the group are A Greater Love and The Way. In A Greater Love, Michael who is a medical student in Cairo loves his classmate Marian. However, Marian is struggling spiritually. She often visits the nuns at a local monastery in the old section of the city. In her thoughts she feels she wants to retire from the world to become one of them. In Orthodox Christianity where the nuns reside is called a monastery unlike in Catholicism where it is called a convent. Usually when we think of a monastery it is where only male ascetics live, but in Orthodox Christianity the term for where both monks and nuns live is the same. The story of Michael and Marian has a surprising twist. I don't want to ruin the story, so I will halt here.

In The Way a young woman named Monica decides she wants to retire from the world to lead the contemplative life, but her mother strongly objects to her entering a monastery. This story's lesson teaches that the monastery can be inside the heart and soul and not just inside a building and religious compound. As a very Godly priest says in the story, "You heard about women living in the world the life of nuns while other nuns living in the convents, the life of the people of the world."

Stories From the Egyptian Desert like others published by St. Shenouda Monastery in Australia is a translation of original Coptic Christian classics. There are a few mistakes in the text and in correct usage of grammar and punctuation, but the message is not lost because of these errors.

Stories From the Egyptian Desert is a lovely little collection. This book is very worth reading for the Christian who is seeking a more meaningful outlook on life and for those who are interested in learning a little about the ancient Coptic (Egyptian) branch of Christianity. I was very inspired and uplifted by this book.

St. Shenouda Monastery website with links to books. Many of these books can also be purchased on Amazon. http://stshenoudamonastery.org.au/

[David Gwartney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but interesting read, especially if you like stories from monastic communities. Their experience of God in remote places and distant lands can challenge our modern sensibilities in a healthy way.

[David Youssef · Rating 4 out of 5]

It echos much of other stories and you can tell it is translated and that the source material is frankly a bit sketch. Except the excessive prayer leading to pride and nun in the real world, that was a newer take, I liked that

[Navel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of stories involving monastics.

[Raphael Hanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful stories, each emanating important virtues for the Christian sojourn through the wilderness of this world. Love it

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short book of stories from Coptic monasteries is not as spiritually fulfilling as The Sayings of the Desert Fathers and other books of collected sayings of the early Church Fathers. Nevertheless, these stories typically include examples of being faithful and obedient and watchful. Published by a Coptic monastery in Australia, this translations has a few grammatical errors, but these do not detract too much from the book overall. A nice addition to a library of monastic literature, but hardly required reading.