Harlots of the Desert: A Study of Repentance in Early Monastic Sources

by Benedicta Ward

Beauty consuming itself like incense burnt before God in solitude, far from the eyes of men, became the most stirring image of penance conceivable. Stories on conversion from extreme sinfulness to extreme holiness have always attracted humankind’s attention, and this was especially so among the monks of the ancient and medieval world. In the literature of fourth-century Egypt, alongside the wise sayings of the desert fathers and the stories illustrating their way of life, there are also the accounts of the lives of the harlots, Pelagia, Maria, Thais, Mary of Egypt, and a number of lesser figures, all of which were copied, translated, and retold throughout the Middle Ages. In this monograph, Benedicta Ward continues the work she began in The Sayings of the Desert Fathers and The Lives of the Desert Fathers, commenting on early monastic texts by discussing the theme of Christian repentance. She begins with May Magdalene, the archetypal penitent, and goes on to examine the desert tradition, concluding each chapter with new translations of those lives which were most influential in the early Church and on countless generations afterwards.

Genres: Religion, Christianity, Christian, History, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Theology

124 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1987

About the author

sister of love of God

Reviews

[7jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five women who have a common story background with similar themes, though not all have been prostitutes, and one makes a journey from pious life to brothel to back to pious life. Each has a man in their life that is important (and the men are also different in character from each other) - all leave their wealth behind. In each story: repentance and going into the desert for the rest of their life. These stories are from early monastic texts, translated eventually to Latin from Greek, and influencing also literature, music, and art works.

These stories are not just stories with possible real background, and not just for monks. Each story also has some example of things like what makes one's faith true, of a Christ-figure becoming human and coming to save a sinner. These are accounts to inspire, to encourage, and to cause repentance. (There is a good story of St. Augustine's reaction to some in introduction.) The stories' conversions are immediate, the faith of the repentant women is often stronger than the men's, and show the humanity's strong desire for mercy. The stories have a variety of addings to them, no doubt, but even the bare-bones story could be inspiring.

Each story comes with an introductory text, sometimes longer than the actual text, giving us further information. Now to women:
- Mary Magdalene: not really a prostitute, yet we don't know what her 'seven demons' really were. She sometimes gets mixed with the story of Mary of Egypt. She's the new Eve in a new garden, the bridge of Song of Songs, the Church. The story of the competition about her relics is interesting.
- Mary of Egypt: her meeting with Zossima shows him what he lacks in his monk's life... this story made me like her and I'll now include her in my favorite-saints list.
- Pelagia: the riding rich actress dressing in the end in a monk's habit. Here's interesting comment on why wearing monk's clothing could be useful and a view on gender, and also has the closest friendship of the male-female type in these stories.
- Thais: the briefest story... her life in her immured cell was not easy - no toilet, lack of vitamin D, probably thus not much chance of lying down. But here one could learn that the gift of forgiveness comes from God, just what a monk could need, as well as the next woman in her story:
- Maria, niece of Abraham (the monk, and not to be confused with another, less-good monk): here one could certainly learn that when despairing over a fall into sin, one shouldn't let go of virtuous life, but confess, repent well, and keep on the narrow road. Abraham knows just the right thing to say to get her back (doing the work of rescuing-Christ).

I got much better things out of reading this than I originally thought there could be. The stories were much more deep than I expected, the role of men in them was good, and I could see easily why these stories would be so good for monks, and other readers in history after them. This is a good companion book to "desert fathers' (and mothers') sayings" books, and is a good 'inspiring women' book, too. Loved it.

[booklady]

7jane’s review of this book brought it to my attention and I really want to read it.

[Levi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sourced this book for a paper I wrote called Whores for Glory, which title is a nod to Vollmann’s Whores for Gloria, a reference I’m sure went by unnoticed, but what can you do. Not sure if my prof agreed with my thesis that we’re all whores, but what can you do.

But what can you do but repent.

[Matthew M · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Harlots of the Desert" is a fascinating study in the context of Hagiography. Ward neatly balances pastoral applications, historicity, and the lives of these figures within broader theological discussions, to produce a unique examination of the relationship between prostitution/sexual-morality, chastity, and faith within Christian life. Particularly evocative was the chapter on the life of Pelagia of Antioch. Perhaps some of the most beautiful imagery on repentance I have read - and that is saying something.

At times the story described are, well, vivid. To be clear, I do not mean to say they stray into the obscene, but rather that there is a degree of discomfort, which fits rather naturally with broader themes of repentance. Furthermore, she carefully positions these stories not so much as histories, but as narratival expressions of faith, told and retold within monastic communities. Not so much directly connected to the real people they depict, but an attempt to express deeper elements of faith. For my part, I cannot say that I find all the stories particularly likeable, nor do I consider them all proper expressions of orthodox christian faith. But they are a clear snapshot into the lives of those Christian monastics past.

A short quote from the last page of the book:

~
The final image of the converted prostitute is not of an agonized, weeping penitent, but of one who has entered into the reality of love for God and therefore for all his creation.

"Never has anything in this world been loved too much, but many things have been loved in a false way; and all in too short a measure..."
~

[Christy Bartel · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It is not new to fall, my daughter; what is wrong is to lie down when you have fallen.”

This book was written by a nun after being approached for help by a prostitute in London before she was quickly swept away in the crowd. The thesis: committing sin isn't the problem, it's the pride that keeps you from asking forgiveness for it. No one, not a single person, is beyond redemption, not if they have the humility to ask for forgiveness. And these women were humble, and monks stood in awe as their lives were completely transformed by the grace of God.

Through the stories of Mary Magdelene, Mary of Egypt (often conflated with Mary of Magdelene to intriguing results), Pelagia the actress, Thaïs the recipient of an extreme and controversial sanctification rite, and Maria, the prodigal niece of Abraham who was so ashamed of being led astray by a man that she turned to prostitution because she thought she was too far gone, only to be rescued by her uncle Abraham who says "upon me be your sin." One of my favorite books I've ever been assigned to read for college, I read it in two nights (it's pretty short, but still!) My research paper for my History Seminar "Desert Mothers and Fathers" will be about different monks' treatment of women in Late Antiquity and this book inspired my thesis. Thank you to the late Benedicta Ward for compiling and introducing these wonderful primary sources that speak of God's undying love for His people.

Some fun tidbits from each chapter (go read it!)
-Mary Magdalene: towns in France fought over which body was hers and each claimed to have the real one, to the point where one town claimed to have found a slip of paper that said, "this is totally, definitely, really St. Mary." Aaaand a dude tried to bite off a piece of her arm bone because he wanted part of her relic. Saint relics are weird, y'all.
-Mary of Egypt: Lol the primary source called the Holy Spirit "adorable"...but ya know, in the sense that it was "able to be adored." Also Zossima was super into this lady.
-Pelagia: she was an actress who ended up becoming a transvestite monk (meaning she dressed as a man) and you have to think that her acting experience helped her with that haha.
-Thaïs: everyone else in class was super uncomfortable with this one, but the story seemed pretty exaggerated to me so it's possible the real story was different, plus, the monk regrets what he did at the end so maybe the point was that we don't actually require three years of intense sanctification to be forgiven.
-Maria Niece of Abraham: okay, this one made me tear up. What a heartbreakingly beautiful story. The narrator of this one is so unique and passionate, claiming to know both Maria and her uncle personally. This story is just so poignant as victims of sexual assault are finally coming forward to the voices of people saying "Why didn't you say anything before?" and they respond "I was too afraid." Abraham says "Upon me be your sin" and oh my gosh I cried.

[sharshoora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t love the academic commentary in this book, but I really loved being able to read all these stories in one place. Heart piercing and scandalous stories that gave me hope

[Elizabeth Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out in the Egyptian desert, meditating in caves along with the various abbas and immas during the early centuries after Jesus's death, were an amazing assortment of "harlots," women who'd abandoned the towns and their men to pray. Of course most of them (with one clear exception) were prostitutes because they were destitute, so the conversion stories told about them (and revered for centuries) are hard to unpack. Benedicta Ward does a great job. I'm happy to now claim these passionate women as part of my Christian heritage.

[Dna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my kinda 5-star book, although to be VERY honest, I knew a lot of this required more of my attention than I was willing to give right now -- hormones, time of year, juicy Fall fiction distracting me. I don't know. But I took a lot of notes and was kindly guided to some of the good bits by highlights made by the owner of this book. It's a 5-star book, even though I only gave it a 3-star effort.

[Jackson Hager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deeply moving are the stories of compassion and mercy found within this short text. I was always so
distressed that stories like St. Anthony the Great and St. Augustine never impacted me the way it seemed to impact others, yet this little book has struck me in the heart. I will have to keep book close to my heart always.

[Roisin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is quite an interesting book about monastic writings on several women from Christian writings, however it looks at it from a Christian perspective and in relation to repentance. So if looking for that bit extra on women in Christianity, you won't find it in depth here. The women looked at are Mary Magdalene, Mary of Egypt, Pelagia, Thaïs, and Maria the Neice of Abraham the Hermit.

Included are the monastic stories about these women and our author Benedicta Ward SLG gives some analysis as to why these women were seen as harlots. Most of them were not prostitutes, but deemed to be because of their associations and due to misinterpretations of religious texts.

These are male accounts about women, most of whom were independent yet gave up their independent life for religion and solitude. Yet little criticism or analysis is given of the men in the stories who could not control apparently their urges. Many were mesmerised by their beauty and artifice and saw little else. I suspect this is because it would take away from looking at monasticism and the stories and the tropes needed to create these tales which our author does do to be fair.

In regards to one of the stories surrounding one of the women, mirrors that of a woman from Greek mythology, but doesn't give any further comments after mentioning this.

Interesting book in parts with enough for a secularist audience to get something from it, but probably more of interest for students of Theology. It does do what it says on the tin! If looking for something with more analysis of women and Christian culture, then perhaps look elsewhere.

[Ancuta Clim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Când am început să citesc această carte, am văzut că e cazul să fac niște notițe. Dar nu le-am făcut tocmai ca să trebuiască s-o mai citesc o dată. :)
Un fragment din final, o prezentare a esenței cărții făcută de autoarea însăși: „Păcatul este tragedia uriașă a umanității; el ispitește, fascinează și îi atrage pe oameni să se gândească la păcatele și la eșecurile din ei înșiși într-o autocontemplare ce poate numai să sporească disperarea; iar acolo unde există cea mai mică urmă de disperare, există posibilitatea păcatului. Aceste istorii ilustrează eliberarea prin Hristos de această disperare a sufletului, de riscul tragediei refuzului vieții, al numirii morții drept viață.”

[Summer Bohannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still find it a delight to discover women who write books with theological substance - devotional without reducing to the kind of limp, saccharine writing all too common in the modern devotional genre for women. I commend this heartily (to readers both male and female)!

"What is unusual in the story of Pelagia and Nonnus is the equality of the love between the two, and their very positive appreciation of each other which is fulfilled, and in no way denied, by their choice of chastity and solitude."

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, approachable, and chock full of solid spiritual, theological, and historical meditations.

[Robert Heckner · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and well-written study of the theme of repentance in som early female monastics.

[Elizabeth Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing can cast us off too far off from goodness and beauty and the heart of God. Truly a testimony of the relentless Father

[Acacia Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful look at repentance and monastic life of women in the early church

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book covers the stories of women who have been saved after being prostitutes in the third and fourth centuries AD

[Paul LaGreca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very moving account of four prostitutes who became Catholic Saints within the monastic tradition. Truly inspiring.

[Petro Kacur · Rating 3 out of 5]

The theme of repentance is one that the desert fathers of the early Christian (and specifically Eastern Orthodox) faith often emphasized. Stories of those who turned from an old way of life to a new one were often told by the monastics of the region known as Palestine. This book is a collection of texts featuring women that the church holds up as examples of penance. The central story of St. Mary of Egypt is one of extreme sin and extreme repentance. The Orthodox church highlights her story during the Lenten period leading up to Easter every year. There is also a review of the cultural stories that developed about Mary Magdalene in the early and medieval periods. The monks of the desert wrote these early stories of repentance not as "theory" but to demonstrate how God actually works in human lives that are full of faults, stupidity and errors but also capable of transfiguration. This 1987 title contains insightful introduction and commentary on each text from Benedicta Ward, an Anglican writer who is affiliated with the Sisters of the Love of God.

[Patti Clement · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read about the Desert Tradition in Early Monastic life.