The Paradise of the Fathers is the classic compilation of the lives and teachings of the early monastic saints. It has been said that for a monastic to achieve perfection there are only two books needed: the Bible and the Paradise of the Fathers.
When Abba Arsenius was in the place he prayed to God and said, “O Lord direct me how to live,” and a voice came to him saying, “Arsenius, flee from men and you shall live.” And when Arsenius was living the ascetic life in the monastery, he prayed to God the same prayer, and again he heard a voice saying to him, “Arsenius, flee, keep silence, and lead a life of silent contemplation, for these are the fundamental causes which prevent a man from committing sin.”
On one occasion, Abba Ammon came during the season of winter to Abba Sisoes, and he saw that the old man was grieved because he had left the desert and Abba Ammon said to him, “Why are you distressed, O father? For what were you able to do in the desert in your old age?” The old man Sisoes looked at him fiercely, and said, “What did you say to me, Ammon? Are not the mere thoughts of the freedom which is in the desert better for us than living out of it?” Dr. Ernest A. Wallis Budge, Curator of Assyrian and Egyptian Antiquities in the British Museum has for decades been recognized as one of the great translators of ancient manuscripts into the English language. These volumes are translated from a Syriac manuscript he discovered in 1888. He first published his translation in 1904 in a private printing. Later in 1907 he printed a revised and updated version in a public edition which has yet to be rivaled to date. VOLUME I: Contains the Life of St. Anthony by St. Athanasius the Great, the Paradise by Palladius, the Rule of St. Pachomius, and the History of the Monks by St. Jerome. VOLUME II: Contains the Sayings of the Fathers and Questions and Answers about the monastic life.
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