Sarah of the Desert's sayings indicate that she was a hermit living by a river for sixty years. She was sought out by many of the Desert Fathers for advice-reportedly Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria came to her for counsel. Prior to that, she had fled to the desert disguised as a man and joined a community of monks. Theodora of Alexandria was the amma of a monastic community of women near Alexandria. Even though she was an ascetic and hermit, Syncletica taught moderation, and that asceticism was not an end in itself. Gradually a community of women ascetics grew up around her, who she served as their spiritual mother. Moving outside the city with her blind sister, she lived as a hermit among the tombs outside of Alexandria. After the death of her parents, she sold everything she had and gave the money to the poor. Two other ammas, Theodora of Alexandria and Amma Sarah of the Desert, also had sayings in that book.Īccording to written accounts, Amma Syncletica might have been born around AD 270 (since she died about AD 350 and is said to have lived to her eighties), to wealthy parents in Alexandria and was well educated, including an early study of the writings of Desert Father Evagrius Ponticus.

One of the most well known Desert Mothers was Amma Syncletica of Alexandria, who had twenty-seven sayings attributed to her in the Apophthegmata Patrum, or Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Desert Mothers were known as ammas ('spiritual mothers'), comparable to the Desert Fathers ( abbas), due to the respect they earned as spiritual teachers and directors.

The lives of twelve female desert saints are described in Book I of Vitae Patrum ( Lives of the Fathers). Other sources include the various stories told over the years about the lives of saints of that era, traditionally called vitae ('life'). There are several chapters dedicated to the Desert Mothers in the Lausiac History by Palladius, who mentions 2,975 women living in the desert. Many desert women had leadership roles within the Christian community. The Desert Fathers are much more well known because most of the early lives of the saints 'were written by men for a male monastic audience' - the occasional stories about the Desert Mothers come from the early Desert Fathers and their biographers. Other women from that era who influenced the early ascetic or monastic tradition while living outside the desert are also described as Desert Mothers. They typically lived in the monastic communities that began forming during that time, though sometimes they lived as hermits. The Desert Mothers were female Christian ascetics living in the desert of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. SARAH, THEODORA, AND SYNCLETICA OF EGYPT 'DESERT MOTHERS', 4th - 5th c. The commemoration appears in Lesser Feasts & Fasts 2018. Amen.įix our hearts on You, O God, in pure devotion, that aided by the example of your servants Sarah, Theodora, and Syncletica, the vain pursuits of this world may have no hold upon us, and that by the consuming fire of your Spirit, we may be changed into the image and likeness of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with you and the same Spirit be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Thus we must kindle the divine fire within ourselves with tears and effort.Sarah, Theodora & Syncletica: Thde Desert Mothers Readings:įix our hearts on thee, O God, in pure devotion, that aided by the example of thy servants Sarah, Theodora, and Syncletica, the vain pursuits of this world may have no hold upon us, and that by the consuming fire of thy Spirit, we may be changed into the image and likeness of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord to whom with thee and the same Spirit be all honor and glory, world without end. It is just like building a fire: at first it is smoky and your eyes water, but later you get the desired result. But after that there is indescribable joy. Some twenty-seven of her “sayings” have been preserved by the women who joined her in the desert as disciples of Christ.Īmma Syncletica said: “In the beginning there is struggle and a lot of work for those who come near to God. Benedict.Īmma Syncletica lived from mid-fourth to mid-fifth century in Alexandria, Egypt.

The result was the emergence of profound early Christian teachers that influenced later saints and leaders, including St. This meant a life of severe deprivations and hardships, but also great spaciousness and beauty. Here is one of them.Īmma Syncletica was among the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Ammas and Abbas) who took to the silence of the natural world in order to draw closer to God. The rooms in Spirit Center are named for famous mystics and monastics.

St amma syncletica