Harlots of the Desert
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 of conversion from extreme sinfulness to extreme holiness have always attracted mankind'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, having written The Saying of the Desert Fathers and The Lives of the Desert Fathers, continues her work of commenting on early monastic texts with a discussion of the theme of Christian repentance. She gegins with St. Mary 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 for countless generations afterwards.