Silvanus of Gaza
| Abba Silvanus | |
|---|---|
| Born | Palestine |
| Residence | Scetes |
| Died | before 414 AD Gaza |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Influenced | Zeno the Prophet |
| Tradition or genre | Fathers of the desert |
Silvanus of Gaza — Abba Silvanus (died before 414) was a Christian monk who lived during the 4th and 5th centuries. He was one of the Desert Fathers.[1]
Biography
Scetis and Sinai
Silvanus was born in Palestine. He led a community of 12 disciples in Scetis, Egypt, among them Zacharias, Mark the Calligrapher, Netras (later bishop of Paran) and Zeno.[2] According to his hagiography, he was blessed with the gift of prophecy, guessing the questions of his disciples and knowing their sins before they confessed them.[3]
Following the incursion of barbarian tribes into Egypt in 380, the group moved from Scetis to Sinai where they stayed for around a decade or at least enough for Silvanus to become famous and have people visit him from Egypt.[4] The group seems to have enjoyed to host visitors and tended to a garden.[2]
Life in Gaza
Later (around 390) Silvanus and his disciples moved to Gaza where they settled along the Gerar river.[5] Here, they followed the model of the eremitic monasteries of Scetis and build several hermit cells along the watercourse with a church and domestic building that served the needs of the community, similar to the lauras of the Judean Desert. During the week they occupied themselves with prayer and various forms of manual labour while on Saturdays and Sundays they gathered for communal prayers and meals and Silvanus would visit the other monks.[3]
Silvanus died sometime before 414 A.D. and was succeeded by Zacharias, one of his disciples.[6] Zeno, one of Silvanus' disciples and later teacher of Peter the Iberian, founded another monastery two kilometres south-east of Silvanus' monastery in ca. 440.[5]
References
- Back to citation Ward, Benedicta (1984). The sayings of the Desert Fathers: the alphabetical collection. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications. ISBN 0-87907-959-2.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Chryssavgis, John (2008). In the Heart of the Desert The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers: with a Translation of Abba Zosimas' Reflections. World Wisdom, Incorporated. pp. 112–115. ISBN 9781933316567. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
- Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Bitton-Ashkelony, Brouria; Kofsky, Aryeh (February 2006). The Monastic School of Gaza. Brill. pp. 17–18. ISBN 9789047408444. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
- Back to citation Chryssavgis, John (March 2017). John Climacus From the Egyptian Desert to the Sinaite Mountain. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781351925211. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
- Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Kofsky, Arieh; Bitton-Ashkelony, Bruria (2004). Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity. Brill. pp. 70–72. ISBN 9789004138681. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
- Back to citation Harmless, William (2004). Desert Christians: an introduction to the literature of early monasticism. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516222-6.