Father Cornelius Wencel, Er.Cam. was born in Gosty , Poland, in 1964. He made his final vows as a Camaldolese hermit in 1993 and was ordained priest in 1999. He now serves as prior and novice master at the Hermitage of the Five Martyrs in Bieniszew, Poland. Father Cornelius has published four books in Polish, and this is the first one to be translated into English. He received a doctorate in theology in 2004, successfully defending his dissertation on "The Trinitarian-Christological Perspective of Theological Anthropology in the Theodramatic of Hans Urs von Balthasar". The author profits from the insights of Balthasar, Kierkegaard, Merton, and various contemporary Polish thinkers. Topics treated in this book include seeking God, existential openness, discipline, simplicity, contemplation, interreligious dialogue, and ecology.

Throughout the spiritual journey, God's love engenders within every Christian active, contemplative, and solitary inclinations. Consequently, each person wants to do some good, to have a basic receptivity to God, and at times to be alone with God. As life unfolds, God's love also calls forth within a person an overriding attraction toward one of those three orientations, which in due course impels the individual toward a corresponding vocational lifestyle: an apostolic life, a contemplative life, or an eremitic life. In this book, the authors identify the core features of those three vocational lifestyles. In light of each vocational core, they then discuss an ensemble of signs and patterns that point to an authentic calling from God. This study offers wisdom and insight to those pondering the mystery of their personal vocations, to those discerning their vocational direction, and to spiritual directors, formation personnel, ecclesial leadership, and Christian educators who accompany them in their quest.

A history of hermits and eremitism from antiquity to the present: Greco-Roman influences, early Christianity, hermits in medieval Europe and East Asia, decline in Western modernity, the rise of solitude, and rehabilitation of hermits.

Throughout the spiritual journey, God’s love engenders within every Christian active, contemplative, and solitary inclinations. Consequently, each person wants to do some good, to have a basic receptivity to God, and at times to be alone with God. As life unfolds, God’s love also calls forth within a person an overriding attraction toward one of those three orientations, which in due course impels the individual toward a corresponding vocational lifestyle: an apostolic life, a contemplative life, or an eremitic life. In this book, the authors identify the core features of those three vocational lifestyles. In light of each vocational core, they then discuss an ensemble of signs and patterns that point to an authentic calling from God. This study offers wisdom and insight to those pondering the mystery of their personal vocations, to those discerning their vocational direction, and to spiritual directors, formation personnel, ecclesial leadership, and Christian educators who accompany them in their quest.

If you have ever wondered about how hermits live, or if you are an active participant in the eremitical life, then its time to make this ultimate resource guide part of your book collection. Written by the editors of Ravens Bread, an international quarterly newsletter that provides guidance on hermit life, Consider the Ravens is a seminal study on eremitism as it has developed since the 1950s. Learn about All aspects of the vocation, including spiritual, practical, and juridical Hazards of the hidden life Practical recommendations for beginners in eremitical life Extensive citations from desert fathers and mothers Exploration of eremitical spirituality. Essentially, youll learn about the eremitic life straight from the hermits themselves, and its never an easy task to get their opinions and advice! The voices of many of todays hermits can now be heard loud and clear for the first time. Find the answers to your questions about a vocation as old as spirituality itself and discover why eremitism is becoming more popular than ever in Consider the Ravens.

In the early part of the fourth century, a few Christians, mostly men and some women, began to withdraw from "the world" to retreat into the desert, there to practice their new religion more seriously. The person who aspired to "renounce the world" first had to find an "elder," a person who would accept him as a disciple and apprentice. To his elder (whom he would address as abba—father) the neophyte owed complete obedience; from his abba, he would receive provisions (as it were) for the road to virtue. In addition to the abba's own example of living, there was the verbal teaching of the elders in sayings and tales, setting out the theory and practice of the eremitic life. In due course, these sayings (or apophthegmata) were written down and, later, collected and codified. The earliest attempts to codify tales and sayings are now lost. As the collection grew, they were first organized alphabetically, according to the name of the abba who spoke them, in a major collection known as the Apophthegmata Patrum Alphabetica. A supplementary collection, the Anonymous Apophthegmata, followed. Later, both collections were combined and arranged systematically rather than alphabetically. This collection was created sometime between 500 and 575 and later went through a couple of major revisions, the second of which appeared sometime before 970. This second revision was published in an excellent new critical edition, with a French translation, in 1993. Now, in The Book of the Elders, John Wortley offers an English translation of this collection, based entirely on the Greek of that text.