The early Christian monks of Egypt, Syria, and Palestine were the spiritual heroes of their age&mdash;fleeing the security of civilization for the desert, where they sought God in lives of prayer, contemplation, and radical simplicity. This book is a portable collection of their teachings, and those of their contemplative contemporaries, ranging from the fourth through the eleventh centuries. It is arranged to the traditional model of three ascending &quot;books&quot;: <i>Praktikos</i> (practice), <i>Theoretikos</i> (theory), and <i>Gnosis</i> (knowledge). Each book consists of 100 &quot;sentences&quot;&mdash;aphorisms or thoughts. Each sentence is intended to be read and meditated upon for an entire day&mdash;just as the monks themselves might have done as they went about their work.