The discourse, therefore, is genuine, profound and just as important as anything we have of Evagrius. Source: But as soon as Syncletica begins to speak, any polite interest vanishes and we hear the authentic and original voice of a supremely clever person who knows what she is talking about. Mortification and prayer were from that time her principal employment but her close solitude, by concealing her pious exercises from the eyes of the world, has deprived us in a great measure of the knowledge of them. Syncletica, having soon distributed her fortune among the poor, retired with her sister into a lonesome monument, on a relation’s estate where, having sent for a priest, she cut off her hair in his presence, as a sign whereby she renounced the world, and renewed the consecration of herself to God. Her parents, at their death, left her heiress to their opulent estate for the two brothers she had, died before them and her sister being blind, was committed entirely to her guardianship. She never seemed to suffer more than when obliged to eat oftener than she desired. Flight was her refuge against exterior assaults, and, regarding herself as her own most dangerous enemy, she began early to subdue her flesh by austere fasts and other mortifications. Her great fortune and beauty induced many young noblemen to become her suitors for marriage but she had already bestowed her heart on her heavenly spouse. From her infancy she had imbibed the love of virtue, and in her tender years she consecrated her virginity to God. Source: Orthodox Church in America SHE was born at Alexandria in Egypt, of wealthy Macedonian parents. Desire can consume us just as much as the fear of loss can. At the same time, she warned that greed is a terrible sickness, because once we want a little bit of something, our desire grows and grows, so that we always want more. Those who have given up everything, who have no attachments to things, can't be threatened with the loss of anything. Saint Syncletica recognized that poverty is a strong defense against the devil and his temptations, because the devil's great weapon is to make us fear the loss of something we value. It was Christ who said that poverty was to come last. Only when He was sure that the young man had been seriously observing those did He say that the one thing lacking, the next thing to be done, was to become poor. She pointed out that Our Lord, in talking to the rich young man (Mark 10:21), did not ask him to take on poverty first, but instead recounted the commandments. They would prepare a woman for the hard discipline of poverty, which should come last of all. What were the "proper prerequisites" that Syncletica considered to be so important? They were things such as fasting, sleeping on the ground and other bodily hardships. Syncletica knew that if they simply threw away their possessions without taking the "proper prerequisites" they would "be like one who squanders her goods without careful deliberation, only to repent of her rashness." They had been comfortable and not at all deprived in their lives. Because she had the gift of discernment she perceived that some of them, though they were full of enthusiasm, were not ready to take on the rigorous discipline of poverty. Syncletica was approached by great numbers of women who hoped to become monastics. Many, like Saint Syncletica, received spiritual gifts of discernment and healing. Though such women were few in number, they faithfully followed the example of Abba Anthony (Saint Anthony the Great) and others in fasting strictly, praying intensely, and inspiring those who came to them for counsel or to join them in asceticism. Source: Wikipedia Saint Syncletica (called "Amma" just as the desert fathers were called "Abba") was born to a prominent family in Alexandria in the fourth century, and was one of the women who went to the desert to live a life free from distractions and close to God. She is believed to have died in her eightieth year, around 350 AD. Syncletica is regarded as a "Desert Mother" and her sayings are recorded with those of the Desert Fathers. Her holy life soon gained the attention of locals and gradually many women came to live as her disciples in Christ. With her younger sister Syncletica abandoned the life of the city and chose to reside in a crypt adopting the life of a hermit. From childhood, however, Syncletica was drawn to God and the desire to dedicate her life to him.įrom the time she gained responsibility for her family's affairs, after the death of her parents, she gave all that had been left her to the poor. Amma Syncletica of Alexandria, a Christian saint and Desert Mother of the 4th century, was of a wealthy background and is reputed to have been very beautiful.
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