In the Footsteps of the Lord

The Teaching of Abba Isaiah of Scetis

FAIRACRES PUBLICATIONS 139

The Discourses of Abba Isaiah of Scetis, a classic text of fifth-century desert literature, are grounded in Scripture and the teaching of the earliest Christian monks. The authors of this book present Abba Isaiah as one of the first of the Desert Fathers to examine the relationship between abba and disciple, the monastery and the outside world.

Rev. Dr John Chryssavgis is Professor of Theology at Holy Cross School of Theology, where he is the inaugural Director of the Huffington Ecumenical Institute. His numerous publications focus on the early church and the desert tradition, as well as on the theology of the environment and the role of the Church in the world. His latest books include Creation as Sacrament: Reflections on Ecology and Spirituality (Bloomsbury, 2019) and The Letters of Barsanuphius and John: Desert Wisdom for Everyday Life (Bloomsbury, 2022).

Rev. Dr Luke Penkett is Curator of the Margery Kempe Centre in King’s Lynn and former Honorary Librarian and Archivist of the Friends of Julian at the Julian campus in Norwich. Now a professed solitary monk and ordained priest in L’Église Orthodoxe Celtique, his publications include his doctoral dissertation, Touched by God’s Spirit (Darton, Longman & Todd, 2019) and Julian of Norwich’s Literary Legacy (Darton, Longman & Todd, 2023).