Beyond Imitation?

Paul of Sadamant (fl. 1260 CE) on "the best of works"

Abstract

A perennial problem in the life of Christian discipleship and formation is how to work out the relationship between the life of active engagement with the world on the one hand, and the life of contemplation and prayer on the other. In honor of Gordon Straw’s legacy in the area of spiritual formation, this essay offers a previously untranslated text from the Arabic-language heritage of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt. Written by Peter of Sadamant, a pastor and scholar who flourished around the year 1260 CE, it features a conversation between a teacher (or “spiritual directorâ€) and a disciple about “the best of worksâ€â€”a title to which both active works of mercy and intimate prayer with God have claim. Perhaps Peter has something to teach us, if we attend carefully and exegete imaginatively. The translation is made from a volume recently published in Egypt: Bishop Epiphanius of the Monastery of St. Macarius, ed., Instructive Lives, by Fr. Peter of Sadamant (Cairo: St. Mark Magazine Publishing House, 2016), 27-29.