A true spiritual history of Syro-Eastern monasticism in the lands east of the Tigris, spanning more than three hundred years, the Book of the Abbots is a true syriac paterikon. Mar Toma’s compendium depicts the lives of numerous syriac monks and healers from the 6th to the 9th centuries with literary art and historical accuracy. All of them, true parables of love, humility, purity, wisdom, manliness and spiritual wisdom, are “rays of light that have illumined all the margins of the East” and, through the writings of Mar Thomas, the whole Church. “The light of their teaching, brought out from the shroud of oblivion and placed – through this translation never before published in romanian – in a candlestick”, thus shines brightly throughout the world. The loftiness of the virtues and the multitude of miracles attract and captivate the reader, immersing him in that unmistakable atmosphere of paterikon, which warms the heart and kindles the desire for life in Christ.
The book is accompanied by an extensive introductory study, which provides the necessary points of reference for a good orientation in syriac hagiography, as well as in the history of Beth Abe Monastery, the spiritual center of the attention of Mar Toma, Bishop of Marga and monk of this monastery. Accompanied by indexes (biblical, toponymic, onomastic and thematic), the book will also be an indispensable study tool for researchers of the history of the Church and monasticism.