Who was Abba Zosimas?

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The end of this book contains a significant contribution to the body of writings on the desert elders: the first English translation of the Text of the Reflections of Abba Zosimas. It was translated from Monk Avgoustinos’ Abba Zosimas: Most Beneficial Chapters (Jerusalem, 1913).

Abba Zosimas was a monk who is best known in the Eastern Orthodox Church. He is the one who discovered and revealed to the world the remarkable story of St. Mary of Egypt, having been led to her in the desert by divine guidance. But for those of us who are not desert scholars, this text offers us an opportunity to understand more of the holy Abba himself. Chryssavgis writes that

Zosimas flourished between 475 and 525, from the period just after the fourth Ecumenical Council (in 451) until around the time of the great Gaza elders, Barsanuphius, John and Dorotheus. He is mentioned several times by Dorotheus of Gaza, who knew him personally and visited him as his younger contemporary and compatriot. Dorotheus may in fact be the compiler of the Reflections of Abba Zosimas.