The Mysticism of Abraham Bar Dashandad

i. Abraham bar Dashan(lad, the East Syrian mystic, lived in the first half of the 8th century. The only one of his writings extant ), is a letter which MINGANA has edited, and which in his edition comprises I6 pages. 2) However, a closer study of this writing, in the heading called 'egareta, makes it clear that it is not a letter in the ordinary sense of the word, but an exhortation or tract of instruction to a monastic Brother who has decided to live as ihldaya, i.e. a hermit, or, factually more correct, an ascetic 2.I4. From Dadisho Katraya, another East Syrian mystic who lived one generation earlier, at the end of the 7th century, we have good knowledge of the ascetic and hermit practice carried on in the Syrian church at that time. 3) We can discern between two types of ascetics, namely those who devoted themselves to asceticism and solitary life for a fixed period, and those who did so for life. The first type was usual in the monasteries or in close connection with them. From time to time the monks withdrew from intercourse with the other monks and lived in isolation in a cell

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