Père Vincent Desprez

This article presents the French translation of the 23rd catechesis from Book II of the Great Catecheses of Saint Theodore the Studite (759-826), hegumen of the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople. Father Vincent Desprez situates this text within the broader context of the Studite catechetical corpus, of which only Book IV has been widely disseminated, while Books I through III remain largely inaccessible, or even unpublished in some cases. The translation, established from the Cozza-Luzi edition, is accompanied by scholarly notes identifying patristic references. The central idea of this catechesis is the invitation extended to monks to nourish themselves through the reading of the Lives of the Fathers — Pachomius, John Climacus, Euthymius, Sabas — as models of obedience and perseverance. On the theological level, the text illustrates Theodore's cenobitic spirituality, rooted in the Eastern monastic tradition and oriented toward an evangelical asceticism integrating prayer and daily work.