Patericon or paterikon (), a short form for ????????? ??????? ("father's book") is a genre of Byzantine literature of religious character, which were collections of sayings of saints, martyrs and hierarchs, and tales about them.

Among the earliest collections of this kind are the ??????????? ??? ????? ???????? (Apophthegmata of Saint Elders, also known as the Alphabetical Patericon, Apophthegmata Patrum, Sayings of the Fathers of the Desert (Sayings of the Desert Fathers) http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01623c.htm), the Egyptian Paterikon (Historia Monachorum in Aegypto, History of Monks in Egypt) and ????????? (Historia Lausiaca, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11425a.htm) by Palladius - of the 4th century. Various paterica also known in translations into a number of languages (Latin, Slavonic, Coptic, Armenian, etc.)

In Russian Orthodoxy this kind of literature is known from the early Slavic literature, first translations, then original texts created in various monasteries.

Some paterica

• Valaam Patericon, a paterikon of the Valaam Monastery http://www.ticketsofrussia.ru/ru/valaam/pater/
• Romanian Patericon http://www.easternchristiansupply.biz/products.cgi/c120/c14/c100/42181 ISBN 978-0-938635-97-0
• Serbian Patericon http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0938635751 ISBN 978-0-938635-75-8
• Scete Patericon, an early Slavonic translation of Apophthegmata Patrum
• Kievan Cave Patericon, a paterikon of the Kiev Cave Monastery (13th century), uk:??????? ?????-??????????
• Volokolamsk Patericon (16th century)

See also

• Synaxarion
• Patristics
• Kiev Patericon reference to St. Mark of the Caves

References

pl:Pateryk ru:??????? uk:???????

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