The Syriac Book of Steps collects 30 memre by an anonymous late 4th century author in Persia. It describes the struggle of an actual Christian community, not an idealized one, to live a life in the pursuit of perfection in the midst of a hostile culture. The author details the aspirations and standards of the two ranks of Christians prior to the advent of monasticism: the Upright-married people who work and perform acts of charity-and the Perfect who are celibate, do not work, but live a life of prayer, wandering through the region teaching and mediating conflicts.

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