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Audiobook edition · 1 h 0 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 38 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 38 pagesAbout this book
What should rule your life: a clear mind, or the anger and desire that pull it off course?
In The Teachings of Silvanus, an unnamed teacher speaks to a young man he calls his son. His counsel is urgent and practical: guard your thoughts, watch your words, and choose your friends with care. Anger, greed, lust and pride threaten the inner discipline he asks his pupil to cultivate.
This short wisdom book brings early Christian teaching into conversation with Greek philosophy. Its loosely linked sayings move from everyday conduct to questions of self-knowledge and God. At its heart stands a vivid portrait of Christ as wisdom, guide and rescuer. The teacher urges his son to seek the divine mind within.
What you’ll discover
- A father's urgent counsel Meet a teacher whose direct advice joins care for his pupil with demanding moral expectations.
- Reason against the passions Explore the text's call to let reason govern anger, greed, lust and pride.
- Wisdom for daily choices Consider counsel about careful speech, guarded trust, and the friends you allow close.
- The search within Follow the teacher's invitation to know yourself and seek God through the divine mind.
- Christ as wisdom Discover how the text portrays Christ as the door to wisdom, a guide and a light.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy ancient wisdom writing, practical advice on taming anger and desire, or early Christian thought with a Platonic flavour.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Greek teaching that survived in Coptic
- Guard the city of your soul
- Folly looks cheerful but leaves you with no guide
- Know yourself, for you are made of three
- The Adversary arrives dressed as a friend
- God is in every place and in none
- Christ comes down, and the inner temple must be kept
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The Teachings of Silvanus
by Attributed to Silvanus · 275
A father urges his son to guard the city of his soul against wild beasts, and to knock on himself as on a door.
Easy readUnder 2 hours to readItaliano
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In short
Picture a city whose gates stand open. Robbers stroll in, wild beasts prowl the streets, and a tyrant sits over the whole scene.
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A Greek teaching that survived in Coptic
The Teachings of Silvanus belongs to a form that ancient writers loved, the instruction of a father to his son. Egyptian wisdom books used it, and so did Greek philosophers and Jewish teachers. The text was composed in Greek and is preserved in Coptic, the language of Christian Egypt. Scholars place the original in the second or third century.
The name Silvanus is the main puzzle. Some scholars connect it to the Silvanus of the New Testament letters, a companion of Paul and Peter. Others think the name was borrowed to give the teaching weight. The text does not settle the question. What is clear is that the writer joined Platonic, Stoic, Jewish and Christian ideas into one practical whole.
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Details
- First published
- 275
- Language
- Italiano
- Listening time
- 1 h 0 min
- Level
- Easy read
- Paperback
- 38 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 38 pages · 6 × 9 in
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Cite this edition
Silvanus. The Teachings of Silvanus. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-the-teachings-of-silvanus.
Silvanus. (2026). The teachings of Silvanus. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-the-teachings-of-silvanus (Original work published ca. 275)
Silvanus. The Teachings of Silvanus. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-the-teachings-of-silvanus.
@book{silvanus2026teachings,
author = {Silvanus},
title = {The Teachings of Silvanus},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-the-teachings-of-silvanus},
note = {First published ca. 275}
}
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What is The Teachings of Silvanus about?
It is a father's advice to his son on guarding the mind, mastering anger and desire, knowing yourself and following Christ as the divine Wisdom and Word. It uses pictures such as a besieged city, a ship without a helmsman and a temple within.
Who was Silvanus?
Nobody knows for certain. Some scholars link the name to the Silvanus of the New Testament letters, a companion of Paul and Peter. Others think it is a borrowed name that gave authority to a teaching of unknown authorship.
Where was The Teachings of Silvanus found and when was it written?
It was found in 1945 in a sealed jar near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in a Coptic translation. Scholars think the Greek original comes from the second or third century, and that the codices were buried in the late fourth century.
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