Andrew Louth (translator) is Emeritus Professor of Patristic and Byzantine Studies in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University. nJonathan L. Zecher (translator) is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry at the Australian Catholic University. He is the author of The Role of Death in the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the Greek Ascetic Tradition and Spiritual Direction as a Medical Art in Early Christian Monasticism.n