It is well known among modern scholars of asceticism, as it was among even ancient writers, that the monastic practices of Syria, Persia, and Mesopotamia differed from those of Egypt, Greece and elsewhere. In the present study, Arthur Vööbus surveys literature from throughout the early Syriac corpus with the intention of describing the monastic practice of charitable giving among the monks of the Orient. Vööbus also frequently compares and contrasts the practices of these Eastern monks with their Western contemporaries.