Desert Fathers

The Desert Fathers (along with Desert Mothers) were early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt beginning around the third century AD. The Apophthegmata Patrum is a collection of the wisdom of some of the early desert monks and nuns, still in print as Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in 270–271 AD and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony died in 356 AD, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to living in the desert following Anthony’s example — his biographer, Athanasius of Alexandria, wrote that “the desert had become a city.” The Desert Fathers had a major influence on the development of Christianity.

The desert monastic communities that grew out of the informal gathering of hermit monks became the model for Christian monasticism. The eastern monastic tradition at Mt. Athos and the western Rule of St. Benedict both were strongly influenced by the traditions that began in the desert. All of the monastic revivals of the Middle Ages looked to the desert for inspiration and guidance. Much of Eastern Christian spirituality, including the Hesychast movement, had its roots in the practices of the Desert Fathers. Even religious renewals such as the German evangelicals and Pietists in Pennsylvania, the Devotio Moderna movement, and the Methodist Revival in England are seen by modern scholars as being influenced by the Desert Fathers.

Paul of Thebes is often credited with being the first hermit monk to go to the desert, but it was Anthony the Great who launched the movement that became the Desert Fathers. Sometime around 270 AD, Anthony heard a Sunday sermon stating that perfection could be achieved by selling all of one’s possessions, giving the proceeds to the poor, and following Christ (Matthew 19:21). He followed the advice and made the further step of moving deep into the desert to seek complete solitude.

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Author: Wikipedia

Keywords: Desert Fathers, Monk, Monasticism, Monastic, Monastery, monkhood, solitary, asceticism, ascetic, Nun, Nunnery, Christian monasticism, Christian monastic, religious order, Hermit, Rule of Saint Benedict, St Benedict, Franciscan, Franciscan monk, St Francis, Francis, Saint Francis, Francis of Assisi, Eunuch

Bible reference(s): Luke 2:37, 1Co 7:1, 1 Co 7:32, 1 Corinthians 7:34, 1 Corinthians 7:38, 1 Timothy 4:3

Source: This article uses material from the Wikipedia article “Desert Fathers,” which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

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