Anthony of Egypt (c 251-356) has been called the founder of Christian monasticism. While he was by no means the first ascetic or hermit, he did inspire a new ideal by seeking spiritual growth in the desert.
Yet, while fellow hermits went to live near him in order to profit from his example, Anthony never sought to create a community living under a common rule, in the manner pioneered by St Pachomius early in the fourth century. Anthony himself probably spoke only Coptic.
His posthumous reputation owes everything to the Life written in Greek by
St Athanasius around 360. Within a few years Athanasius’s text had been translated into Latin by St Evagrius of Antioch, in which form it became one of the key Christian texts of the medieval world.
