The Life of St. Anthony

The monks under St. Anthony's spiritual direction lived as hermits in separate places not far from one another as they call of Thebes. These are the earliest examples we have of Christian monasticism but St. Anthony is definitely traditionally known as the father of monastics. And then around this same time a little bit after Anthony, Manassic life took on another characteristic under St. Picomius the Great. We have the Sympathetic Life as a more of a common model of Christian Manassicism today where monks live together and eat together.