Ironically, one man credited with the renewal of Christian community spent most of his life living as a hermit in the Egyptian desert. Anthony was born in 250 to an affluent family in Lower Egypt. His parents died while he was young, and Anthony received a significant inheritance. One day, entering a church just as the gospel was being read, he heard the lector say: “If anyone would be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Immediately Anthony sold his possessions and distributed the money to the poor. He lived as an outcast on the margins of the village, seeking God alone in the wilderness.

But others soon followed Anthony into the wilderness, settling near him.