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c. 251 – 700 AD
Anthony the Great
251 – 356 AD
Egyptian Desert
Overview
"Father of Monks." He withdrew into the desert to seek God in radical simplicity, and his example ignited the monastic imagination of the Christian world.
Did You Know?
He lived to about 105, and Athanasius's Life of Antony became one of late antiquity's most influential spiritual biographies.
Major Writings
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The Syriac & Desert Fathers
Hermits, abbots, and poets whose lives in the desert and whose Syriac spirituality gave Christianity some of its most searching voices.
4 Church Fathers in this era
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Part of The Syriac & Desert Fathers