Anthony pioneered the practice of monks living in isolated cells.

Although not the originator of anchorite monasticism, Anthony won fame as a monk after he had retired to the Egyptian desert in solitary search of holiness. As his fame grew, he directed the lives of other anchorites who submitted to a common rule but lived alone. Tradition records that he supported Athanasius during the Arian controversy. Anthony's life became widely known and his pursuit of holiness prototypical for the solitary Christian through the widely read devotional biography, Life of Anthony by Athanasius.