Desert monastery

Uneasiness with the church's newfound comfort in the world after the conversion of Constantine led some Christians to withdraw from the world in pursuit of holiness. In its developed form monasticism based this withdrawal on vows to poverty, chastity, and obedience. Solitary Christian monasticism originated in Egypt and was made widely known through accounts of the life of the hermit Anthony. Another Egyptian, Pachomius, is traditionally held to be the founder of communal monasticism. Monasticism spread to the western church from the East in part through the work of John Cassian (c. 360-435), a monk from the East who moved to Marseilles in the fifth century. An influential form of monasticism characteristic of the western church emerged with Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-c. 550) in the sixth century.

Anchorites: monks and nuns who withdraw from the world to live in solitude. This form of monasticism originated in the early Christian era with monks and holy women who withdrew to the desert and other remote places to pursue lives of holiness. The term is also sometimes applied to monks and nuns who gather in monasteries, but lead solitary lives in the confined quarters of a cell.

Cenobites: monks and nuns who vow to live under monastic rule in communities. This form of monasticism originated in the early Christian centuries when monks and nuns who had withdrawn from the world began to live together in communities and pledge themselves to the joint observance of various monastic constitutions or rules.