ABSTRACT
Christian monasticism made its earliest traceable appearance in Egypt and Palestine towards the end o f the third century. In its primitive form it was a way o f life adopted by solitaries, or anchorites, who lived in the desert. The word "monasticism’ itself derives from the Greek word monos, mean ing ‘alone’ : monks were people, mostly lay people, who had withdrawn from society to pursue the spiritual life in solitude. As Jerome, one o f the early Western converts to the monastic life, explained to another convert, Paulinus o f Nola, ‘If you wish to perform the office o f a priest, live in cities and townships, and make the salvation o f others the gain o f your soul. But if you desire to be what is called a monk, that is a solitary, what are you doing in cities, which are after all the dwelling places not o f solitaries, but o f the many?’1
