The Desert Fathers were early Christian monks who fled to the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria starting in the third century. They went there to pray, fast, and fight their passions in solitude. What they started became the foundation of all Christian monasticism.
St. Anthony the Great is the most famous. Around 270 AD, he left his village in Egypt and went into the desert to live alone with God. He battled demons, prayed constantly, and lived on almost nothing. Word spread. People came looking for him, wanting guidance. Some stayed in the desert themselves. Before long, the Egyptian desert was dotted with hermits and small communities of monks, all trying to follow Anthony’s example.
But there were others too. St. Paul of Thebes lived as a hermit even before Anthony. St. Pachomius founded the first communal monasteries, where monks lived together under a rule. Abba Poemen, Abba Macarius, and dozens of other abbas (fathers) became known for their wisdom. And there were ammas too, Desert Mothers like Amma Syncletica, whose teachings were just as sharp and demanding as the men’s.
Why the Desert?
They weren’t running away from the world because they hated it. They were running toward something. In the cities, Christianity had become legal and even fashionable after Constantine. The age of martyrdom was ending. But these men and women wanted the same radical commitment the martyrs had shown. So they went to the desert to die to themselves instead.
The desert was harsh. No distractions. No comfort. Just heat, silence, and your own thoughts. That’s exactly what they wanted. They believed the real battle wasn’t out in the world but inside the human heart. The desert stripped everything else away so you could face your passions head-on, anger, lust, pride, despair. They called these battles “spiritual warfare,” and they took them as seriously as any soldier takes combat.
They practiced what they called nepsis, which means watchfulness. You watch your thoughts. The moment a bad thought enters your mind, you catch it and reject it before it takes root. You don’t hide your struggles. You confess them immediately to your spiritual father, an experienced elder who guides you. One saying puts it bluntly: “If impure thoughts trouble you, do not hide them, but tell them at once to your spiritual father and condemn them.”
They prayed constantly. Some repeated short prayers over and over, which eventually developed into what we now call the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” They fasted. They worked with their hands, weaving baskets or ropes to support themselves and to keep idle. They memorized Scripture. Some lived alone as hermits. Others lived in loose communities, gathering for worship but spending most of their time in solitary cells.
Their Sayings
The disciples of these elders wrote down their teachings. These became the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, also called the Apophthegmata Patrum. They’re short, punchy, and often surprising. A young monk asks an elder, “What should I do?” The elder gives him an answer that cuts right to the heart. No long theological treatises. Just practical wisdom about humility, prayer, and how to actually live as a Christian.
Here’s one: A brother asked Abba Poemen, “What does it mean to be angry with your brother without a cause?” The elder said, “If your brother hurts you by his arrogance and you are angry with him because of it, that is getting angry without cause. If he plucks out your right eye and cuts off your right hand and you get angry with him, that is getting angry without cause. But if he tries to separate you from God, then be angry with him.”
That’s the desert for you. Radical. Uncompromising. But also deeply human.
Why They Still Matter
Everything in Orthodox spiritual life traces back to these people. The monastic life we have today, whether on Mount Athos or at a monastery in California, comes from the patterns they established. The Jesus Prayer comes from their practice of unceasing prayer. The whole tradition of having a spiritual father or mother, someone who guides you and hears your confession, comes from the desert elders. The Philokalia, that massive collection of Orthodox spiritual writings, is built on their foundation.
Even if you’re not a monk, the Desert Fathers have something to teach you. We all face the same passions they did. We all struggle with anger, with lust, with pride. We all need to learn watchfulness. We all need to pray. The desert fathers just did it in a more extreme environment, which makes their insights sharper.
If you want to read them yourself, pick up a copy of the Sayings. There are several translations. Just start reading a few sayings each day. Some will confuse you. Some will convict you. That’s normal. These aren’t self-help maxims. They’re medicine for the soul, and medicine sometimes tastes bitter.
The next time you’re at St. Michael’s and you see an icon of St. Anthony, remember he’s not just some ancient curiosity. He’s your spiritual grandfather. The prayer rule you’re trying to keep, the fasting you’re learning, the confession you’re nervous about, he did all that first, out in the Egyptian desert, so you’d know it could be done.
