The Wisdom of the Desert | Page 3

suppose that he would journey due south, ad skirt
at first the shores of what is now Lake Mariut. Along the barren and
rocky margin of the lake, at spots as remote as possible from the track
followed by caravans, he would find the hermitages of ascetics, who,
like Dorotheus, maintained a comparatively close connection with the
Alexandrian clergy. Leaving the lake and journeying still southwards
over about forty miles of utterly desolate land, he would come to a long
valley extending east and west between two ranges of mountains or
table lands, covered with sandy flats, salt marshes, and dangerous rocks.
This is the famous Nitrian desert. Here St. Amon built the first solitary
cell. Here Evagrius Pontikus lived for about two years. Here Nathaniel
was visited by the bishops. Here the "Long Brothers" lived, one of
whom was the companion of St. Athanasius when he went to Italy. At
the end of the fourth century the Nitrian mountains were dotted over
with hermits' cells. The evenings were resonant with psalm-singing. On
Saturdays and Sundays the brethren swarmed forth like bees for
worship in their church. Five miles further south, still among the
Nitrian mountains, lay a region so utterly desolate that it had not even a
name, till the monks built over it and "christened" it The Cells. Further
south still and towards the west lay the Scetic desert. It was a day's
journey from The Cells. This is the most famous of all the monastic
settlements. Its founder was St. Macarius the Great. We may reckon
among the Scetic monks his two namesakes, St. Macarius of
Alexandria and Macarius the Young. Here also, for the most part, dwelt
Pior, Moses the AEthiopian, Paul the Simple, and the hermit Mark.*
South-eastward, past Lake Arsino‘ and Herakleopolis, lay St. Antony's
birthplace, Coma. Here, no doubt, might have been seen the tombs into
which he first shut himself, and across the river, the mountain on which
he found his ruined fort. This mountain, which was called "the outer

mountain," formed the home of smaller and less famous groups of
ascetics. South-east from this, within a few miles of the Red Sea, lay
"the outer mountain," to which St. Antony was guided by the heavenly
voice. Perhaps this retreat was never shared with him by anyone except
his chosen attendant and the few visitors who forced their way there in
search of spiritual counsel. South from the "outer mountain," along the
river, lay Oxyrynchus. This, even if we discount the figures of
contemporary writers, must have been a great monastic city. In it
monasticism took in organised ecclesiastical form. The church was
served by priest-monks, and great communities of men and women
carried on works of charity and evangelisation. Still further south lay
Lycopolis, the home of John the prophet. This man was celebrated as
well for his wonderful obedience as for his spiritual gifts. Lycopolis
may be reckoned the outpost of the monasticism of lauras and
hermitages. Beyond it lay the organised monasteries of the disciples of
St. Pachomius. During the lifetime of the founder of Tabennisi, nine
monasteries carried out his rule. Of these the most famous was that
which was ruled by Bgoul and afterwards by his nephew, Schnoudi. On
the sea-coast, east of Alexandria, lay the settlements visited by Cassian.
The Tannitic mouth of the Nile flows into what is now Lake Menzaleh.
In Cassian's time this whole region was a desolate salt swamp. The sea
flowed over it when the north wind blew, destroying all hope of
fertility. On the hills, which came to look like islands, stood the ruins of
villages forsaken by their inhabitants. It was a land --
"Sea saturate as with wine."
Among the ruins and amid the surrounding desolation dwelt the monks
who were the heroes of Cassian's earlier Conferences. No scene has
seemed to me to convey more vividly at once the pathos and the
nobility of the monk's renunciation of the world than this one. In Nitria
and Scete the ascetic is at least remote from all remembrances of
common life. On the islands of Menzaleh he kneels in solitary prayer
within the very walls where women once laughed to see their children
sport. He gazes over brine-soaked swamps, which once were
harvest-fields thronged with reapers. Westward from Menzaleh lay
Lake Burlus. Between it and the sea stretched a desolate spit of sandy

land, given up by farmers as hopelessly barren. This was the Diolcos
described in the Institutes, and the eighteenth Conference. Here
Archebius and his fellow hermits struggled for life in their inhospitable
home, husbanding even their water as no miser would husband the
most precious wine.
Thus we have five distinct and widely separated regions in which
Egyptian monasticism existed and flourished during the fourth century.
First, Nitria,