Out of the Desert

A brother asked him, 'How ought we to live?' Poemen replied,' We have seen the example of Daniel. They accused him of nothing except that he served his God.'

This is a saying from The Desert Fathers. A group of early Christians who lived out in the Egyptian desert in order to better seek and live out their lives as hermits. It is said that Anthony the Great exuded such a level of holiness that it attracted many disciples. Although there are many flaws in their teachings and life style (Christ spent much time alone, but he also went out into the world) these are a fascinating sayings and show how they greatly influenced the Catholic church and probably even protestant faiths more than we realize.