These people were individual men who rejected worldly goods and desires, and lived in poverty. .
Another example of Monasticism, was that from a man named Anthony, who lived to be 105 years old(251-356), from Egypt. "He went into the desert at the age of fifteen and remained there, living a life of extreme austerity, for the next ninety years " ("Rise of Christian Monasticism" August 11, 2004). His life influenced others, and caused many to join him and tried his way of life and later on many followed his ideas and teaching and many hermits also took themselves to various places throughout the Roman Empire. Many men would leave their families for a life of solitude, with the beliefs developed by Anthony, and they believed the world was full of demons and the evil among societies, they thought led them away from eternal life and believed Anthony's way of life helped to fight off these evil forces.
Some people came to conclusion that living the hermit lifestyle was a difficult task and that some plan was needed to allow a life of isolation, but still be close to townships. A man by the name of Pachomius(290-346) soon solved this problem by allowing the monks to grow their own food and make their own clothing to avoid begging or charity. "The people who could adopt this cenobitical life (meaning "life in common") became, for all purposes, unlimited. After the reforms of Pachomius, the number of monasteries and monks began to increase rapidly in the East ("Rise of Christian Monasticism" August 11, 2004). After the death of Pachomius, things changed drastically from the earlier years of Monasticism, because of a man named Basil. The isolation concept was nearly abandoned, because monks started to form communities and worked together.
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St. Martin, of Tours, met a beggar who was almost naked and frozen.
