Anthony the Great

Anthony went into the Egyptian desert around AD 270 to be alone with God, and against his intention started a movement. Within fifty years there were thousands of monks living in cells in the desert, and the church had a new option besides bishop or martyr: monk. Athanasius's Life of Antony made him famous across the empire — Augustine read it and converted partly because of it. Every Christian monastic tradition, East and West, traces back to one Egyptian peasant who decided to live alone with God.