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Side Track episode. Sidetrack Episode 18, Anthony, in the beginning of monasticism.

Welcome back to the History of the Papacy podcast. I'm Steve, your host for this podcast about the history of the popes of Rome and Christian Church.

This is an installment of our sidetrack episodes, where we take a closer look at topics in papal and church history that are interesting but somewhat tangential to the stories we tell in the main episodes.

I'd say it is definitely the appropriate time in place to pull off and take a closer look at the

development of monasticism in early Christianity, and by conventional standards,

Anthony or Antony of Egypt is the guy who got the whole ball rolling. Before we go even further,

we have to talk about what monasticism is and why it is important. A monk is a man or a woman who retreats from society in some way

to pursue a more religious lifestyle. The word monk, monastery, monastic, monasticism, etc.,

all come ultimately from the Greek word monos, the word for one.

The big idea is that these type of people live a life of asceticism, prayer, and religious devotion, somehow separated from the general society.

I would imagine there is nothing new here in this definition.

Now, this idea of withdrawal from the society for ascetic and religious

reasons certainly wasn't something Anthony of Egypt cooked up all by himself. It really isn't

exclusive to the Christian world either. This type of lifestyles has analogies at least in

Buddhism, Islam, and forms of paganism. Now, there was another religious tradition that had a strong and diverse

ascetic tradition, lived in the same exact neighborhood, and in most other areas highly influenced

...