Download or read book Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian Deserts written by Otto F. A. Meinardus and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the fourth century A.D. the deserts of Egypt saw the birth of Christian monasticism under the tutelage of the desert fathers. Since then the movement has spread around the world. This standard work traces the historical development of all the currently inhabited Coptic monasteries, drawing on a wide variety of sources, including accounts by early Western travelers.