The Desert Fathers were ascetics who began moving into the Scetes desert of Egypt in the 3rd century CE. By the time the most well-known of the Desert Fathers, St. Anthony of Egypt, died in 356, thousands had moved into the desert and established monastic communities that came to exert a major influence on Christianity. St. Anthony saw withdrawal from society and asceticism as an alternative to the tradition of martyrdom after Rome’s legalization of Christianity in what year? Discuss
Source: The Free Dictionary