Christian Monasticism in Egypt

...The purpose therefore of the first part of this study is an attempt to show how monasticism grew out of the special conditions of thought and life in Egypt, a mode of approach which has not apparently been adopted elsewhere to the same extent. The latter part deals with a subject that has been treated attractively by many writers, but it aims at being a survey of the first century of monasticism in Egypt, based upon those sources which have been generally accepted by recent criticism as the most reliable. - From the Preface