St Antony of Egypt

On the principle of "waste not, want not", or, being modern, re-cycling, or better still, that if something is worth saying once it is worth saying twice, here is the link to my post from this day last year about St Antony of Egypt the father of monasticism.

Looking again at the text from his Life it is interesting to see how St Athanasius describes Antony placing his sister in a convent. Is this a translator's choice or does it indicate enclosed religious life for women by circa 270? Again what I find so interesting is the account's description of parish life in Egypt at that time - something that was already established and was to continue for so many centuries there and across Christendom.