The moment
Around 270 a young Egyptian named Antony gave away his land and took up a life of prayer and fasting, later living alone for some twenty years in an abandoned fort at Pispir. Others followed him into the desert, and the Life of Antony written by Bishop Athanasius carried the ideal across the Christian world. Pachomius soon gathered monks into walled communities under a common rule.
People: Antony of Egypt, Athanasius of Alexandria, Pachomius