and he soon returned to his monastery. Development The Skete monastic style of monasticism fell out of favor with the church at the beginning of the Middle Ages. This was due mostly to the need for relative physical safety that more traditional cenobite communities offered. Skete monasteries still exist, and the monastery of Saint Macarius the Great still stands and has a thriving Skete community. See also Desert Fathers Mount Athos Wadi El Natrun Monastic cell Hermitage (religious retreat) References “The Coptic monasteries of the Wadi Natrum”, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, Vol 6, No. 2, (Feb, 1911) 19-20. El-Meskeen, Matta, Coptic Monasticism & The Monastery of St. Macarius: A Short History, Printed in the Monastery of St.Macarius, Cairo, 2001. Russell, Norman, The Lives of the Desert Fathers, Cistercian Publications: Kalamazoo, 1981 (this work is a collection of sayings that were gathered in the 6th century). A translation of the Historia monachorum in Aegypto. Russell, Dorthea, Medieval Cairo and the Monasteries of the Wadi Natrum: A Historical Guide, Thomas Nelson and Sons, New York, 1963. Ward, Benedicta, The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, Cistercian Publications, Oxford, 1975 (This work is a collection of sayings that were gathered in the 6th century). A translation of the Apophthegmata Patrum. Harmless, William, Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2004 169-181. Goehring, James. Ascetics, Society and the Desert: Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism, Trinity Press International, Harrisburg, 1999, 19. External links Skete New Skete - a skete for monks St. Michael's Skete, New Mexico Holy Transfiguration Skete of the Society of St. John Carthusian Order Carmelite Hermits Christian monasteries Christianity in late antiquity