rock walls to create small two-room caves. These dwellings resembled the cave dwellings of the Pueblo Indians. Still others would be simple huts of mud and brick built against cliff walls so the back room was the side of the cliff. The high walls and complex buildings that look more like fortresses than monasteries came much later. The furnishings for some of these simple cells would consist of a mat and sometimes a simple woven stool called an embrimia. Some would have doors and shelves for storing books or valuables. By day the monk would do his day labor in the front chamber sitting on his mat, and at night he would pray on his embrimia, and perhaps use it as a pillow. The vast majority were simple one- and two-room cells with the humblest of possessions inside. Daily life during the week consisted of each monk working and praying. It is difficult to be exact as to what sort of daily routine was most common because it seems the monks had some freedom in choosing how to spend their time during the week, and also because almost all monks worked and sometimes these day jobs would be seasonal, or occasionally make it necessary to meet with merchants (i.e., basket weaving or rope making). Typically a monk would wake at midnight (approximately) and pray the night office, then meditate till dawn. He did not recite the rest of the offices of the day but instead performed his manual labor while meditating, mixing the menial with the spiritual. During the ninth hour (after sunrise) a monk would eat his one meal of the day, which usually consisted of two small loaves of bread called paxamatia which together were often less than one pound. These loaves could be stored for long stretches of time. They could be soaked in water to be made softer and seasoned for taste, but few monks had access to resources beyond a bit of salt and perhaps occasionally olive oil. Records show there were some vegetables such as beans and lentils and even occasionally grapes and fruit, but these were usually reserved for guests or for sick monks in need. Even though this diet seems strict in the extreme, it is not terribly different from what the average Egyptian ate. At sunset a monk would celebrate vespers and would go to sleep shortly after sunset. This cycle