hermit, called Syncletica of Alexandria; and one Theodora, also of Alexandria, who joined a community of male ascetics, living undetected as a man until her death. Together these early ascetics were an eclectic and varied bunch of pious pioneers—experimental, often (to our eyes) eccentric, but connected by a remarkable desire to experience extreme physical deprivation, usually in remote and inhospitable places. Together they alighted on the essence of what became medieval monasticism, and generations of monks and other ascetics would return to their example throughout the ensuing eleven
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