Lions in the Desert

A Story of the First Christian Hermit

Little is known of Paul of Thebes, the first Christian hermit. We know he grew up in Thebes, Egypt, inherited wealth from his parents as a teenager, and felt forced to flee Thebes when Roman persecutions against Christians began under Emperor Decius' brief reign. After searching and wandering in the wilderness he finally settled on a special haven enclosed by mountains where a single palm tree grew. And then? The man lived a life of prayer for the next eighty-plus years! What happened during all that time? In this imaginative historical novel I try to tell the meaningful, logical story of that more secret, secluded part of his life. His life forms the very foundation of what later became the worldwide monastic movement.