Coptic Saints Chariton the Confessor (mid-3rd century – c. 350), contemporary monk in the Judaean desert Desert Fathers and Desert Mothers, early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt beginning around the third century AD Hilarion (291–371), anchorite and saint considered by some to be the founder of Palestinian monasticism Monastery of Saint Anthony, Egypt Pachomius the Great (c. 292 – 348), Egyptian saint generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism Patron saints of ailments, illness and dangers Paul of Thebes (c.