Sozomen, who wrote his history about 440, says that about two thousand monks dwelt near Alexandria in a district called the Hermitage. Dorotheus, a native of Thebes, was among the most celebrated of these. He spent the day in collecting stones upon the seashore, which he used in erecting cells for those who were unable to build them. During the night he employed himself in weaving baskets of palm leaves, and these he sold to obtain the means of subsistence. He ate six ounces of bread with a few vegetables daily, and drank nothing but water. Having accustomed himself to this extreme abstinence from his youth, he continued to observe it in old age. He was never seen to recline on a mat or a bed, nor even to place his limbs in an easy attitude for sleep. Sometimes from natural lassitude his eyes would involuntarily close when he was at his daily labour or his meals, and the food would drop on the way to his mouth. One day Piammon, a presbyter, was conducting the service, and said that he noticed an angel standing near the altar, and writing down the names of the monks who were present and erasing the names of those who were absent. ST. POEMEN, THE PRINCE OF HERMITS (A.D. 450). The prince of the desert, the chief of the solitaries and the fellow-citizen of angels, as he was long called, was St. Poemen, an Egyptian who flourished in 450. He had six brothers, and they all had a turn for fasting and self-mortifications, and retired to the desert and lived there, scorning the indulgences of ordinary life. All the people round soon confessed that Poemen was the greatest hermit of his time, and his sayings were quoted over all Christendom. A monk who suffered from violent temptations consulted Poemen how to overcome his evil temper, and was told to retire into the desert and wrestle there with his temper and conquer it. The monk said, "But, father, how if I were to die without Sacraments in the wild waste?" To this Poemen answered, "Do you think God would not receive you, coming from the battle-field?" Another monk, perplexed where to live and how to act, asked Poemen whether he should live in community or in solitude. Poemen replied, "Wherever you find yourself humble-minded, there you may settle down and dwell with security." Another monk went a long journey to see and consult Poemen, and began to talk about subtle theological niceties. Poemen looked grave and silent, till the visitor departed, expressing his disgust at coming so far for nothing. Poemen observed on this afterwards, "This anchorite flies far above my reach. He sails up to heaven, while I creep along the earth. If he would talk about our passions and infirmities and how to overcome them, then we should have some subject in common to talk about." Another time Poemen, asked by a troublesome monk to tell him what was a living faith, replied, "A living faith consists in thinking little of oneself and showing tenderness to others." He also once said, "A warm heart, boiling