The Desert Fathers show us what this abiding looks like when lived in silence and contemplation: in the burning solitude of the Egyptian desert, Anthony the Great (c.251–356 AD) who left a wealthy life to live as a hermit in the desert, and who is widely regarded as the “Father of All Monks”, discovered that a heart fixed on Christ can turn the wilderness itself into a garden of prayer. Macarius of Egypt (c.300–391 AD) who was a pioneering 4th-century Christian monk, hermit, and one of the most influential Desert Fathers, said that the soul united to Christ becomes like a vine heavy with living sap, quietly swelling with the fruit of the Spirit.