Edward Cuthbert Butler,
1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 20…
(1911)
“ He served as a conscript in one of Constantine’s campaigns, and on his return became a Christian (314) ; he at once went to live an eremitical life near Dendera by the Nile, putting himself under the guidance of an aged hermit. After three or four years he was called (by an angel, says the legend) to establish a monastery of cenobites, or monks living in common (see Monasticism, § 4) . ”
