<P> Monks and friars are two distinct roles . In the thirteenth century "...new orders of friars were founded to teach the Christian faith," because monasteries had declined . </P> <P> First Century groups such as the Essenes and the Therapeutae followed lifestyles that could be seen as precursors to Christian monasticism . Early Christian monasticism drew its inspiration from the examples of the Prophet Elijah and John the Baptist, who both lived alone in the desert, and above all from the story of Jesus' time in solitary struggle with Satan in the desert, before his public ministry . The Carmelites find inspiration in the old testament prophet Elijah . </P> <P> From the earliest times within the Christian Church, there were probably individual hermits who lived a life in isolation in imitation of Jesus's 40 days in the desert . They have left no confirmed archaeological traces and only hints in the written record . Communities of virgins who had consecrated themselves to Christ are found at least as far back as the 2nd century . There were also individual ascetics, known as the "devout", who usually lived not in the deserts but on the edge of inhabited places, still remaining in the world but practicing asceticism and striving for union with God . </P> <P> Eremitic monasticism, or solitary monasticism, is characterized by a complete withdrawal from society . The word' eremitic' comes from the Greek word eremos which means desert . This name was given because of St. Anthony of the Desert, or St. Anthony of Egypt, who left civilization behind to live on a solitary Egyptian mountain in the third century . Though he was probably not the first Christian hermit, he is recognized as such as he was the first known one . </P>

What determined the kind of monastic life available to someone in the middle ages