This new study sheds significant new light on one of the most significant movements in the history of Christian spirituality - the desert movement of the Early Church, the beginnings of monastic life. Drawing on recent research and newly translated ancient texts, The Desert Movement demonstrates that the spread of early Christian communities in the desert was far more extensive than previously thought. This volume sheds significant new light on desert spirituality.Previous study has focused on Egypt, but this explores the movements taking place in Sinai, Gaza, Judea and Palestine. It compares the common features and the variations of the different movements. It introduces the lives and writings of many new monastic figures, including many women, and gives them a place among the established figures of desert spirituality - Anthony, Cassian, Evagrius and others.