Thursday, January 15, 2026

It is the 15th of January 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

There’s something about the 15th of January and the Egyptian desert. Two of the greatest “desert fathers” share a feast day, and despite never meeting each other, did meet a third (and perhaps the greatest) of the desert Fathers whose feast day is in 2 days. For today, the ides of January, let’s head to the desert to look at these connections and the place of both deserts and hermits in the Christian tradition.

The desert is a common place in the Old Testament for wandering, for testing, and for solitude. A common prophetic picture in the Old Testament of the coming new covenant is a desert transformed. And in Jesus’ ministry, the desert will take on a new redemptive dimension- as the Israelites succumbed to temptation, Jesus will overcome the same on their behalf.

But students of church history find a very popular, if not somewhat curious, phenomenon in the 3rd century- a new retreat to the desert. One of the themes in early church piety was an imitation of Christ- and if he went to the desert, some argued, so should we.

This is the “eremitic” or solitary life (eremitic is where we get the word “hermit”) and the “ascetic” lifestyle of self-denial. The three names in church history are Paul the Hermit, Anthony of the Desert (or, the Great), and Macarius of Egypt, or the Elder. The first and third never met, but they had in common an audience with the great St. Anthony, and they are both commemorated on this, the 15th of January (and St. Anthony, whom we have met before on this show, has his feast day on Friday).

 St. Paul the Hermit, or Paul of Thebes, is said to have fled the Decian persecution of the church at the age of 16 in the 260s. He fled to the desert and found an abandoned mine that he lived in until the age of 113. He is said to have been made known to St. Anthony, who visited the elder Paul and assisted in the Hermits' burial. The story, recorded by none other than St. Jerome, is riddled with satyrs and mythological creatures such that some wondered if it was to be read historically at all. His existence outside of Jerome’s telling suggests a historical character, even if aspects have been mythologized.

And it was the same St. Anthony who is said to have counseled a younger Egyptian saint called Macarius (Macarius, or “Blessed” is a common name in the early church)- this Macarius, the “Great” of Egypt, lived a different life than Paul of Thebes. He was married, but widowed. He took care of his parents as they aged and died, and then took up his ascetic life. But he was quickly disturbed by accusations of impropriety with a woman in the village. Before the woman gave birth, she admitted that it was a con and that Macarius was innocent. Nonetheless, he fled for the mountains and there met St. Anthony.

Unlike with Paul the Hermit, by the time Macarius flees to the desert, there is no persecution, and he is encouraged to flee to the desert, but to do so with others- we see here the birth of the new monastic lifestyle.

Macarius did find persecution of another type later in life; the Emperor Valens and Bishop Lucius had become Arians and had the monk Macarius exiled to an island. But when that Island was converted under Macarius, he was freed and returned to the Egyptian desert, where he died in 391- 50 years after the death of Paul and about 25 years after Anthony the Great.

Tracing the early church back into the desert allows us to see how some escaped persecution, and others layered back on degrees of difficulty for the Christian after persecution ceased. Today, we remember two of the most important men in the history of the desert movement: Paul the Hermit and Macarius of Egypt, on their feast day, the 15th of January.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and a fiery Paul from Galatians 1:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 15th of January 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man who learned from Amelia Bedelia that it’s one S for Desert and two for dessert- he is Christopher Gillespie. 

The show is written and read by a man who learned from the same that the person in the office is the princiPAL- like a pal- I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.