A devil attempts to cutoff Abba Macarius' leg, Saint John Colob meets a camel and a woman seeks healing from cancer. __ Desert Fathers are the early Christian hermits whose practice of asceticism in the Egyptian desert, beginning in the 3rd century, formed the basis of Christian monasticism. Following the example of Jesus' life of poverty, service, and self-denial, these early monks devoted themselves to vows of austerity, prayer, and work.