Ten Thousand Ascetics of Nitria

The Ten Thousand Ascetics of Nitria were ascetics who lived in the caves and huts of the desert of Nitria in Egypt, in the fourth century. Their chief work was keeping the commandments of God, in fasting, vigils and prayer.

According to the synaxarion, Saint Isidore, the first of them, had disagreements with the bishop of Alexandria, Theophilus, on certain church matters, and Theophilus, in order to take revenge, secretly sent men who burned all these Fathers alive in their sketes. They are commemorated on 10 July, by the church calendar of the Church of Greece.