The Book of the First Monks (Latin: Decem Libri – Liber de Institutione Primorum Monacharum) is a medieval Christian work in the contemplative and eremetic tradition of the Carmelites. Carmelite tradition holds that it was Elijah who inspired the early hermits who settled near the spring on Mount Carmel. Most often quoted from the "Book of the First Monks" is the following passage in which the prophet Elijah is held up as spiritual father of the Order: