The Lavrite style of living has its origins in the early fourth century with the founding of a settlement of cells in the Nitrean desert. A community of 600 hermits lived scattered over the area, reliant on Nitria for bread, but with their own priest and church. Saint Euthymius the Great (377 - 473) founded one of the early Lavras in fifth-century Palestine. The Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified (†532), known as Mar Saba, is one of the most ancient continuously functioning monasteries in the Christian world.