The tradition that Cyril had been a monk and an ascetic was probably founded upon the passages in which he seems to speak as one who had himself belonged to the order of Solitaries, and shared the glory of chastity Cat. xii. 1, 33, 34.  Compare iv. 24, note 8..  We need not, however, suppose that the “Solitaries” (μονάζοντες)of whom he speaks were either hermits living in remote and desert places, or monks secluded in a monastery:  they commonly lived in cities, only in separate houses, and frequented the same Churches with ordinary Christians.  To such a life of perpetual chastity, strict asceticism, and works of charity, Cyril may probably, in accordance with the custom of the age, have been devoted from early youth.