The Historia Monachorum contains material which is instructive for social life in fourth century Egypt, for monasticism in its exterior aspects in Egypt, and for the spiritual and moral approach of visitors to Egypt in recording the account of the lives of the monks. One of the elements in the whole literature of early monasticism which is perhaps especially unfamiliar to the modern reader is the account it gives of miracles There are in the Historia Monachorum the miracles of clairvoyance; the miracles of healing; miraculous dreams and visions; and ‘nature’ miracles. These events are not seen primarily as mirabilia, as things to be wondered at for their strangeness, as being contrary to the course of nature. There are signs, and signs of the power of God. There are, moreover, signs that God is working as strongly now as he did among the prophets and apostles. They illustrate the virtus of the monks, and place them directly in the line of the biblical revelation of the power of God.