thumbnail|260px|Kellia.
Kellia ("the Cells"), referred to as "the innermost desert", was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian monastic community spread out over many square kilometers in the Nitrian Desert about south of Alexandria. It was one of three centers of monastic activity in the region, along with Nitria and Scetis (Wadi El Natrun). It is called al-Muna in Arabic and was inhabited until the 9th century. Only archaeological sites remain there today.
History
Founded in 338 C.E. by Saint Amun, under the spiritual guidance of Saint Anthony, it was designed for those who wished to enter the cenobitic life in a semi-anchoritic monastery. An account of its founding, perhaps legendary, is in the Apophthegmata Patrum. Amun, who was then a monk at Nitria, one day talked with Anthony saying that he and some brothers wanted to move away "that they may live in peace". The site was abandoned in the 9th century. The site covers 125 square kilometers, over which many small hills, or koms, were found.