"You cannot fashion a dress from the starry sky, nor carve a loaf of bread from it, yet how much poorer would life be without the stars above! How many, gazing into its seemingly strange and boundless depths, have found comfort in their suffering, while others have discovered powerful inspiration, even new paths to follow.
So it is with these hermits. They flee the world to seek Christ. And the world, in turn, chases after them, longing to come nearer to Christ through them."
E. N. Pogozhev (Poselyanin)
While the Church names the venerable Anthony the Great the father of hermits, and the venerable Macarius the Great the guide for skete-dwelling monks, it is the venerable Pachomius the Great who stands as the foremost founder of communal monastic life.
It is well to rouse zeal and ardour for the spiritual struggle, but just as important was what followed: when the number of those eager for the monastic way grew so large that the desert itself became almost a city, someone had to shape their lives in a way pleasing to God. Since it was not possible to guide thousands of novices by daily word and example, there arose the need for rules — rules that would sustain holy zeal, help the brothers form good habits, keep the will from growing slack, and lead monks onwards to spiritual growth. The form of close-knit monastic life set out by St Pachomius, known as ‘cenobitic’ living, later became the pattern for monasteries not only in the East, but also across the West.
This calling fell to St Pachomius. Unlike his great contemporaries, Anthony and Macarius, he lived only fifty-three years — about thirty-five of those as a monk — but for the weight and worth of his labour, he too is called Great by the Church. “At the beginning, when I first became a monk, there was not a single cenobium for training others; every monk after the persecutions struggled alone*. But later your father, (Pachomius), with God’s help, set his mind to this noble work. He took up a great service, gathering so many brethren together, and walks the way of the apostles,” said St Anthony the Great to Zacchaeus, a disciple of Abba Pachomius, after Pachomius’ death.
Monasteries of St Pachomius the Great in Upper Egypt
A younger contemporary of St Anthony, and also a Copt by birth, St Pachomius was born in the Thebaid of Upper Egypt, around the year 292 or 294, to wealthy pagan parents. He received a good education and was known for his kind nature, temperance, and sound judgement. In 315, when he was twenty, Pachomius was called up into the Roman army. With other new recruits, he was sent down the Nile. On the way to Alexandria, the boat stopped at Thebes, and the recruits were kept in the city prison under guard. There, Pachomius first met Christians. They brought food for the soldiers, fed them, and served them eagerly and without grumbling. Their mercy, their purity, and the simple warmth of their brotherly care, which (as Pachomius learned) was shown for God's sake, in keeping His command to love one's neighbour, struck deep into the young man’s heart. He resolved that he, too, would become a Christian.
The Egyptian unit never did see battle: when their ship reached Antinoë, word arrived that the military campaign had ended, and the recruits were sent home. Pachomius returned to the Thebaid but settled in seclusion at the village of Chenoboskion (called Sheneset by the Copts, today’s Kasr es-Sayad in the Nag Hammadi region). There, it seems, he received instruction in the faith from the local priest, was baptised, and began to live as a strict ascetic. He found shelter in an empty pagan shrine and tended a small plot where he grew vegetables and some date palms, often giving their fruit to passers-by and needy locals. When an epidemic broke out in the village, Pachomius served the sick with tireless care. His honest way of life, wise judgement, and kindness drew others who sought a godly path, but Pachomius, wishing for quiet, moved away from the crowds into deeper solitude.
Nag Hammadi district in Upper Egypt
Resolved to give his whole heart to God, Pachomius put himself under the guidance of an elder. He sought out Palamon, a hermit famed for wisdom, who lived in the desert near Denderah. At first, Palamon was slow to accept a new follower. “You are too young and will not be able to bear life with me,” the elder said. “I eat only bread with salt, never oil or wine. I spend most of the night, and sometimes the whole night, in prayer and the thoughts of God.” Still, Pachomius kept pleading, until finally Palamon’s heart was moved, and he lovingly guided Pachomius in the monastic struggle from that day until his own repose.
Saint Palamon taught his disciple to spend half, and often all, the night in watchfulness — reading the Holy Scriptures. He fasted every day until sunset in summer. In winter, he would go two or three days without food. Their daily worship included sixty prayers by day and sixty more by night, apart from the constant prayers said in their hearts — a number none could count. Above all, they kept the memory of God alive within mind and spirit.
One Easter, Pachomius mixed a little oil into the pounded salt that served as their meagre seasoning. At this, Palamon struck his own cheek and wept, crying out, “Yesterday my Lord was crucified, and today shall I eat oil!” He at first meant to eat nothing until the next day, but agreed at last — when Pachomius brought him salt mixed with ashes, then both took bread and salt together.
On another occasion, while walking through the desert, Pachomius stopped by the ruined village of Tabennisi. There, he heard a voice commanding him to raise a monastery on that very spot.
Pachomius recounted this vision to the elder Palamon. Both, taking what they had heard as a clear sign from God, went to Tabennisi and began to build a small dwelling for monastic life. Saint Palamon blessed the foundation of this new community, foretelling a bright future for the monastery. Not long after, Palamon departed to the Lord.
Relic of Saint Palamon in the Russian Monastery of St Nicholas the Wonderworker, Florida, USА
The life of Pachomius has preserved the names of his first followers: Psentasios, Sur, and Psoi. Later, Pekusios, Cornelius, Paul, a namesake of Pachomius himself, and John joined the group. A little while after, a boy of only fourteen, Theodore, arrived. He soon became Pachomius’s close disciple. Orsiesios also came at this time.
One day, an angel appeared to Pachomius and declared that it was God’s will for Pachomius to mend the bond between mankind and God. The angel also revealed to him the monastic rule for common life — the way of work, conduct, and dress that the monks were to follow. As the brotherhood grew so large that the original house could hold them no longer, Pachomius led his community to an abandoned village called Pabau, three kilometres downstream from Tabennisi along the Nile. Here, he built a second monastery. This place also came to him in a vision.
Some time later, the ascetic Eponech, who headed a community near Chenoboskion, asked to have his monastery counted as part of Pachomius’s fellowship. Pachomius welcomed him and brought his monks, so a third house joined the growing family. The fourth to enter, at the request of its elder Jonah, was the monastery of Monchosios. In time, Pachomius oversaw eleven monasteries — nine for men and two for women. One of the women’s houses was led by his own sister, Maria. By the end of the fourth century, nearly seven thousand monks were striving in these communities.
Appearance of the angel to Pachomius. Fresco, Church of St George, Staro Nagorichino, Macedonia. Frescoes by Michael and Eutychios, 14th century
Venerable Pachomius instituted the rule of common life, so that everyone ate and dressed alike. The monks were not to keep money or accept gifts from family. He taught, too, that willing and cheerful obedience carried more weight than fasting or prayer. For this, Pachomius insisted the monks obey the rule exactly, dealing firmly with any breach.
Blessed Jerome writes of their life: “Each monastery has its own abbot or father, stewards, weekly officials, servants, and housemasters for every building. In one house, forty or more brothers may live, each obeying their own master. In one monastery, there may be thirty or forty such houses.”
Three or four houses would often form a small community, sometimes so that the monks could work together, sometimes to share the duties that fell to them each week. In their cells, they owned nothing but a rough mat for a bed, two tunics — both sleeveless, following the custom of Egypt — and a few simple belongings. As the author tells us, the sick in these places received the greatest care. While the monks were not allowed to keep food in their cells and ate together once each day in the common dining room, keeping to a set meal of bread and other simple fare, the ill were treated far more gently. If one of the brothers who was unwell needed food at any hour — even in the night, or during the Great Lent — he would be brought the very best food the monastery could offer.
Saint Pachomius the Great, founder of cenobitic monasticism
The monastery itself stood as a group of separate houses. Each house had its own task to do. The monks were given their work for the good of all. One house might weave baskets from reeds, another might embroider garments, and another would prepare the food. Copying books was counted among their tasks. As soon as a man joined, he was set to work in one of the houses. Each house had an elder to watch over it. This elder guided the younger men and spoke words of counsel and comfort in the house — most often, from Holy Scripture.
At first, the monasteries of Saint Pachomius had no clergy of their own, so the monks would walk to the nearest village church to receive Communion. Later, under his disciples, the monasteries gained their own priests.
The monks of Pachomius held two great feasts: Pascha and the Day of Purification. On this latter day, monks would come together from every house and monastery. The Day of Purification was kept in August, just before the new year in their calendar. On this day, all the monks would confess. It became a special day for the gathering of the monks of Egypt.
The rulebooks for Pachomius’s monasteries, which survive to this day, do not all say quite the same — Pachomius shaped and changed these rules as the years passed and the number of monks swelled. In time, though, his rules settled, becoming solid and clear, and formed a model for all who followed the communal life in monasteries. At the height of this life set by Saint Pachomius, Basil the Great, who would later become Archbishop of Cappadocia, came to Egypt. Deeply moved by what he saw and heard, Saint Basil followed this way of life himself, taking the monastic vows — and went on to teach this path to many others.
Saint Basil founded cenobitic monasteries wherever he served, setting down in writing the order of monastic life within them. By doing so, he helped spread the rule of communal living far beyond the bounds of Egypt. Many came to the monasteries of Saint Pachomius — among them John Cassian the Roman, Benedict, and other devoted men — who drew inspiration from his example and carried this tradition to other lands.
Monastery of Saint Pachomius the Great, where he laboured in his final years
God revealed to Saint Pachomius what would come to pass for monasticism in ages ahead. He knew that monks of later days would not show the same zeal for ascetic labours as those who came before them. Lying face-down on the ground, he wept with sorrow, crying out to the Lord and pleading for mercy on their behalf. In answer, he heard a voice: “Pachomius, remember the mercy of God. Know this of the last monks — they too will receive their reward, for they must endure a life hard and heavy for any monk.”
A plague swept through Upper Egypt in 346, claiming the lives of more than a hundred monks. Saint Pachomius himself fell ill. Feeling his end near, he gathered all the brethren. He bore witness before them that he had kept nothing hidden from them and had lived as one of their own — like a servant, like a mother watching over her children. He reminded them that the rules and traditions he had set down by God’s leading were the only sure path to peace of soul and the promise of eternal life. Shortly before Pentecost, he named his successor and bade the brothers shed no more tears, for the Lord had made known to him that he must join the company of the holy fathers. He then gave Theodore strict instructions to bury his body in a secret place, so that it would not become an object of veneration, urging him as well to watch over the careless monks. On 28 May 346, in his fifty-fourth year, Saint Pachomius the Great departed to the Lord. The earth shook, a sweet fragrance filled the air, and the elders among the brethren saw angels lead the soul of the saint to the place of rest.
When Saint Anthony the Great heard in the far desert of Pachomius’s passing, he called him a new apostle and praised the communal life he had begun. He added, “In the Kingdom of Heaven we shall see each other, we shall see all the fathers, and above all — our Lord and God Jesus Christ.”
The commandments, the rules set down, and the spirit of community that Saint Pachomius left behind were taken up by the Church as a perfect way to follow the pattern of the apostles — a stairway leading towards the kingdom of heaven. Even now, these guide the lives of all who seek salvation in a cenobitic monastery.
"A shining lamp you were shown to be to the ends of the earth; you turned the desert into a city with a multitude of monks. You crucified yourself, taking up your cross upon your shoulders, and wore out your body with self-restraint, praying without ceasing for us all."
(Kontakion, Tone 2)
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*In 313, the emperors Constantine and Licinius signed a law in Milan known as the Edict of Milan, which declared freedom of belief for all subjects of the Roman Empire. The emperors “granted both to Christians and to all, the freedom to follow whichever religion each one wished, so that the Divine might peacefully and quietly exist among us, in the heavenly realm, and amongst those under our rule.” The law also ordered that all property taken from Christians during the persecutions — including churches and communal assets — be returned to them without payment. This marked a new era in the life of the Church. Christianity stepped out of the catacombs, winning recognition in Roman society, yet this was soon followed by a worldliness creeping into Christian communities. Devout Christians, remembering the burning conviction of the martyrs, moved away to quiet places. There, they followed strict, disciplined lives, aiming to keep the Christian spirit strong and pure.
Material prepared by the team of obitel-minsk.ru
Images from the internet
Sources:
1. Ancient monastic rules by Saint Pachomius the Great, Saint Basil the Great, Saint John Cassian, and Saint Benedict, gathered by Bishop Theophan / [Published by the Athos Russian St Panteleimon Monastery]. — Moscow: I. Yefimov’s Press, 1892. — 654, VIII, [2] pages.
2. Saint Palamon of Egypt (4th century) — Monastery of Saint Nicholas, Fort Myers, Florida (floridamonastery.org).
3. Southern and Northern Thebaid — Veliky Ustyug (veligrad.ru).
4. The first monks and monasteries of Egypt / Monastic Messenger (monasterium.ru).
5. Saint Pachomius the Great | Holy Trinity Stefan-Makhrishchev Monastery (stefmon.ru).
