Saint Athanasius
Coptic Orthodox Church

Saint Pachomius

St. Pachomius was born in 290 A.D. of pagan parents but he hated paganism from his boyhood. Once a pagan priest was very mad to see him come with his parents to the temple. He cried,

"Take him away; he is an enemy of the gods. Do not let him enter our temple."

At 17, as a soldier in the Roman army, his squad was ordered to travel to Ethiopia to quell a revolt. On their way through Upper Egypt they had to stop in Latopolis (now Esna). There, Pachomius was impressed by the manners of the Christian people who brought them food and drinks.

They told him, "Christians are merciful to all men; even to their enemies. Christians bear the name of Christ the Son of God, and do good to all men, as commanded by Him who made heaven and earth."

Hearing of such grace, his heart was filled with veneration and awe. He stretched his hands, and prayed, "O God, the Creator of heaven and earth, if You are indeed the Only True God, deliver me from this distress, and I will serve You all the days of my life." Pachomius was baptized in about 307 A.D.

He decided to live as a disciple of a hermit named Palaemon. Under his guidance, St. Pachomius practiced a severe order of ascetism.

One day an angel appeared to him and taught him a new way of manastic life. He gave him the laws of the new cenobitic life. The rules were so simple that they could be observed by any ordinary Christian. Palaemon told him that it was God's will that the monastery should be established with this new order.

1. A number of cells were built within an enclosure, and three men slept in each cell.
2. The whole community was divided into 24 sections, and each was to be distinguished by one of the Greek alphabet.
3. Food was offered twice a day, at noon and in the evening. When it was mealtime, all the monks assembled together in one building. Everyone was allowed to eat and drink according to his need.
4. Work was assigned in proportion of the strength of each man.
5. They prayed together three times a day, and they all participated in the Vesper prayers, and the liturgy of Eucharist on Saturdays and Sundays. Besides, every monk had to pray individually in his cell under the guidance of his spiritual father.
6. Every monastery had its local administration subjected to a local abbot who had an assistant, a stockman, and a librarian.
7. Each group of workers such as copyists, bakers, gardeners, weavers etc... had their own supervisor.

The first monasteries of the cenobitic system were founded in the deserted village of Tabennesis on the banks of the Nile, north of Thebes (now Luxor). Soon many monasteries were built around that area, and the number of monks reached over seven thousand. Also two convents housing four hundred nuns were built in the same area with the help of sister Mary. St. Pachomius used to tour the monasteries to settle any outstanding issues and to listen to any problems facing his cenobites.

St. Pachomius introduced the cenobitic (cohabitation monasticism) to the whole world. He established many monasteries in Upper Egypt in flawless order. His monastic system is still in use today in most of the monasteries.

At age 60 St. Pachomius got sick, and he felt that his days in this world were near the end. He called all the responsible abbots and asked them to be kind to everybody, to be humble, and to act unceasingly for the salvation of everyone. Then, he departed in the Lord.

His cenobitic laws were translated to Greek and Latin, and were used by St. Basil the Great, and by the Gaulians in the fifth century. Also, Benedict, the father of the western monasticism and Caeserius of Arl adopted them. They played a large part in the spread of cenobitism in Rome, Asia Minor, Palestine, and Gaul. (Gaul was an ancient region in western Europe. It included what is now France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and parts of the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and northern Italy).

May the prayers of St. Pachom, The Father of Cenobitism, be with us all. Amen.

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