Pachomius the Great: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Egyptian Re saint Dio QRPHANET 969 QK-KO}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=AprilSeptember 20132022}}

|birth_date = 292c. AD290

|feast_day = 9 May<br>[[Pashons 14 (Coptic Orthodox liturgics)|14 Pashons]] ([[Coptic Orthodox]])<br>15 May (Roman Catholic Benedictines, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican)

|venerated_in= [[Roman Catholic Church]]<br>[[Anglican ChurchAnglicanism]]<br>[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Eastern Catholic Churches]]<br>[[Oriental Orthodox Churches]]<br>[[Lutheranism|Lutheran Church]]

|birth_place= [[ThebesThebaid]], [[Roman Egypt|Thebes]] (near modern-day [[Luxor]], [[Egypt]])

|death_place= [[Pbow, Roman Egypt]] (modern-day Faw al-Qibli, Egypt)

|major_shrine= [[Monastery of Saint Pachomius (Luxor)]], Egypt

'''Pachomius''' ({{IPAc-en|p|ə|ˈ|k|oʊ|m|i|ə|s}}; {{lang-el|Παχώμιος}} ''Pakhomios''; {{Lang-cop|Ⲡⲁϧⲱⲙ}}; c. 291 concepito292 – 9 May 348 AD), also known as '''Saint Re DIO PacchomiusPachomius the Great''', is generally recognized as the founder of Christian [[cenobitic]] monasticism.<ref name="GabraTakla2010">{{cite book|author1=Gawdat Gabra|author2=Hany N. Takla|title=Christianity and Monasticism in Upper Egypt|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ErT95wD9SZYC&pg=PA33|year=2010|publisher=American Univ in Cairo Press|isbn=978-977-416-311-1|pages=33}}</ref> [[Copts|Coptic]] churches celebrate his feast day on 9 May, and [[Eastern Orthodox]] and [[RomanCatholic Church|Catholic]] churches mark his feast on 15 May<ref>{{in lang|el}} [http://www.synaxarion.gr/gr/sid/3171/sxsaintinfo.aspx Ὁ Ὅσιος Παχώμιος ὁ Μέγας]. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.</ref> or 28 May.<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://days.pravoslavie.ru/Days/20150515.html 15/28 Мая. Православный календарь.]. Pravoslavie.ru</ref> In the [[Lutheran ChurchLutheranism]], he is remembered as a renewer of the church, along with his contemporary (and fellow desert saint), [[Anthony of Egypt]] on January 17 January.

Pachomius was born in c. 292 in [[Thebes, Egypt|ThebesThebaid]] (near modern-day [[Luxor]], [[Egypt]]) to pagan parents.<ref name="holy">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/saints/pachomius_great.htm|title=Saint Pachomius the Great|website=www.fatheralexander.org|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref> According to his [[hagiography]], at age 21, Pachomius was swept up against his will in a Roman army recruitment drive, a common occurrence during this period of turmoil and civil war. With several other youths, he was put onto a ship that floated down the [[Nile]] and arrived at [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] in the evening.<ref name="butler">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/PACHOMI.HTM|title=St. Pachomius|website=www.ewtn.com|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref> Here he first encountered local Christians, who customarily brought food and comfort daily to the conscripted troops. This made a lasting impression, and Pachomius vowed to investigate Christianity further when he got out.<ref name=faithnd/> He was able to leave the army without ever having to fight,. He moved to the village of [[Sheneset]] (Chenoboskion) in Upper Egypt and was converted and baptized (in 314).

Pachomius then came into contact with several well known ascetics and decided to pursue that path under the guidance of the hermit named Palaemon (317). One of his devotions, popular at the time, was praying with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross.<ref name=butler/> After studying seven years with Palaemon, Pachomius set out to lead the life of a [[hermit]] near [[Anthony the Great|St. Anthony of Egypt]], whose practices he imitated until Pachomius heard a voice in [[Tabenna|Tabennisi]] that told him to build a dwelling for the hermits to come to.<ref name="bacchus">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11381a.htm|author= Francis Joseph Bacchus|title=St. Pachomius|publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref> An earlier ascetic named [[Macarius of Alexandria|Macarius]] had created a number of proto-monasteries called [[lavra]], or cells, where holy men who were physically or mentally unable to achieve the rigors of Anthony's solitary life would live in a community setting. According to the ''Bohairic Life of Pachomius'' (17), while Pachomius was praying at the deserted village of Tabennisi, he heard a voice calling him, saying, "Pachomius, Pachomius, struggle, dwell in this place and build a monastery; for many will come to you to become monks with you, and they will profit their souls."<ref name="Koinonia 1">{{cite book | last=Veilleux | first=Armand | title=Pachomian Koinonia: The life of Saint Pachomius and his disciples (volume 1) | publisher=Cistercian Publications | publication-place=Kalamazoo, Mich | date=1980 | series=Cistercian Studies Series | volume=45 | isbn=0-87907-845-6}}</ref>{{rp|39}} Later, while praying at night after a day of harvesting reeds with his brother on a small island, Pachomius had another vision of an angel saying to him three times, "Pachomius, Pachomius, the Lord's will is [for you] to minister to the race of men and to unite them to himself" (''Bohairic Life of Pachomius'' 22).<ref name="Koinonia 1"/>{{rp|45}}

Pachomius established his first monastery between 318 and 323 at [[Tabennisi]], Egypt.<ref name="huddleston">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10459a.htm|author=Gilbert Huddleston|title= Monasticism|publisher=Catholic Encyclopedia|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref> His elder brother John joined him, and soon more than 100 monks lived nearby. Pachomius set about organizing these cells into a formal organization. Until then, Christian [[asceticism]] had been solitary or ''eremitic'' with male or female monastics living in individual huts or caves and meeting only for occasional worship services. Pachomius created the community or ''[[cenobitic]]'' organization, in which male or female monastics lived together and held their property in common under the leadership of an [[abbot]] or [[abbess]]. Pachomius realized that some men, acquainted only with the eremitical life, might speedily become disgusted if the distracting cares of the cenobitical life were thrust too abruptly upon them. He therefore allowed them to devote their whole time to spiritual exercises, undertaking all the community's administrative tasks himself. The community hailed Pachomius as "Abba" ("father" in Aramaic), from which "Abbot" derives.

The monastery at [[Tabenna|Tabennisi]], though enlarged several times, soon became too small and a second was founded at Pabau[[Pbow]].<ref name=bacchus/> This monastery at [[Pbow]] would go on to become the center for monasteries springing up along the Nile in Upper Egypt.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goehring |first=J. E. |title=Ascetics, Society, and the Desert: Studies in Early Egyptian Monasticism |publisher=Trinity Press International |year=1999 |isbn=9781563382697 |pages=27–28}}</ref> Both of these are believed to have initially been abandoned villages, which were then repurposed for Pachomius’ vision of his ''Koinonia'' (Faounetwork of monasteries).<ref>{{Cite namebook |last=bacchusHedstrom |first=D. L. B. |title=The Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt: an Archaeological Reconstruction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2021 |isbn=9781316614082 |pages=161}}</ref> After 336, Pachomius spent most of his time at Pabau[[Pbow]]. Though Pachomius sometimes acted as [[Reader (liturgy)|lector]] for nearby shepherds, neither he nor any of his monks became priests. [[St. Athanasius]] visited and wished to ordain him in 333, but Pachomius fled from him. Athanasius' visit was probably a result of Pachomius' zealous defence of orthodoxy against [[Arianism]].<ref name="butler">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/PACHOMI.HTM|title=St. Pachomius|website=ewtn.com|access-date=2018-03-17}}</ref> [[Basil of Caesarea]] visited, then took many of Pachomius' ideas, which he adapted and implemented in Caesarea. [[Rule of St. Pachomius|This ascetic rule]], or Ascetica, is still used today by the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], comparable to that of the [[Rule of St. Benedict]] in the West.

Pachomius was the first to set down a written monastic rule.<ref name=faithnd>{{cite web| url = http://faith.nd.edu/s/1210/faith/interior.aspx?sid=1210&gid=609&pgid=19744&cid=38979&ecid=38979&crid=0| title = "St. Pachomius", Faith ND}}</ref> The first rule was composed of prayers generally known and in general use, such as the Lord's Prayer. The monks were to pray them every day. As the community developed, the rules were elaborated with precepts taken from the Bible. He drew up a rule which made things easier for the less proficient, but did not check the most extreme asceticism in the more proficient.<ref name="bacchus"/> The Rule sought to balance prayer with work, the communal life with solitude. The day was organised around the liturgy, with time for manual work and devotional reading.

Pachomius continued as abbot to the cenobites for some fortythirty years. During an epidemic (probably [[Bubonic plague|plague]]), Pachomius called the monks, strengthened their faith, and failed to appoint his successor. Pachomius then died on [[Pashons 14 (Coptic Orthodox liturgics)|14 Pashons]], 64 [[Era of Martyrs|AM]] (9 May 348 AD).

{{EB1911 Posterposter|Pachomius, St|Pachomius the Great}}

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