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Pachomios of Tabennesi and the Foundation of an Independent Monastic Community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

Graham Gould
Graham Gould*
Affiliation:
King’s College, Cambridge
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Extract

The earliest Christian monasticism falls within the definition of voluntary religious societies since it was not the product of institutional reform in the Church directed by bishops or councils. The founders of fourth-century Egyptian monasticism undertook their task voluntarily and without episcopal constraint. As the founders of voluntary and at first unofficial associations, they deserve our attention. I shall examine some aspects of the sources for the life of one, Pachomios of Tabennesi (c.292–346).

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 23: Voluntary Religion , 1986 , pp. 15 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1986

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References

1 Veilleux, A., La Liturgie dans le cénobitisme pachômien au quatrième siècle, SA 57 (Rome 1968), pp. 11–114 Google Scholar for a full discussion. But the review by Chitty, D.J., JTS ns 21 (1970) pp. 195–9 Google Scholar, is critical, as is H. Chadwick, ‘Pachomios and the Idea of Sanctity’ in The Byzantine Saint, ed Hackel, Sergei, Studies Supplementary to Sobornost 5 (London 1981), p. 14 n 4, pp. 15–17 Google Scholar.

2 Vita Prima Graeca (G1) in Sancti Pachomii Vitae Graecae, ed Halkin, F., sub hag 19 (Brussels 1932), pp. 1–96 Google Scholar. The introduction to this edition also contains a critical discussion of the Greek Lives. ET of G1 in Pachomian Koinonia, trans A. Veilleux, 3 vols, Cistercian Studies 45-7 (Kalamazoo, Michigan 1980-82), vol 1, pp. 297-423. References to G1 by chapter number, as in the edition and translation.

3 Bo in Sancti Pachomii Vita Bohairice Scripta, ed Lefort, L. Th., CSCO 89 (Louvain 1925 Google Scholar). ET in Pachomian Koinonia 1 pp. 23-295. Bo has some lacunae which the translation fills from Sahidic manuscripts of the same textual family. See Pachomian Koinonia 1 pp. 3-4. This does not affect the chapter numbering of passages I shall quote.

4 Chadwick, , ‘Pachomios and the Idea of Sanctity’ pp. 15–16 Google Scholar.

5 G1 3 (Parallel to Bo 6) 10 and 46 all indicate that Pachomios did sometimes make use of his own personal experiences in teaching his monks, so these experiences could have been known accurately to later members of the Community, and the author of G1 seems to want us to think that he has done his research carefully (see also G1 98-9).

6 G1 5 (parallel to Bo 8): he has a dream and hears a voice; G1 12 (parallel to Bo 17): he hears a voice while praying; G1 23 (parallel to Bo 22): he sees an angel. Bo 12 is a repetition of the G1 5 event, described as a vision.

7 G1 4 and Bo 7 inaccurately name Constantine as the emperor. See Pachomian Koinonia, vol 1 p. 267 n 1 to Bo 7.

8 G1 5 and Bo 8 may possibly show signs of anachronism here, as they make Pachomios allude to Scripture or address Jesus directly. See H. van Cranenburgh, ‘Étude comparative des récits anciens de la vocation de saint Pachôme’, RB 82 (1972) p. 282. Our concern remains however with the picture of Pachomios drawn by the Community which he founded.

9 G1 20 refers to a group of monks around Palamon and Pachomios. Bo 14 (parallel to G1 8) illustrates the sort of destructive rivalry that might exist within groups of anchorites.

10 Chadwick, , ‘Pachomios and the Idea of Sanctity’ p. 14 Google Scholar.

11 G1 15. A different group of Pachomian lives places this incident after Pachomios’s final vision, rather than before it. See the Third Sahidic Life, in Sancti Pachomii Vitae Sahidice Scriptae, ed L. Th. Lefort, CSCO 99-100 (Louvain 1933-4) pp. 100-30. This incident is found on pp. 106-9, of which an ET (filling a lacuna in the First Sahidic Life) in Pachomian Koinonia 1 pp. 427-9.

12 G1 15. Pachomios’s brother John initially opposed the scheme to build a coenobium.

13 G1 6.

14 Bo 17. This account is fuller than the parallel in G1 12 which does not preserve the references to being led by the Spirit or inspired.

15 G1 2.

16 Athanasios, , Vita Antonii, PG 26, cols 835–976, chapter 46, col 912 Google ScholarA-B.

17 Vita Antonii 2-3, cols 841-5.

18 Vita Antonii 5-10, cols 845-60, and passim.

19 Vita Antonii 49, col 913B; 84, col 961A-B.

20 Some aspects of anchoritic groups and coenobia are contrasted in I. Herwegen, Väterspruch und Mönchsregel, Beiträge zur Geschichte des alten Mönchtums und des Benediktinerordens, 33 (Münster i.W. 1977). See also the work cited in next note.

21 Bacht, H., ‘Antonius und Pachomius: von der Anachorese zum Cönobitentum’ in Antonius Magnus Eremita, 356–1956 Google Scholar, ed Steidle, B., SA 38 (Rome 1956) pp. 66–107 Google Scholar, especially pp. 70-97.

22 Bacht, H., ‘L’Importance de l’idéal monastique de S. Pacôme pour l’histoire du monachisme chrétien’, Revue d’Ascétique et de Mystique 26 (1950) pp. 308–26. On obedience: pp. 321–23 Google Scholar.

23 Pachomiana Latina, ed Boon, A., Bibliothèque de la Revue d’Histoire Ecclésiastique 7 (Louvain 1932 Google Scholar).

24 For a critical discussion of the Rules, Veilleux, A., La Liturgie dans le cénobitisme pachômien pp. 116–32 Google Scholar.

25 G1 28, Bo 26.

26 Basil of Caesarea, Longer Rules 15, PG 31 cols 952A-957A, and Shorter Rules 187, PG 31 col 1208B-C.

27 For a comparison of Basilian and Pachomian monasticism see E.A. Amand de Mendieta, ‘La Système cénobitique basilien comparé au système cénobitique pachomien’, RHR 152 (1957) pp. 31-80.

28 logismos: an important technical term in monastic thought for a wicked or demonic impulse.

29 G1 30, Bo 28. On relations with the hierarchy, see Veilleux, La Liturgie pp. 189–94.

30 ibid. pp. 213-25.

31 ibid. p. 167, pp. 181-2.

32 ibid. pp. 182-6.

33 Bo 8 and (more directly connected with Pachomios’s attitude to clergy and villagers) G1 29 record the powerful impression which Pachomios’s life had on local people: ‘…they were eager to become Christians and faithful. For he was merciful and a lover of souls.’ (G1 29).

34 This view of the value and function of the religious life has found support among both Catholic and Anglican writers. See Moloney, Francis J., A Life of Promise: Poverty, Chastity, Obedience (London 1985) and Allchin, A.M., The Theology of the Religions Life: An Anglican Approach (Oxford 1971 Google Scholar).

35 See the articles by Bacht cited above, and Veilleux, La Liturgie pp. 176-80.

36 Or at least, demanding that any cleric who wished to join the Community should submit to exactly the same rule of life as lay monks (G1 27, Bo 25).