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A further step
was taken in Egypt by Pachomius (d. 346).
As well as administration and prayer, he placed the shelter, dress, diet
and work of the monks under supervision.
Usually they lived in groups in spacious dormitories. It could be said that under this system
monasticism became easier through the monks living together and associating
with one another. A communal form of
life made it possible for women to devote themselves to ascesis in seclusion:
it is dangerous for them to live in complete isolation. But the main advantage of this system was
that monasticism could now play a part in philanthropic activity.
The turning of
monasticism in this direction was the chief work of Basil the Great the (d.
378), bishop of Caesarea. He lived in
solitude for some time at his estate at Pontus, with members of his
family. There be composed his famous
work, Ascetica, which was to become
the basis for the organization of monasticism during the subsequent
period. He recommended the gathering of
monks together in organized groups, in accordance with the social nature of
men: “Man is a tame and social being, not a wild and solitary one. For there is nothing so characteristic of
our nature as to associate with one another and to need one another and to need
one to love our kind’ (Extensive Rules 3,
I-P.G. xxxi, 947). According to this teaching, monks should
return from the deserts to cities, and establish there philanthropic coenobia.
Basil himself returned to Caesarea and organized a whole group of
socially beneficial institutions, which later received, in his honour, the name
of Basileias. From the very beginning,
the direction of these was in the hands of monks, who were called “fathers of
orphans”.
The coenobium
could be regarded as the final form of monasticism, but is not. Although at first it eased the yoke of the
ascetics, later it rendered it much harder to bear. For this reason a tendency towards a less strict mode of life
became apparent during the Middle Ages, and this resulted in the constitution
of the idiorrythmic life. The “contemplatives”, that is, those
dedicated to the contemplation of God, sought release from practical and social
work, in order to be unfettered for their spiritual work; and at the same time
the weaker monks sought a relaxation of discipline. At the idiorrhythmic monasteries administration, dress, prayer,
and to some extent living quarters remained communal. Diet and to some extent work were released from control. Thus monks were allowed to acquire private
property, which could not, however, exceed certain limits. From one point of view, the idiorrythmic
life may be regarded as a return to the communal system of the lavra, while
from another standpoint it is a combination of the eremitic and the communal
patterns of monasticism.
These four kinds
of monasticism henceforth run parallel to one another throughout the
centuries. Within the eremitical
tradition there appeared strange and interesting variations, sometimes taking
extreme forms. The confirmed shut themselves up for many years in their cells,
communicating with the outer world only by letter, and to receive their meager
allowance of food. The stylites dwelt on half-destroyed
pillars. Those who became “fools” for Christ’s sake traveled about
displaying their assumed madness for the sake of humility.
All four survive
to the present day. Hermits are to be
found almost exclusively on the furthest points of the peninsula of Mount
Athos; the communal system is represented by the sketes of Athos; and the other
two systems, the coenobitic and the idiorrhythmic, by monasteries in all
Orthodox regions.
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