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Écrits et conférences d'intérêt général
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Renunciation
of Material Possessions in
Pachomian Cenobitism by
Armand Veilleux[1] Renunciation of material possessions is one of the most essential aspects of monastic life in all traditions, eastern and western, primitive and recent.[2] In this paper we shall study it in one of the
most ancient forms of community life in Christianity, the Pachomian
cenobitism of the fourth century. I - Importance o f
Renunciation Renunciation (apotage
or apotaxis)
is so essential
to monastic life that for someone to enter the monastery is for him "to
make his renunciation (apotassesthai). On his deathbed
Pachomius tells his disciples:
...having renounced
all they had for this vocation. (Theod. Inst. 3, 20) ...having made the
monastic renunciation (ton monachon apotassomenos) (G' 39). In the Coptic
documents, the monk is often called an apotaktikos, that is, someone who has
made his renunciation. For example, when Artemios is looking for Athanasius
and searches the monastery of Phbow, Psahref tells him: We are men who have renounced [the world]. (apotaktikos) (SBo 185) During the time
Pachomius lived with his brother John, after he had settled in Tabennesi,
they practised a life of great renunciation: They lived in great renunciation, for they gave away everything they
earned through their manual work, except what they absolutely needed... They
both lived in a great renunciation. They kept nothing save two loaves of
bread daily and a bit of salt. (SBo 19) and when he received
his first group of disciples, He talked with them to know whether they would be able to renounce
their parents and follow the Saviour. (SBo 23) This attitude towards
novices was for him a rule of conduct, since it became part o£ his Rule: When someone comes to the door of the monastery, wishing to renounce the world and be added to the number of
the brothers... - Carefully should he make himself known. Can he renounce his
parents and spurn his own possessions? (Pr 49) We see by this last
text that renunciation of material possessions is only one aspect of a more
complete detachment. Detachment from his family was equally important. (See the example of Theodore refusing to see his
own mother, in SBo 63). And the monk should also be detached from honors and
titles. For this reason Pachomius does not want his monks to desire
priesthood. He would say to them: It is better not to seek after such a thing in our Koinonia, lest this
should be an occasion for strife, envy, jealousy and even schisms to arise in
a large number of monks, contrary to God's will. In the same way as a spark
cast into the threshing floor, unless it is quickly quenched, will destroy a
whole year's labor, so it is with a thought of grandeur at its outset. (SBo
28) The Instruction Concerning
a Spiteful Monk, attributed to Pachomius, asks the monk to "shun the
comfort of this time" (§ 23) and "to scorn vainglory" (§ 24). The monk is also warned against the love of
money: The love of money is that about which we are fought against. If you
wish to acquire riches --they are the bait on the fisher's hook --by greed,
by trafficking, by violence, by ruse, or by excessive manual work that
deprives you of leisure for the service of God - in a word by any other means
- if you have desired to pile up gold or silver, remember what the Gospel
says, Fool! They will snatch away your soul during the night! Who will get
your hoard? (Lk 12:20) Again, He piles up money without knowing to whom it
will go. (Ps 39.38):6. (Pach. Instr.: 1,52) Theodore, in one of his first instructions
as father of the Koinonia - that is, of the whole congregation of all the
monasteries founded by Pachomius after Pachomius' death and Horsiesios
resignation, exhorts the brothers to detachment in these words I see some of you wanting to receive titles or something else. In the
past, in the time of our father, except in obedience nobody wanted to be
called great, fearing to be found least in the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:19).
(G1 126) and in order to inculcate that detachment in the
superiors, he moved them frequently from one monastery to another: He used to do this twice a year for their own good and their
salvation, changing many from one job to another and from one community to
another... On one occasion they had assembled and he had made assignments again
in this manner. Some of them had built new houses and synaxes to meet the
brothers' needs. After he had made the assignments, he said to them,
"You see, I have assigned you, as you believe, by God's will, because
this is for the salvation of our souls and of the brothers who are with us. If then we have named someone from a
difficult community to an easy one and he rejoices within himself on hearing
it, I assure you that the Spirit of God is not in such a man. Or, on the
other hand, if someone in an easy community whom we have assigned to a
difficult one is saddened over this, I tell you this man has neither the
Spirit of the Lord nor humility in him". (SBo 144-145) II -
How the pachomian monks practised poverty The first group of men who gathered
around Pachomius at Tabennesi retained a form o€ private
ownership: When he saw the brothers gathering around him, he established for them
the following rule: Each should be self-supporting and manage his own
affairs, but they would provide their share for all their material needs,
either for food, or to provide hospitality to the strangers who came to them,
for they all ate together. (S1 11) But the biographer explains that if
Pachomius consented to that mitigated form of community life,
it was
because he could see that they were not yet ready to bind themselves together
in a perfect Koinonia like that which Acts describes of the believers: They were one heart and one soul and everything
they owned was held in common; not one of them
said that anything he possessed was
his own. (Act. 4:32) (S1 11) In a community of brothers who have
really renounced the world, there is no place for private ownership of any
sort. The essential things that a brother may have in his possession are
described in detail in the Rule: In his house and cell, no one shall have anything besides what is
prescribed for all together by the law of the monastery: no woollen tunic, no
mantle, no soft sheepskin with unshorn wool, not even a few coins, no pillow
for his head or various other conveniences. They shall have only what is
distributed by the father of the monastery through the housemasters. This is
their equipment: two linen tunics plus the one already worn, a long scarf for
the neck and shoulders, a goat skin hanging from the shoulders, shoes, two
hoods, a belt and a staff. If you find anything more than this, you shall
take it away without contradiction. (Pr 81; see also Jer. Pref. 4) In his Testament, Hosiesios calls the attention of his disciples
to that regulation: I beseech you not to forget the resolution you once took. And let us
think of the traditions of our father as a ladder which leads to the kingdom
of heaven.. Do not long for the things you once trampled underfoot. It is
enough for us to have what is sufficient for any man: two tunics and another
one which is worn out, a linen mantle, two hoods, a linen belt, shoes, a
[goat]-skin and a staff. (Hors. Test. 22) And if someone at some
time happens to have more than he actually
needs, he cannot keep the surplus: If someone has more than what is prescribed, he shall bring them to
the storeroom keeper without being warned by the superior, and he may not
enter or ask for them. They shall be at the disposal of the housemaster and
the second. (Leg 15) The Bohairic Life (=
SBo) tells us about a brother called Elias, who had hidden five figs to eat them after the fast, which was explicitly forbidden by the Rule: Let no one put away in his cell anything to eat, except what he has
received from the steward. (Pr 78; see also Pr 73-77) Not only was
such a small thing not permitted, but the Rule forbade the monks to eat even windfalls in
the garden: If they find fallen fruits under the trees, they shall not dare eat
them, but they shall put them together at the foot of the trees as they pass
by. (Pr 7) Moreover no one was
allowed to receive any gift from his family without special permission: If someone presents himself at the door of the monastery and says he
would like to see his brother or his relative... If [he] brought him some of
the foods which are allowed to be eaten in the monastery, he may not receive
them himself, but he shall call the porter who shall receive the gifts... (Pr
53) If anyone living under a housemaster in a house of the monastery, and
lacking none of the things he is allowed to have in the monastery, has a
father and brother and a close friend, he is not to receive anything at all
from them, neither tunic, nor mantle, nor anything else. But if it is proved
that he has less than what is prescribed, the entire fault and punishment
shall fall on the housemaster. (Hors. Test. 20) No one can dispose of anything as
his own, for example giving it in trust to a brother, or accepting it from him (Pr 113). The man
who does this, says Horsiesios, is not among the number of the brothers, but is a hireling and a' stranger. He is not to eat the Passover
with the holy ones, because he has become a stumbling-stone in the
monastery... For if we do' not have the right to keep our tunics with us
until evening when we wash them and
they are still wet... how much more so then, if you entrust to another or wish to have at your own disposal the
things which you seem to have as your own, do you sin against the discipline
of the monastery. (Hors. Test. 26) It would therefore
be all the more foolish for a monk to think that he can retain ownership of
his material possessions till death, and abandon them at that time only: Let no one, deceived by a foolish idea or, rather,
netted in the snares of the devil, say in his heart, "when I die, I will
give what I have to my brothers". Most
foolish of men, where have you found. this written? Did not all the saints
and those who served God put down the whole load of the world at once?...
(Hors. Test. 27) If
the individual monk gave up any form of private ownership, the community, on
the other hand, had the obligation to provide him with every- thing he really
needed. And that obligation rested on the superiors first of all. Horsiesios warns them
that they must care for the bodily needs of the brothers as well as for their
spiritual needs: Do not refresh them in their bodily needs without giving their `'
spiritual nourishment. Or again, do not teach them spiritual things while
oppressing them in their bodily needs, namely, food and clothing. Put give
them food for soul and body alike; and give them no opportunity for
negligence. Or what is this justice of ours, bat we oppress the brothers with
work while we enjoy leisure? Or that we impose on them a yoke which we are
unable to bear? (Ac 15:10) (Hors. Test. 7) Therefore, you who are the fathers of the monasteries, if you see that
any [brothers] lack something and are hard pressed, do not neglect them,
knowing that you shall render an account for all the flock over which the Holy
Spirit has placed you, to watch over and to shepherd the Church of God, which he bought with his own blood: (Ac
20:28) (Hors. Test. 40) An authentic
community life requires a real unity and even some form of 'uniformity. We
have already seen how all the brothers received the same amount of small things, especially clothes
and food that they had the permission to keep in their
possession (see Hors. Reg. 48). This was, according to Horsiesios, a concrete
means of expressing the mutual love of brothers who have one same Father: Therefore, brothers, let us be equal, from the least to the greatest,
whether rich or poor, perfect in harmony and humility, that it can be said of us as well, The man who
[gathered] much, had nothing over; the man who [gathered]. little did not go
short. (Cf. 2 Co 8:15 = Ex 16:18) Let no one look after his own pleasure when
he sees a brother living in poverty and hardship; let this saying of the
prophet be told him, Did one God not create [all of]you? Have you not all one
father? Why has each of you abandoned his brother, thus profaning the
covenant of your fathers? Judah has been forsaken, and abomination has been committed in Israel. (MI 2:10-11) (Hors.
Test. 23) As for the superior, he must have an equal
care for all: I will say it again and again and will repeat it: Take care not to
love some and hate others, to sustain this one and to neglect that one, lest
your toil be found wasted and all your sweat be lost. (Hors. Test. 16) And the superior himself must receive the
same treatment as any other brother. Pachomius always gave the example,
observing the common rule like anybody else: Just as the brothers were established in separate houses and had in
each house someone responsible for them as a father, [Pachomius] also belonged
to a house. He was not any different from the brothers. He did not have the
authority to go on his own to take a garment from the leader of the
community. It was the housemaster of the house to which he belonged who would
take it for him, according to the regulations of the brothers he had
established from God. (St 5) Even Abba Pachomius himself submitted to the housemaster, being more
humble than all others, as it is written, A land mountainous and lowly. (Dt. 11:11) At the hour of the
instruction, he stood with the brothers of the house listening. His tunics
were in a cell under the authority of housemaster. And he had simply no
authority to take for himself anything for the body from the steward. For
more than the eternal tortures, he feared becoming estranged from the
humility and the sweetness of the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. (G1
110) He always refused special treatment during
his illnesses, even on his deathbed. Here are a few examples: Once our father Pachomius was on an island with the brothers to reap
rushes. And Theodore was preparing for the brothers what they would need. One
evening, our father Pachomius carne back with his body all bent double and he
lay down. Theodore fetched a nice hair
blanket and threw it over him. Then our father said to him: "Take that
blanket off me and cast over me a mat like all the brothers till the Lord
brings me relief". [Theodore] did as he was told; then he took a handful
of dates and offered them to him saying, "Perhaps you will be able to
eat some of these, my father, for as of now you have not yet eaten". He
refused them saying to him in great sadness. "Because we have to
administer the labor and the needs of the' brothers, do we have the right to
give ourselves ease? Where is now the fear of God? Have you just now visited the
huts of the brothers to see whether there was anyone in them who was
sick?" (SBo 47) One day our father Pachomius
became ill. He did not inform any of the brothers that he was ill nor, as
usual, did he believe in his illness... While he was reaping, he collapsed on
his face in their midst. The startled brothers ran to him and lifted him from the'
ground... Someone sat fanning him with his hood. Many had succumbed to
the sickness in those days, for the sickness which had struck them was severe
and pestilential. One of those who came to' inquire about him said to the
brother who was fanning him with biz hood, "Could you not find a fan
with which to cool him?" When [Pachomius] heard this, he was unable to
answer because of the severe illness which had worn him down, but, with a
movement of his finger, he said to him, "is this whole crowd not sick?
Are you going to find a fan for each one so that one can be found for me as well?" (SBo 117) Theodore waited on our father Pachomius while
he remained ill. He had been lying for forty days in the infirmary where all
the sick brothers were. He received the same care as all the other brothers
in every respect. There was no difference at all between him and them, in
accordance with the instruction which he had given them earlier. Although his
body had become very weak because of the prolonged illness, nevertheless his
heart and his eyes were like a
flaming light. He
said to Theodore, "Please bring a mantle which has been worn thin and
spread it over me, because this one is too heavy.
I will not be able to bear it, since I have been sick for forty' days now.
Yet I give thanks to the Lord". Theodore went at once and got a good
light mantle from the steward. He brought it and spread it over him. When our
father Pachomius saw the difference' in the mantle, he became angry at
Theodore and said to him, "What a great injustice you have done,
Theodore! Do you wish me to give
scandal to the
brothers? Then later on when they say, 'Apa Pachomius had an easier life
than the rest of the brothers', I shall become liable to judgement before the
Lord. Now, take it off of me; l will manage somehow until I go to the
Lord". Theodore then took it off him. He brought another one, more worn
and worse than those of all the other sick brothers and spread it over him.
(SBo 120) Horsiesios remembered
the example received from Pachomius, and be exhorted the superiors not to turn a ministry into a personal advantage: If a person to whom a ministry or the administration of the monastery
is entrusted makes a profit out of it - that is, lays hold of something and
turns it to his personal comfort --
this must be considered a crime and a sacrilege. For by doing this he
despises those who do not have but are rich in blessed poverty. Not only is
he lost, but he causes the rest to be lost... ...woe to those who lived in the Koinonia and turned something from
common use to their own. When they leave this body, they shall hear, Remember that you received good things
during your life (Lk 16:25), while your brothers were toiling in fasts, and
in abstinence, and sweating from unceasing effort. Then, look at those who,
happy and cheerful, have forsaken the present life to obtain the life to
come, while you are put in filth and torments and misery because you did not
want to hear the word of the Gospel... (Hors. Test. 22) The equality that exists among brothers is
not such however that individual needs are not taken into account. On the
contrary, any special need of a brother is cared for, and we find throughout
the Rule and the Life a deep and tender concern for the sick brothers. Jerome
mentions it in his Preface to the Pachomiana latina. The sick are sustained with wonderful care and a great abundance of
food. (Jer. Pref. 5; see Pr 40-47; 92; 105;
129) In one of his letters, Pachomius describes
the attention to be given to the sick brothers during the
assembly of the Passover: When you come to us, take care to make the bed of the sick and not to
be short of bread, and also, if possible, to find a pillow or a cushion for
the head, so that those who are weak may rest... (Pack. Letter: 5, 2) The Regulations of Horsiesios have a long section concerning the careful
preparation of the brothers' food (Hors. Reg. 22-23-24); and, in another
section concerning the hard work of the bakers in the kneading room, Horsiesios
stresses the obligation to pay attention to the brothers' various needs: Therefore, this is what we must do with someone who is in need, little
or great, being appointed for any task in our assembly, according to our
calling. If anyone is overly distressed by the heat, let those in charge look
into the matter; if he is really unable to eat his bread at the brothers'
table, let him notify them. When he is certain in his heart before God that
he is not a contemptor and that he does not wish to be different from his
brothers by reason of any tradition or habit, and is not desiring enjoyment -
as when we seek wine or special food -- but that it is a matter of necessity and need in this case, let us say so
with filial confidence, and let all that we need be brought to us, according to what is available and what God has given us
at that time. Even if all the brothers need a bit of beer or any;, other
food that accords with the law of the .Koinonia, the superior of the
community will grant this to them generously and gladly. (Hors. Reg. 49) One of the stories of
the Paralipomena is about a young brother who complained to Pachomius
because for two months no cooked dishes had been prepared in his monastery.
The cooks were severely reprimanded by Pachomius (Paral. 15). But the most
beautiful anecdote of this kind is certainly the one narrated' in the
Bohairic Life about a monk who was extremely sick and who had asked the
brothers to give him a little meat. As this unaccustomed food was refused
him, he asked to be brought to Pachomius who was moved with compassion as
soon as he saw him and exclaimed: O, you who are respecters of persons, where now is the fear of: Govt?
You shall love your neighbor as yourself!
(Lv 19:18; Mt 19:19)'' Do you not
see that this brother is like a corpse? Why do you' not give him what he asks
for? The Lord knows that if you do not give
him what he has mentioned, I will not eat or drink either. Is there no difference between a sick
person and another? Are not all things pure
to the pure? (Tt 1:15) And
saying this, he wept. He went on and
said to them, "As the Lord
lives, if I had been in the
monastery` when he asked for what he wanted, I would not have left him in this great affliction while he was
so sick". When they heard these things' from the mouth of our father
Pachomius, the brothers hastened to send
out at once and to buy a little kid goat. They
skilfully prepared it and offered it to the brother, who ate, Then they
brought our father
Pachomius his few cooked vegetables: and he too ate like any of the brothers
of his monastery, giving thanks. (SBo 48) III - The spiritual
motivations of poverty Monasticism
as a way of life is not specifically Christian. We find it in most of the great religions, and it has
existed also in philosophical circles in Greece. But, if the practices of
these various forms of monasticism are similar, the motivations vary very
much. For
Christian monks, renunciation (apotage) can be understood only as' one of the two poles o€
a global reality, the other pole of which is the obedience to God and the submission to his will
(hupotage). The great example of submissiveness is evidently Christ
making himself obedient unto death, and death upon a cross. All the ascetic efforts of the monk are
not, therefore,
a form o€ athletic contest, and still less some kind of masochism. They
are an imitation of the suffering Christ: As for Pachomius, he gave himself up ever more and more to important
exercises, to a great and intensive ascesis, and to lengthy recitations of
the books of Holy Scripture. He had his heart set on reciting them in their
order and with great ease. He would mainly practise his mortifications in those
deserts, in the acacia forest that surrounded them, and in the far desert. If
thorns happened to pierce his feet he endured them without removing them,
remembering the nails that pierced our Lord on the cross. (SBo 15) As for that special
form of ascesis, poverty, its first aim is to live in a spirit of liberty and
to manifest total confidence and trust in God. To the brothers who were very
upset one day because a boat loaded with flax for their clothes had sunk,
Theodore said: Some of you are upset because they have heard that the boat loaded
with flax sank. Did we not, for the sake of the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, joyfully abandon the property of our parents which belonged to us
when we were still in ignorance? Are we then going to be upset over those
things which have been withdrawn from us now that we have received the
knowledge of the Lord's truth? (SBo 183) He then went on and
recalled the example of job. In one of his
instructions, Pachomius advised his monks not to let themselves be discouraged
if they were poor, and to throw all their cares on the Lord: If you are poor, let nothing discourage you... Do not become discouraged,
be steadfast; surely God has already done something in secret... (Pach.
Instr.: 1, 13) Entrust your heart to no one for the gratification of your soul, but
throw all your cares to the Lord, and he will feed you. (Ps 55(54):22;
Ibidem, 34) In one of his
letters he quoted the text of Lk 12:33 about making for ourselves purses that
do not wear out (Pach. Letter: 3, 4). We have quoted above
from the Bohairic Life a text of Theodore stating that all the possessions of
the Koinonia belong to God. This conviction explains why the
Rule constantly reminds the monks what care they must use in handling all the
tools and in doing the work of the community. For example: And when he begins to walk into the synaxis room, going to his place
of sitting and standing, he should not tread upon the rushes which have been
dipped in water in preparation for the plaiting of ropes, lest even a small
loss should come to the monastery through someone's negligence. (Pr 4) The monks should not
leave their tunics drying in the heat of the sun too long (Pr 70), and they
should be careful not to lose anything. If they do, they shall be punished
(Pr 131). They shall also be careful not to let anything spoil (Inst. 5-6-7
and 11; Hors. Reg. 30). Finally, one of the
most important aspects of poverty is the solidarity of the monks with their
poor, suffering brothers in the world. The first encounter
of Pachomius with Christianity was his encounter with the active charity of
the Christians of Thebes who comforted him and his fellow-conscripts in the
jail (SBo 7). And so, as soon as he was released, he settled down in the
village of Seneset, where he put himself at the service of the poor: ... he settled down there, growing some vegetables and some palm trees
'' in order to feed himself or some poor man of the village or again some
stranger who should happen to pass by in a boat or on the road. It was his
custom to converse with lots of people, and they would give up their homes to
come and live in that village because of his way of encouraging them. It was
really because of his attitude that many men made their dwelling in that
place. (SBo 8) Before leaving the
place to become a monk under the guidance of the elder Palamon, he gave his place to another old monk who should look after the few
vegetables and the palm tree for the needs of the poor. (SBo 10) His spiritual father
Palamon describing to him the type of work he did as part of his politeia way
of life explained: We do this work for our bodily subsistence also; and whatever is above
and beyond our needs we give to the poor, following the words of the Apostle,
only let us remember the poor. (Ga
2:10) (SBo 10) When Pachomius'
first disciples gathered around him, he made himself their servant in all
things (SBo 23), and later on he built with them a church for the people of the place: When he saw that a lot of people had come to live in that village, he
took the brothers and went to build for them a church where they could assemble. Besides, there were a
lot of people all around that; place. He took care of their offering because
they were in a state of great poverty. (SBo 25) This duty of practising
charity is so important that it should be preferred to extra fasting.
Theodore asked Pachomius once about fasting during the six days of the
Passover, while the ordinary rule of the Church was a continual fast during
the last two days only. He answered: The Church's rule is that we should only join together those two days,
so that we might still have the strength to accomplish without fainting the
things we are commanded to do, namely, unceasing prayer, vigils, reciting of
God's law, and our manual labor about which we have orders in the holy
Scripture and which ought to permit us to hold out our hands to the poor.
Those who do things such as these, as well as those who withdraw in solitude,
are free from human burdens which would harass them, but we often see them
served by others worse off than themselves, and see that they are proud, or
fainthearted, or vain in search o£ human vainglory. (SBo 35) Theodore remembered the lesson, and many
years later, in one of his letters, he quoted this text of Dt 15:7: Do not keep your hand from giving to your poor brother or to the
needy. (Theod. Letter: 2, 4) One of the Sahidic Lives of Pachomius says
that during a time when the barbarians were invading Egypt, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Pachomius and asked: "What will you vow to give in charity, if the Lord ceases his
wrath by holding back the barbarians?" He said, "I will send to the
Church of the city which the barbarians have laid waste one hundred measures
of corn, with books and other things which they need". S10 6) This solidarity with the poor and the
suffering is so deep that he wanted to experience it in his own flesh: Another day it happened that the brothers went out for a service. They
informed our father Pachomius that a great famine and a contagious disease
were raging in the world to a point where the earth was threatened with
destruction. When he was informed of this, it was the second day he had gone
without eating and he went on not eating until the next day saying,
"Neither shall I eat while my fellow members go hungry and find no bread
to eat". All the while the famine lasted outside he mourned and
mortified himself the more by fastings and abundant prayers, fulfilling the
words of the Apostle, If one member
suffers, all the members must suffer with it. (1 Co 12:26; SBo 100) IV -- Material organisation o f the
Koinonia The early beginnings
of the pachomian Koinonia were extremely humble and
poor. We have already mentioned the austere and poor life of Pachomius,
first in Seneset, then with Palamon and later on at Tabennesi with his
brother and his first disciples. When the community grew larger, there were
certainly times of great difficulties for such a large group of monks in a
very poor part of the country. The Bohairic Life speaks of one of these
instances: It happened
once that they were going to run short of wheat that was needed for their
food; and the brothers grew as sad as death over their poverty. (SBo 39) It is probably the
same incident that is mentioned by Theodore in one of his instructions: Let us consider the long training by which [God] formed the saints...
He caused serious vexation to arise among the brothers in [Pachomius] time to
such a degree that so great a man as he was had recourse to seculars for
bread. That good man saw with his own eyes his sons working little mills and
licking the meal with their tongues n consequence o£ their great hunger. And
he was vilified by the great ones among them who said, "You are
murdering the children of men by hunger"... For want of bread, not once in all those days was the
signal given for the meal. (Theod. Instr.: 3,
2) When the number of
the brothers had increased and they were "cramped for want of room"
(SBo 49) Pachomius founded his second monastery, Phbow. It was the beginning
of an astonishing development. Some superiors of groups of ascetics asked
him to introduce the way of life of the Koinonia in their communities. At
other places it was the bishop who asked Pachomius to make the foundation of
a monastery in his diocese. Soon Pachomius had become the father of a
congregation of nine monasteries of monks and two of nuns. Such a crowd could
not be fed and clothed without a solid and efficient material organization.
It was part of Pachomius' genius to be able to set up such an organisation. In each monastery,
the monks were divided between several houses having each about forty monks.
The various houses had the responsibility of various services in the
monastery, and monks of the same craft were gathered in the same house. He appointed some from among the capable brothers as his assistants to
take care of their soul's salvation. He appointed one of them at the head of
the first house, that of the lesser stewards, with a second to help him in preparing the tables and in cooking
for the brothers. He appointed another brother also, with his second, men who
were faithful on every score, to look after the food and the care of the sick brothers... And at the
doorway he appointed other brothers whose speech was seasoned with salt to
receive the visitors according to each one's rank... Similarly, he appointed
other faithful brothers noted for their piety, to transact sales and make
purchases... He appointed still others with a housemaster and a second to
work at the shops and at mat-making, and to be ready for every obedience.
(SBo 26) At the end of the
week, those who were finishing their weekly service had to bring the tools to
one place and to entrust them to the weekly servers of the next week (Pr 66). There was a good
bookkeeping system in each monastery (Hors. Reg. 29); '' and shortly after
the foundation of Phbow Pachomius appointed Theodore's. brother
Paphnouti as Great Steward entrusted with the material administration of the
whole Koinonia. Once a year, in the month of Mesore (corresponding roughly
to our month of August), all the brothers of all the ' monasteries would
gather at Phbow as they did for the Passover, and the 'steward of- each
monastery would bring his accounts to the Great Steward of the Koinonia (SBo
71; about that meeting of the month of Mesore, see also Jer. Pref. 8; Pr 27; SBo 122; 144; 193). From time to time the
brothers would go together to an island on the Nile to cut rushes and bring
them back to the monastery. The work of the brothers consisted mostly of
mat-weaving and basket-making with these rushes. But at the time when the
so-called Regulations of Horsiesios were written, the work on the farm had
taken a great importance. Once or twice a year
the boat of the Koinonia would go to Alexandria to sell the products of their
manual labor and bring back what was needed (SBo 96 and 107). Pachomius insisted that the monks
should avoid excessive profits in selling their goods (Paral. 21-22-23) and also that they should
pay a reasonable price for what they bought (Hors. Reg. 26). Contrary to the often
heard thesis that pachomian monasteries were excessively burdened with work,
the Rule stipulates that the brothers should not be overburdened:. The brothers shall not be forced to work excessively, but a moderate
labor shall incite everyone to work. Let there be peace and concord among
them... (Leg. 3) ...Hence, even
if we are laboring at perishable things in order to .sustain the body - which
is necessary -- let us be watchful not to render our soul, which is worth
more than our nourishment, a stranger to eternal life, under the pretext of a
necessity which will disappear. (Hors. Reg.
37) The rapid growth of the Koinonia and
the need to feed that large number of brothers led to a great material
development. After the foundation of Tse, a man of some importance gave the Koinonia
a boat loaded with wheat (SBo 53). Shortly after, the bishop of Smin, who had
asked Pachomius to make a foundation in his diocese, gave him a boat also
(SBo 54). And when the monastery founded by Petronios in Thbew was brought
into the Koinonia, Petronios' father donated to the Koinonia all he had: sheep, goats, cattle, camels, donkeys, carts and all he
possessed, including boats.. (SBo 56) Theodore did not agree with this
development, and the Life tells us of an instance towards the end of his life
when he walked back to Phbow from the monasteries of Nouoi and Kahior as a
sign of protest against the multiplication of boats Apa Theodore himself went on foot until he arrived in the south. He did not want to go in one of the boats
which the monasteries had acquired because he did not want them to produce
things of this sort in the monasteries. (SBo
204) In fact that wealth was the cause of an
important schism in the Koinonia after Pachomius' death which led to
Horsiesios' resignation as father of the whole Koinonia: When our father Apa Horsiesios saw that certain monasteries had begun
to separate from the Koinonia, that
they were continually causing him sorrow, and that they disobeyed the guidance
he gave in - accord with the
strength given him by God, he became very grieved indeed. He was afraid that
the result would be the dispersion of the souls the Lord had gathered
together by means of his servant. There was a certain Apollonios, leader
of Thmousons, who had provoked numerous disturbances with the result that all
the other monasteries were following his words. They were saying, "We
will have nothing to do with Horsiesios nor will we have anything to do with
the rules which he lays down"... (SBo
139) ... the
tribulation which had occurred earlier because of Apollonios, the head of
Thmousons, when the latter had sent to Alexandria to buy supplies for those
who were sick. Apa Horsiesios had not consented that he should keep them in a
place under his own authority because he knew that our father Pachomius did
not wish it so. (SBo 204) Theodore took Horsiesios' place at the head
of the Koinonia and he succeeded
in re-establishing peace and unity; but many years later, shortly before his
death, he had to deplore the same situation: Our father Theodore was always in distress before the Lord out of fear
that one of the souls entrusted to him by the Lord might perish. He taught
them to abandon their evil deeds and to do what is good in the Lord's eyes.
When he observed that, owing to the excuse of needing food and of other
bodily needs, the monasteries had acquired numerous fields, animals, and
boats - in a word, numerous possessions - he was deeply distressed. He felt
certain that the feet of many had slipped from the right path because of
material concerns and the empty cares of this world. He longed to go to
Seneset to our father Horsiesios to consult him about this problem... Conclusion Horsiesios'
Testament in its entirety seems to respond to a situation similar to the one
created by Apollonios' revolt, and is a long call to repentance. That revolt of Apollonios was certainly
not an isolated incident but a symptom o£ a broader crisis. History of
various religious foundations throughout the centuries tends to show the same
thing: that poverty is the best "barometer" for indicating the
religious quality of a group. The initial ardour is usually accompanied by
great poverty and any decadence begins with an accumulation of wealth. The critical
moment is always that at which the group becomes so large as to require an
elaborate material organization in order to survive physically. Then periodic
reforms become necessary. Armand Veilleux Abbaye Cistercienne 100 route des
Trappistes Mistassini, Que, GOW
2CO Canada |
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