Community and Fellowship: Pachomius and the First Cenobitic Community

Pachomius (d. 346) is credited with founding the first organized monastic community (cenobium) as distinct from the solitary hermit life. Before Pachomius, desert monks lived alone or in loose association. He created the first Rule of communal life, organizing monks into houses of roughly twenty, grouped into a monastery of several hundred, with shared meals, shared work, and shared prayer.…