I find this man's life fascinating for all the original efforts on his part, but of course, also due to the men who helped guide and form him--Palemon and Antony as two influences. What I also find of note in Pachomius' life, is his humility to realize the value of providing a means of those who felt called to the hermit life, but who could not handle the rigors of such solitude and hiddenness from other humans--to provide a means of living in proximity and/or together, yet to strive in a spiritual life path. He actually began the cenobitic style of religious life.
The other aspect that is good to note, is that hermits are not actually hermits if they are living in a religious or cenobitic community. I always wondered about the Carthusians in this regard. St. Bruno did not intend for his way of life to become a religious order. Guigo I created the rule and the "order" after Bruno passed. Yet, the Carthusians are actually akin to what Pachomius developed, including having a person or more to sacrifice the strictness of spiritual life, to provide the meals and the functional aspects of life needs, so that others could live together yet focus on spiritual path and perfection. Pachomius was the first to be a leader type, and to be called an "abba" or "father" of the group of spiritual aspirants who found eremitic or hermit life, living in solitude and silence, being hidden from the eyes of humankind, to be too challenging for various reasons--valid and understandable.
The hermit vocation is not for many, actually. It has always been a vocation of the very few. In our time period, the 21st century, the hermit vocation has to be carefully modulated in order to actually pass unnoticed among humans, to remain in solitude and silence without such as a television or involvements with social life, community activities involving former hobbies and interests, and to remain uninvolved in parish activities or leadership positions. The life of an actual hermit in our times is not unlike the lives of hermits in the early centuries of Christianity, in regard to attending liturgies infrequently if at all. Some of this in our time can be accomplished by online religious worship experiences, online Mass. But the worship of God and the prayer and praise of God for today's hermit is accomplished as it was in the early centuries: in the privacy of the hermit's abode or grounds surrounding the abode, and in solitude with His Real Presence, the Holy Trinity, and with angels and the saints of all those present yet invisible to the temporal eye.
Reading the details of how Pachomius adapted and developed the option of those who thought they were called to hermit life but instead actually could thrive more so by involving and existing with others of similar interests, helps us understand that the actual hermit vocation is not for everyone and in fact, is for the very few, as it was centuries prior and also before the life of Christ on earth as we include the lives of prophets, as living the hermit vocation. There is no fault nor flaw in being one who does better with spiritual growth and striving in the spiritual life by being more involved or around others thus interested and devoted.
Reading about Pachomius and those hundreds who gravitated to a more community-based life style and vocation, helps understand the recent evolvement of the diocese hermit, of which most of these written about or known through diocese or other publications, or even their own writings, are actually more involved with people, not living so much in solitude but in the community of humankind, active in parishes in leadership or teaching Bible studies, preaching, leading worship services, having paid positions or working amidst people in other settings such as hospitals or other types of gainful employment.
Often these diocese approved persons live with others or in community of some sort, be it a retreat center or shared housing, or in very close proximity to their fellow human beings such as in monastery settings or in public housing, but with active social lives even if under the auspices of discussing their vocations or spiritual pursuits. The value in recognizing the trends is helpful in discerning one's own vocation and of what life style one is actually being called, or to which degree of silence of solitude and ability to actually remain hidden from "the eyes of men" [humankind] that one can tolerate or thrive in a healthy manner.
It seems best to be fully honest, to know oneself well, as did the many in the times of Pachomius, and why God the Holy Spirit spoke to Pachomius and encouraged him to create a place of communal living for the various ones who felt called to hermit vocation but in actuality were unable to live the arduous and austere aspects of solitude, silence, praise of God and penance, solitary prayer life, and being unnoticed by others, rarely out and about in the temporal world, and not being known or noted as a "hermit" at all.
There is also the aspect of family in the lives of the hermits who are not more cenobitic than hermits. We have the example of two women who were approved by a bishop shortly after the 1983 canon law 603 was approved, to create "diocese hermits" who are approved by a diocese bishop and to be guided and overseen by the same. The two women had left a religious order, desiring to live the hermit life. They were given land with some habitable structures, one of which they lived in and another developed into a chapel and gathering space. Other structures in time were built by the diocese and volunteers. One of the women's father and a priest friend of the father's, lived with the women, presumably out of concern for their well-being. The women wanted to have a retreat center, inviting people to come and stay for a day to up to a couple of months, for prayer, daily Masses, and quiet time away from their homes and work lives. Volunteers from the neighboring village performed most of the work functions, shopping, repairs, brought meals and food, and took care of the property. At one point one of the women "hermits" became ill so had to return to the former religious community for on0-going health care. At that point, the nearby volunteers spent more time with the remaining sister, as the dad and original priest friend had gone to other pursuits, but another priest had arrived to live there.
From this example, we can grasp that there are lacking the basic elements of actual hermit life or vocation: that of silence of solitude. Solitude for a hermit means to live without other human companionship. Silence means to not have others with us to speak nor converse. There is also that aspect of developing full dependency upon God in the hermit's life of solitude and silence. One must fend for oneself or also be able to pay for some aspects and not depend on others to donate or pay or provide--for a hermit to be hidden, means to not be known or noticed as a hermit, if at all possible. Once known as a hermit, the situation shifts from being hidden to that of being approved and a somebody of religious significance in the eyes of a bishop or as a type of "religious person". This can lead to a shift in the hermit's own sense of humble nothingness, and to become a somebody of some religious importance in the eyes of others.
It seems, then, best for those who feel drawn to the hermit vocation, to determine through pray and abject self-examination and honesty, if it is to be a hermit vocation or a cenobitic type or communal, societal, interactive vocation of celibacy and living perhaps alone, or with another or several, but striving in the spiritual life of a religious but without being in a specific religious order. The development of the diocese approved hermit or CL603 hermit seems most often dependent upon the view of the approving bishop, as to the degree of actual hermit existence or somewhere in between hermit and communal or cenobitic existence.
Of course, we have current examples of those being referred to as diocese hermits that are more involved and interactive with others than not, who wear designative religious garments and call themselves by religious titles, live with monastics or with others, which thus negates the requisite aspects of silence of solitude and hidden from the eyes of others as stipulated by tradition and written under the auspices of eremitic life in The Catechism of the Catholic Church: Consecrated Life of the Church.
The main difficulty of such designations of hermits, in general and specific, is that of the lone, religious, solitary hermit to know him- or herself and what is feasible to endure as well as to thrive in and even to enjoy. Truly, living in actuality and validly as stipulated by example of hermits in tradition and in church writings, takes abject honesty of oneself and one's daily and nightly existence. Being an actual "hermit" requires patient growth and adaptation. One must create self-checks as well as at least for the first years, have a hermit-type religious cleric or successful religious solitary example to guide and also correct the evolving hermit.
There will be some situational crevices along the way. There may be occasional extended family obligations or responsibilities, as long as they are brief or have conclusions, that the hermit may need to assist or encourage. But if these become habitual or interfere with the hermit's silence of solitude and hiddenness, with the praise, prayer, and penance of the hermit's religious regimen, then the hermit may need to alter designation and re-enter more the temporal world as a Christian apostle or a cenobitic type religious with more active role. Health issues may arise, but the hermit who has become dependent upon God Alone, will know and trust that the Holy Spirit will arrange for opportunities of help through periods of ailments or surgeries, in which no one will know they are assisting a hermit, and the hermit will for most part remain even in more silence of solitude and hiddenness, in prayer, praise of God and yet more suffering of penance, than when otherwise not indisposed!
The bottom line, or seems to this consecrated Catholic hermit, privately professed and very much more so in the silence of solitude and hidden from the eyes of others, the more the Holy Spirit shifts and forms and limits my human, temporal, and spiritual life experiences and obligations--is that there is much diversity and leeway in the term and vocation of "hermit" and of "Catholic hermit" and of CL603 or "diocese hermit." It behooves the individual in all cases of hermit vocation discernment, as well as of individuals and bishops, in the latter cases, to know what it is that one is seeking, striving in, and of which one is called by God in vocation as hermit, religious solitary, or in cenobitic type lifestyles and vocations.
Here's more information on Pachomius the Great, which will help stir the thoughts and realities of hermit and/or cenobitic religious life in history and tradition, and in current times. My own path is laid out and has been for over two decades now. It has taken some holy-other and self-correction to tighten the sails of my traditional hermit life. I have a surgery upcoming in which a family member was going to stay a requisite week, but I am praying about a near-stranger to be here to assist with standing and walking (knee replacement). That latter choice may be preferred to ensure more silence and solitude, leaving out temptations to discuss or reminisce.
Will leave it up to the Lord to decide; there is yet time. The body might even be deemed inoperable due to other health unexpected issues, which would keep the silence of solitude and prayer, praise, and penance life as hidden from the world and others, as it has been for a very long time now.
Well, here's Pachomius, as written in Wikipedia....
Pachomius the Great
Pachomius the Great | |
|---|---|
 Father of Spiritual Communal Monastic Life | |
| Founder | |
| Born | 292 AD Thebes (modern-day Luxor, Egypt) |
| Died | 9 May 348 Egypt |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Anglican Church Eastern Orthodox Church Eastern Catholic Churches Oriental Orthodox Churches Lutheran Church |
| Major shrine | Monastery of Saint Pachomius (Luxor), Egypt |
| Feast | 9 May 14 Pashons (Coptic Orthodox) 15 May (Roman Catholic Benedictines, Orthodox, Anglican) |
| Attributes | Hermit in a garb, Hermit crossing the Nile on the back of a crocodile |
Pachomius (/pəˈkoʊmiəs/; Greek: Παχώμιος Pakhomios; Coptic: Ⲡⲁϧⲱⲙ; c. 292 – 9 May 348 AD), also known as Saint Pachomius the Great, is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism.[1] Coptic churches celebrate his feast day on 9 May, and Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches mark his feast on 15 May[2] or 28 May.[3] In the Lutheran Church, he is remembered as a renewer of the church, along with his contemporary (and fellow desert saint), Anthony of Egypt on 17 January.
Life[edit]
Pachomius was born in 292 in the Thebaid (near modern-day Luxor, Egypt) to pagan parents.[4] 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 in the evening.[5] 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. He was able to leave the army without ever having to fight, was converted and baptized (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.[5] After studying seven years with Palaemon, Pachomius set out to lead the life of a hermit near St. Anthony of Egypt, whose practices he imitated until Pachomius heard a voice in Tabennisi that told him to build a dwelling for the hermits to come to.[6] An earlier ascetic named 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.
Pachomius established his first monastery between 318 and 323 at Tabennisi, Egypt.[7] 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 Tabennisi, though enlarged several times, soon became too small and a second was founded at Pbow.[6] This monastery at Pbow would go on to become the center for monasteries springing up along the Nile in Upper Egypt.[8] Both of these are believed to have initially been abandoned villages, which were then repurposed for Pachomius’ vision of his Koinonia.[9] After 336, Pachomius spent most of his time at Pbow. Though Pachomius sometimes acted as 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.[5] Basil of Caesarea visited, then took many of Pachomius' ideas, which he adapted and implemented in Caesarea. 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.
Rule of St. Pachomius[edit]
Pachomius was the first to set down a written rule.[10][clarification needed] 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.[6] 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.
Fasts and work were apportioned according to the individual's strength. Each monk received the same food and clothing.[11] Common meals were provided, but those who wished to absent themselves from them were encouraged to do so, and bread, salt, and water were placed in their cells. In the Pachomian monasteries it was left very much to the individual taste of each monk to fix the order of life for himself. Thus the hours for meals and the extent of his fasting were settled by him alone, he might eat with the others in common or have bread and salt provided in his own cell every day or every second day.[7]
His rule was translated into Latin by Jerome. Honoratus of Lérins followed the Rule of St. Pachomius. Basil the Great and Benedict of Nursia adapted and incorporated parts of it in their rules.[12]
Death and legacy[edit]
Pachomius continued as abbot to the cenobites for some forty years. During an epidemic (probably plague), Pachomius called the monks, strengthened their faith, and failed to appoint his successor. Pachomius then died on 14 Pashons, 64 AM (9 May 348 AD).
By the time Pachomius died, eight monasteries and several hundred monks followed his guidance.[7] Within a generation, cenobic practices spread from Egypt to Palestine and the Judean Desert, Syria, North Africa and eventually Western Europe.[13] The number of monks, rather than the number of monasteries, may have reached 7000.[14][15]
His reputation as a holy man has endured. As mentioned above, several liturgical calendars commemorate Pachomius. Among many miracles attributed to Pachomius, that though he had never learned the Greek or Latin tongues, he sometimes miraculously spoke them.[5] Pachomius is also credited with being the first Christian to use and recommend use of a prayer rope.
Coptic literature[edit]
Examples of purely Coptic literature are the works of Anthony the Great and Pachomius, who spoke only Coptic, and the sermons and preachings of Shenoute the Great, who chose to write only in Coptic.
Name[edit]
The name of the saint is of Coptic origin:[16] ⲡⲁϧⲱⲙ pakhōm from ⲁϧⲱⲙ akhōm "eagle or falcon" (ⲡ p- at the beginning is the Coptic definite article), from Middle Egyptian ꜥẖm "falcon", originally "divine image". Into Greek it was adopted as Παχούμιος and Παχώμιος. By Greek folk etymology it was sometimes interpreted as "broad-shouldered" from παχύς "thick, large" and ὦμος "shoulder".
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