07 — Pachomius and the Church
Pachomius and the wider Church of his day: his firm loyalty to St. Athanasius of Alexandria and the orthodoxy of the early monks against the Arian and other currents of the age; the summons that brought him before a synod of bishops at Latopolis, where his spiritual authority was examined; and the end — the plague that swept the Koinonia in 348, his death, and the troubled succession through which the federation passed to Horsiesios and Theodore.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Desert Father; father of cenobitic monasticism)
This section sets Pachomius within the ecclesial and doctrinal life of the fourth century — not as a theologian (he was not) but as a churchman whose communities were loyal to the Nicene patriarch of Alexandria and whose orthodoxy was a deliberate stance. The first file treats that loyalty to Athanasius, the Latopolis synod, and the place of the monks in the doctrinal struggles of the age. The second narrates the plague, Pachomius’s death in 348, and the succession crisis and recovery under Petronios, Horsiesios, and Theodore.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Athanasius and Orthodoxy | Pachomius’s loyalty to St. Athanasius of Alexandria and to the Nicene faith; Athanasius’s visit to the Thebaid; the summons before a synod of bishops at Latopolis and what it reveals about the relation of the charismatic monk to the episcopal Church; the orthodoxy of the early monks against Arianism, Melitianism, and Origenist controversy. |
| The Death and the Succession | The plague of 348 that struck the Koinonia; Pachomius’s own death (15 May 348, by tradition); the brief leadership of Petronios; the succession crisis under Horsiesios and the rallying of the federation under Theodore; and the consolidation that carried the Koinonia beyond its founder. |
See Also
- The Federation of Monasteries — the institution that had to survive the succession
- Feast and Cult — the commemoration of the saint’s repose
- St. Athanasius — the patriarch to whom Pachomius was loyal
- Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem — the patriarchate of Alexandria under which the Koinonia lived
References
- Veilleux, Armand, trans. Pachomian Koinonia, Vols. 1–3. Cistercian Studies 45–47. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1980–1982.
- Rousseau, Philip. Pachomius: The Making of a Community in Fourth-Century Egypt. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985; rev. ed. 1999.
- Chitty, Derwas J. The Desert a City. Oxford: Blackwell, 1966.