Pachomius the Great

Pachomius was born in 292 in a pagan family in Upper Egypt. He was conscripted into the Roman army at the age of 21, where he encountered Christian kindness and hospitality. He was baptized in 314 and became a disciple of the hermit Palaemon. He lived as a solitary ascetic for several years, until he heard a voice telling him to build a monastery for other hermits. He obeyed and founded the first cenobitic monastery at Tabennisi in 323. He also wrote a rule for the monks, which was the first of its kind in Christian history. He organized the monks into communities of about 40, each with a superior and a steward. He also established a system of communication and mutual assistance among the monasteries. He was respected and revered by his fellow monks, as well as by the bishops and emperors of his time. He died on May 9, 348, after a brief illness. He is considered the father of communal monasticism and one of the great saints of the Egyptian desert.