Pachomius was born in Egypt around 290, and is said to have served as a
soldier, and to have become a Christian shortly after completing his
military service. In about 320 he went to live as a hermit at Tabennisi,
on the Nile in Upper (Southern) Egypt, in the district known as the
Thebaid (from Thebes). Several other hermits lived near him, and as the
settlement grew Pachomius gradually organized them into a religious
community. Before him there had been Christian hermits, and sometimes
groups of hermits living near one another, but Pachomius was the first to
organize a religious community holding its goods in common and praying as
a community. Eventually eleven monasteries following the Rule of
Pachomius were founded in the Thebaid, two of them for women. His Rule
greatly influenced the later work of Basil the
Great (14 Jun 379) and Benedict (11 Jul 547)
who are accounted the founders of Eastern and Western monasticism
respectively.
O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his Poverty might be rich: Deliver us, we pray thee, from an inordinate love of this world, that, inspired by the devotion of thy servant Pachomius, we may serve thee with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his Poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Pachomius, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.