St. Pachomius

CLOTHED IN THE MONK’S HABIT

An excerpt from “The Life of St Pachomius” 2

There was a man called Pachomius, who was… born of pagan parents in the Thebaid. He received the great mercy of becoming a Christian… Moved by the love of God, he sought to become a monk. When he was told of an anchorite called Palamon, he went to him to share his anchorite life. When he arrived, he knocked on the door. The old man looked down from above and said, ‘What do you want?’ – for he was abrupt in speech. He replied, ‘I ask you, father, make me a monk.’ He said to him, ‘You cannot. This work of God is not so simple; for many have come but have not persevered.’ Pachomius said, ‘Put me to the test at it and see’. The old man spoke again, ‘First try yourself out for a while, then come here again’… When the youth heard the old man say this, he was still more strengthened in spirit to endure every hardship with him. ‘I believe,’ he said to him, ‘that with the help of God and your prayers, I will endure…’ Then opening the door, [the old man] let him in and clothed him in the monk’s habit…

Once, journeying through that desert a considerable distance, he came to a deserted village called Tabennesi. There he prayed to express his love of God. And as he protracted his prayer a voice… said to him, ‘Stay here and build a monastery; for many will come to you to become monks’. When he heard this and in purity of heart discerned according to the Scriptures that the voice was holy, he returned to his father and told him about it. He had to use great persuasion, for his father was greatly grieved, because he held him as his true son… Then the old man said, ‘Since I believe this has come to you from God, let us make a covenant between us, that we shall visit each other in turn, you and I, so as not to be separated from each other….’ This they did as long as Palamon, the true athlete of Christ, lived…

<Pachomius’s> brother according to the flesh, who was called John, heard [about him] and came to him… Remembering the promise he had made to God, Pachomius began with his brother to build a larger monastery, to receive those who would come to this life… After this, he went with to an island to cut rushes for mats. And as he was keeping vigil alone, praying to be taught the whole will of God, an angel appeared to him from the Lord, just as one appeared to Manoah and his wife about the birth of Samson. The angel said to him, ‘The will of God is to minister to the race of men in order to reconcile them to himself.’ He said this three times and went away.

He thought about the voice which he had heard and was reassured. Then he began to receive those who came to him. After appropriately testing them and their parents, he clothed them in the monks’ habit. He introduced them to the life gradually. First, they had to renounce all the world, their parents, and themselves, and follow the Saviour who taught doing so, for this is to carry the Cross. Being well taught by him according to the Scriptures, they bore fruits worthy of their vocation.

2 Pachomian Koinonia: Volume One – The Life of Saint Pachomius and his disciples. CF 45. Trans. Armand Veilleux. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications Inc., 1980. 299, 301-302, 305-308, 311-312.