Monk of the Order ol St. Pachomius,
letters of the Greek alphabet. They lived three in a cell. They ate in common, but in strict silence, and with the face covered. They made known their wants l)y signs. The sick were treated with special care. On Saturday and Sunday the monks partook of the com- munion. Pachomius also established a cloister of nuns for his sister, whom he never admitted to his presence when she would visit him, sending her word that she should be content to know that he was still alive. Pachomius, after his conversion, never ate a full meal, and for fifteen years slept sitting on a stone. Tradi- tion ascribes to him all sorts of miracles, even the gift of tongues and perfect dominion over nature, so that he trod without harm on serpents and scorpions, and cross- ed the Nile on the backs of crocodiles !
There are various writings extant under the name of Pachomius : (1.) two Regulm Monastiae. (rt.) The shorter of these, preserved by Palladius, is said to have been given to Pachomius by the angel who convej'ed to him the divine command to establish monasteries. This rule is by no means so rigid as the monastic rules of later times. Palladius says that the monasteries at Tabenna and in the neighborhood subject to the rule contained 7000 monks, of whom 1500 were in the parent community first established by Pachomius; but it is doubtful if this is to be understood of the original mon- astery of Tabenna or that of Proii. (6.) The longer Regiila, said to have been written in the Egj'ptian (Sa- hidic .') language, translated into Greek, is extant in a Latin version made from the Greek b}- Jerome. It is preceded by a Pnefatlo, in which Jerome gives an ac- count of the monasteries of Tabenna as they were in his time. Cave (Hist Litter, ad ann. 340, in i, §08 [ed. Oxf. 1740-1748J) disputes the genuineness of the Rcgula, and questions not only the title of Pachomius to the author- ship of it, but also the title of Jerome to be regarded as the translator. He thinks that it may embody the rule of Pachomius as augmented by his successors. It is remarkable that this Regula, which comprehends in all one hundred and ninetv-four articles, is divided into several parts, each with separate titles ; and Tillemont supposes, therefore, that the}- are separate pieces col- lected and arranged by Benedictus Anianus. This Regula was first published at Rome b}' Achilles Statins, A.D. 1515, and then by Petrus Ciacconus, also at Rome, A.D. 1588. It was inserted in the Supplementum Bib- liiithecn Patrum of Morellus (Paris, 1G39), vol. i ; in the Blhliotheca Patrum Asceiica (ibid. 16(11), vol. i; in the Codex Regularum of Holstenius (Rome, 1G61) ; and in successive editions of the fathers. (2.) Monlta, extant in a Latin version, first published by Gerard Vossius with the works of GregoriusThaumaturgus(JIayence, 1604), and given in the Bihliotheca Patnnn (ut supra). (3.) 8S. PP. Pachomii et Theodori Epidohe ei Verba Mijstica. Eleven of these letters are by Pachomius. Thej^ abound in incomprehensible allusions to certain mysteries con- tained in or signified by the letters of the Greek alpha- liet. They are extant in the Latin version of Jerome (Opera, 1. c, and Bibliotheca Patrum, 1. c), who sub- joined tliem as an Appendix to the Regula, but with- out explaining, probaldy without understanding, the hidden signification of the alphabetical characters, ap- parently employed as ciphers, to which the correspond- piits (if Pachomius had the key (comp. Gennadius, De I 'ir'a Il/iistr. c. vii ; Sozomen, Ilist. Eccles. iii, 14). (4.) Ek tm' hi'To\t7.ir roil c'lyiov na\oi'i.nov, Prcecepin S. Pavhomii s. Puchiimii, first publislied in the Acta Sanc- torum (JIaii, vol. iii), in Latin in the bod}' of the work, p. 346, and in the original Greek in the Appcmlix, p. (t'2. and reprinted in the Bibliotheca Patrum of Galland (vol. iv), where all the extant works are given.
'Ihere is a proli.K life of Pachomius, entitled B/oc -i)v (lylnv nffY"''A"""> ^ '^^^ ^- Pachumii, in barbarous Greek, the translation perhaps of a Sahidic original, by a monk of the generation immediately succeeding Pa- cliomius; there is also a second memoir, or extract, either by the writer of the life, or by some other writer
PACHOMIUS
513
PACIANUS
of the same period, supplementary to the first work, and to this the title ParLiUpomena de SS. Pachomio et Theodora has been prefixed ; and there is an account of Pachomius in a letter from Amnion, an Egyptian bishop, to Tlieophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, 'Ettkt-
T0\t) 'A^lj-llilVOi^ tTVlTKUTTOV TTipl TZo\lTtlaQ KCli ftloV
fiepiKov Uaxovi-uov Kcil UtoSiopov, Episfola Ammonis Episccpi de Conversaiione ao Vitce Parte Pachumii et Theodori. All these pieces are given by the Bollan- dists, both in tlie Latin version (p. 295-351) and in the original {Appendix, p. 25-71), in the Acta tSanctorum (Maii, vol. iii), with the usual introduction by Pape- broche.
See A eta Sanctorum, sub Mai. 14 ; Tillemont, Me- moires, vii, 167-235; SchaflT, Church Hist, ii, 195-198; Neander, Church Hist. vol. ii ; Gennadius, De Viris Illustribus, cap. vii ; Smith, Diet, of Greek and Roman Biogr. and Mytliol. vol. ii, s. v. ; Ceillier, Uist. Generale des Auteurs Sacres et EccUs. iii, 357 sq. ; Stud. u. Krit, 18G4, No. i ; Milman, Hist, of Chrisiianily ; IMosheim, Eccles. Hist. vol. i ; Lea, Hist, of Sacerdotal Celibacij. Sec also Monastery ; Monasticism ; Monk ; and the literature on early Monasticism.