• Already in this account, we glimpse some of the elements of the
early monastic life.
o The world is perceived as corrupting; the desire to be alone and
apart is the desire to achieve true discipleship through struggle.o Just as martyrdom was earlier associated with “fighting
demons,” that is, the heathen gods and the state that sponsored
them, so now the monk “fights the wild beasts,” who are inner
demons in the fight for authentic faith. Thus, monasticism is a
form of “white martyrdom.”o The arena for battle is the human mind and body. The control
of the body through mental dedication (asceticism) is a key
dimension of early monasticism, sometimes taking extreme
forms, such as severe fasting and lack of sleep.o In contrast to the Gnostics, these early monks were deeply
dedicated to ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy—at
least, this is the portrayal given by Athanasius, the bishop
of Alexandria.o The “sages of the desert” were charismatic in the sociological
sense of the term: They drew followers who sought the wisdom
they personified.Cenobites
• Another form of the monastic life was that of “life together” in the
wilderness. The term “cenobite” for such monks comes from the
Greek koinos bios (“life together”).
• The founder of this form of monasticism in Egypt was Pachomius
(290–346).
o Born a pagan, he served as a Roman soldier and was converted
in 313.o He founded a monastery (c. 320) at Tabennisi in the Thebaid
near the Nile.