This is part 15 of the Early Church History class.
We are shifting gears away from Christology to talk about the desert fathers and mothers. These were people that decided to leave the city and go off alone or in communes to practice spiritual disciplines and asceticism. They denied themselves pleasure in their pursuit of sanctification and spiritual warfare. Today we'll go over four early founders, including Anthony, Pachomius, Basil, and Benedict. Although this subject may seem somewhat tangential to the main arc of early church history, as it turns out, these monks exercised a huge influence on Christianity at large.
Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEUeiVsNeo0&list=PLN9jFDsS3QV2lk3B0I7Pa77hfwKJm1SRI&index=15
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Anthony the Great (251-356)
- One of the earliest hermits
- Athanasius of Alexandria wrote the Life of Anthony, which became an extremely popular hagiography.
- Heard what Jesus said to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19.21 and sold his possessions to give to the poor
- Trained under an old hermit (a.k.a eremite or anchorite) before going off alone
- Practiced extreme asceticism and isolation
- Repeatedly tempted and beaten by demons
- Lived in a tomb, then an abandoned Roman fort, then on a mountain
- Athanasius had Anthony come to Alexandria to endorse the eternality of the Son over against the subordinationists.
Pachomius (292-348)
- Studied 7 years under a hermit named Palaemon near Anthony in the Egyptian desert
- Went off on his own and lived as an anchorite
- Started a XXfor hermits unable physically or mentally to live alone
- Known as founder of cenobitic monasticism
- Developed a rule to govern monastery life
- Monasteries dotted the desert in Egypt, Judea, and Syria
Basil Caesarea (329-379)
- Grew up wealthy and well-educated
- Became a Christian and donated his fortune to the poor
- Studied with monks in Egypt and influenced by Pachomius
- Returned to Caesarea and began founding monasteries
- Diminished the austerity of Pachomian monasteries and adapted to life in the city where monks ran orphanages, hospices, and hospitals
- Designed a rule for monasteries, incorporating interspersed periods of worship and manual or scholarly labor
- Adapted and popularized monastery life in the Greek-speaking East
- Died
