Feast Day: May 15th
The Life of Saint Pachomius: The Lord revealed to him the future of Monasticism. The Saint learned that future Monks would not have such zeal in their struggles as the first generation had, and they would not have experienced guides. Prostrating himself upon the ground, Saint Pachomius wept bitterly, calling out to the Lord and imploring mercy for them. He heard a Voice answer, “Pachomius, be mindful of the Mercy of God. The Monks of the future shall receive a reward, since they too shall have occasion to suffer the life burdensome for the Monk.”…
+
Prayers
Apolytikion – Tone 1: Thou didst prove a chief Pastor of the Chief Shepherd, Christ, guiding the flocks of Monastics unto the Heavenly fold, whence thou learntest of the habit and the way of life that doth befit Ascetic ranks; having taught this to thy Monks, thou now dancest and rejoicest with them in Heavenly dwellings, O great Pachomius, our Father and guide.
Kontakion – Tone 2: Since thou hadst shown forth the life of the Angels while in a body, O God-bearing Pachomius, thou wast also counted worthy of their glory; and with them thou standest before the Lord’s Throne, interceding that Divine Forgiveness be granted unto all.
+
The Prayer Rule Saint Pachomius received from the Angel.
An Angel of the Lord appeared to Saint Pachomius as he sat in his cave.
“Pachomius,” he said, “You have done properly and thoroughly all the things given you to do. You no longer need to live in this place, so get up, go out, gather together all the young Monks and live with them. Give them rules according to the formula which I will give you.” And he gave Pachomius a bronze tablet on which was inscribed the following:
- Allow each person food and drink according to his strength.
- Give difficult tasks to the strong. Give lighter, less arduous tasks to those who find things difficult because of their weakness.
- Put several cells in each wing and put three in a cell, but let all the food be prepared in one building.
- Let them not lie down to sleep, but provide semi-reclining chairs, give them blankets and let them sleep there sitting up. Let them wear at night linen shifts and girdles and let each person have a sheepskin of white wool. They should not eat or sleep without them.
- When they go to the Communion of Christ on Saturday and Sunday let them put off their belts and sheepskins and let them go in wearing only their cowls which should have no shaggy wool on them, but have a purple cross superimposed on them.
- Let there be twenty-four groups of Monks according to the twenty-four letters of the [Greek] alphabet. Each group should be known by its Greek letter, from a, b, etc. down to w. If the archimandrite wants to enquire about any particular person out of such a great number, he should ask, “How is group a?” or “How is group b?” or “Give my greetings to group r,” according to the letter belonging to each group. The more sincere and simple ones should be given the letter i, the more difficult ones the letter x . Thus you can conveniently match every group to each letter of the alphabet according to the discipline and style of life of each one, without anyone except the spiritual teachers understanding the meaning.
- If you have a guest from a different Monastery which has a different rule let him eat and drink separately and do not admit him into the Monastery unless he is simply on a journey.
- Furthermore, when once a person has entered, do not finally admit him till he has proved his ability to endure the battle for three years. But when he has coped with this difficult life for three years then let him carry on with the contest.
- Let the brothers wear their hoods up in the refectory so that one brother cannot see another chewing. They should not speak while eating, nor should they take their eyes off the table and their plates.
- They should say twelve sets of Prayers during the day, twelve at the lighting of the lamps in the evening, twelve during the night vigil, and three at the ninth hour. When they are eating together en masse let each group sing one Psalm before each set of Prayers.
When the great Pachomius objected to the Angel that the Prayers were rather few, the Angel replied, “I gave this rule so as to make sure in advance that even the little ones keep the rule and are not afflicted. But the perfect have no need of legislation, for by themselves in their cells they have surrendered the whole of their life to the contemplation of God. But I have legislated for as many as have not a discerning mind, in order that they, like house-servants fulfilling the duties of their station, may live a life of freedom.”
When the Angel had finished his task in setting up these rules he departed from Pachomius.
An Icon
