THE BEGINNINGS OF MONASTICISM
At this time another element began to manifest itself within the primitive
socio- political construct of the Church. Monasticism began to emerge,
either through the solitary witness of desert hermits, or through small
communities of devout men and women called to a life or prayer and contemplation.
One interesting personality who fell into this catagory of eccentric hermit/saint
was Anthony of Egypt. He was born in 251 in Egypt and as a young man of
twenty embraced poverty and a life of desert solitude until his death in
356 AD. His life spanned the era of persecutions and the new age of Constantine,
and it is estimated that in his own lifetime Anthony had more than 5000
followers. A contemporary, Pachomius, formed the first community of monks
and the trend continued rapidly after Basil the Great worked out specific
rules governing community life, which meant that a monk would live in prayerful
conformity to a specific community structure. Basil's collections of written
rules emphasised common sense and moderation and were to be widely adopted
throughout the eastern empire. Within five centuries, more than 100,000
monks were said to be living under the Basilian rule. It was Athanasius
who popularised the life and work of Anthony and the monastic ideal in
the West in 335 AD but it was left to Augustine to author the first monastic
rules for the western Church.
The influence of this primitive movement cannot be underestimated.
See if you can elicit the types of images of the Church that this introduced
to contemporary believers. The ascetical dimension of this early monasticism
was to be fused with a sense of service and ministry (particularly later
in the West under Benedict's Rule), making the monastic community a place
of learning and spiritual support.
