Paul

a native of the Lower Thebaid in Egypt, was a man of good family and wealth, who retired to a cave (290 to 340 a.c.); and his example was followed by the more celebrated Antony: these were true “monachi,” or “lonely ones.” The second stage was reached when ascetiks gathered round the hermits’ caves, and formed groups of cave dwellers. Pachomius was born about 292, and joined the hermit Palwmon, about 320 a.c., in his cel! on the island of Tabenne in the Nile. He instituted the: true system of Coenobites (Greek Koinos “common” and bios “ life”), who were called monks, as dwelling apart from the world. Cells were erected, and the brethren were called Syncelli (“celled together”), having a Laura, or common room for meals, near their caves, which in time grew into a large establishment with a church. At the Laura of St Saba, S.E. of Jerusalem, the caves still line the precipice within the fortre walls of the Laura.