Pachomios the Great, Father and Founder of Cenobitic Monasticism

By Protopresbyter George Christodoulou

Saint Pachomios was born around 292 AD in the Egyptian Thebaid, in the region of present-day Luxor. His parents were pagans.

Egyptian tradition presents him from childhood as a pure and disciplined person, clean in heart and inwardly estranged from pagan worship.

At one point his parents took him to a pagan ceremony, but he felt no inner connection to the idols.

The official website of the Coptic Church, in the life of Saint Pachomios connected with the present Monastery of Saint Pachomios in Luxor, specifically says that the young Pachomios was “a lover of purity and chastity” and did not take part in pagan festivals.

At a young age he was conscripted into the Roman army. He enlisted at about twenty years old, during the conflicts between Constantine the Great and Licinius.

During his military service or imprisonment, he encountered Christians who showed love, compassion, and care toward the soldiers. This became the first great blow of divine grace upon his soul.

The Cave That Sheltered the Divine Infant in Ancient Babylon of Egypt

By John Fourtounas

When King Herod learned from the Magi that Christ had been born, he asked them, once they found Him, to inform him so that he might supposedly go and worship Him. In reality, however, he wished to destroy Him.

For this reason, an angel warned Joseph to take the Child and His Mother and depart for Egypt, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, “Out of Egypt I have called My Son” (Matthew 2:15).

Indeed, when Herod saw that he had been mocked by the Magi, he ordered that all the male children two years old and under be put to death in the city of Bethlehem and in all the surrounding regions (Gospel of Matthew 2:13–18).

Meanwhile, the betrothed Joseph, together with the Divine Child and His Mother, was already journeying toward the land of Egypt by way of Gaza. He passed through the region of Mount Pelusium, east of today’s city of Port Said, and entered the land of the Nile.

Route and Stations of the "Holy Family" During Their Flight into Egypt

 

 

By Ioannis Fourtounas

When King Herod learned from the Magi that Christ had been born, he asked them, once they had found Him, to inform him so that he might supposedly go and worship Him.

In reality, however, he wished to destroy Him.

For this reason an angel warned Joseph to take the Child and His Mother and depart for Egypt, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says, “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Matt. 2:15).

The choice of Egypt was made because it lay outside Herod’s jurisdiction, because it was accessible through established trade routes, and also because of the large Jewish community living there.

After various stops along the way, according to local tradition, they found hospitality in the ancient city of Babylon, where even today there exists the cave of their dwelling in the land of the Nile.

According to early Christian traditions, the Divine Child, His Mother, Joseph, and James the brother of the Lord traveled to twenty-six locations in Egypt and remained in the land of the Nile for three years, six months, and ten days.