EASTERN MONASTICISM FROM ITS INCEPTION UNTIL THE 10TH CENTURY

Abstract

In the East, monasticism took three main forms, which appeared in Egypt around 350, and are still found in the Eastern Church. From Egypt, which is considered the homeland of monasticism, these forms of monasticism spread very quickly in Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Bithynia, but also in the West. The first form of monasticism is that of hermits, ascetics, who lived a contemplative life practicing the most rigorous asceticism, living isolated (in caves, huts, or in individual cells), and St. Anthony the Great (250-350) is considered the founder of the Christian monasticism. The second form of monasticism is that of community life (or chinovial), where monks live together, following the same rules, in a monastery. The most representative was St. Pachomius the Great (292-346), followed by St. Basil the Great (330-379). The third form of monasticism falls between the two, with a life of semi-isolation, a kind of "middle way", where instead of a single superior organized community, we have a group of small settlements, composed of two or six members, living together, under the guidance of an older monk. After the beginnings of monasticism, monasteries for women were soon established, and over the centuries monks and nuns have played a very important role in the history of the Church. Monasticism spread to almost all regions of the East and West, and between the 5th and 9th centuries its development reached its peak.