Chronology of early Christian monasticism

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Locations of significant monastic sites.

Christian monasticism first appeared in Egypt and Syria. [1] This is a partial chronology of early Christian monasticism with its notable events listed. It covers 343 years.

Year (AD)Historical event
c. 227 Paul the Great is born. He is considered to be the very first Christian eremitic ascetic. He lived very reclusively and was only discovered by Anthony towards the end of his life. [2]
249-51 Persecution of Christians under Emperor Decius forces many Christians to flee into the desert (including Paul the Great [2] ), thus starting Egyptian Christian monasticism. [3] [4]
c. 251 Anthony the Great is born, who is considered to have founded eremitic monasticism. [5] [4] [1]
c. 285 Cronius of Nitria is born. [4]
c. 290 Pachomius the Great is born, who is considered to have founded cenobitic monasticism. [6] [7] [4]
291/292 Hilarion the Great is born, who was inspired by Anthony. [8]
293 Athanasius the Great is born. His writings are important for the start of Christian monasticism. [9] [1]
c. 300 Macarius the Great is born. [10] [4]
303Christian persecution under emperor Diocletian: the Diocletianic Persecution. [11] [4]
305 Anthony the Great relocates from the Outer Mountain to the Inner Mountain of Pispir. [12]
306
c. 310-20 Athanasius the Great begins his ecclesiastical career. [12]
313The Edict of Milan legalizes Christianity and ends persecution. [15]
314
c. 315
c. 320
320 Pishoy is born.
c. 323
324 Constantine the Great becomes the sole emperor of all of Rome. [4] [13]
325 First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea. [4] [18] [19]
328 Athanasius the Great becomes Archbishop of Alexandria. [4] [9]
329 Basil the Great is born. He influences Christian monasticism by his ascetic writings. [20]
330
337Death of Emperor Constantine (as a Christian). [13] [4]
338
339 John the Dwarf is born in Thebes.
c. 340
c. 341Death of Paul the Great in Thebes.
c. 345 Rufinus is born. [26]
346Death of Pachomius the Great. [7] [6]
c. 347 Jerome is born. [27]
347 John Chrysostom is born. [28]
356
357 Athanasius of the Great writes his biography of Anthony the Great. [30] [31]
c. 358Death of Serapion of Nitria.
360 John Cassian is born.
361 Julian the Apostate becomes the emperor of Rome. [32] [4]
3624th exile of Athanasius the Great by Julian the Apostate. [9] [12]
363Death of Mar Awgin (a Syrian disciple of Pachomius the Great). He had established Christian monasticism in Mesopotamia. [1]
3645th and final exile of Athanasius the Great. [9]
367 Epiphanius becomes the bishop of Cyprus. [4] [33]
368Death of Theodorus of Tabennese.
370 Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea, writes his Rules which becomes an important monastic text. [4]
371Death of Hilarion the Great.
373
373-5 Rufinus meets Melania in Egypt. [4]
375Death of Pambo. [34] [4]
c. 376 Jerome writes his Life of Paul of Thebes. [12]
377 Euthymius the Great is born. [35]
379Death of Basil the Great. [36] [4]
380At Gaza, Silvanus and a certain Mark the Calligrapher make a settlement. [37]
381 First Ecumenical Council of Constantinople. [38] [4]
382 Jerome returns to Rome. [12]
383 Evagrius of Nitria becomes a monk at Kellia. [4] [39]
385
c. 386Death of Cronius of Nitria. [4]
c. 390 Jerome writes his Life of Malchus. [12]
390
391
394-5Death of John of Lycopolis. [41]
395
398 John Chrysostom is ordained the Archbishop of Constantinople. [28] [4]
399
c. 400
c. 404 John Cassian establishes the first Egyptian-style monastery in Gaul. [45]
405
407
407-408
410 Rome is sacked by Alaric and the Visigoths. [49] [4]
411
417Death of Pishoy on July 15.
c. 419-20 Palladius writes his Lausaic History . [50] [4]
421-6 John Cassian writes the Institutes and the Conferences. [4] [51]
429Death of Sisoes the Great.
431Ecumenical Council of Ephesus. [4] [52]
434
c. 435
439 Sabbas the Sanctified is born. [4] [55]
4443rd destruction of Scetis. [47]
445Death of Arsenius the Great. [4] [53]
449Death of Daniel of Egypt, disciple of Arsenius the Great. [4]
450
451 Council of Chalcedon. [58] [4] After the Council of Chalcedon, the decision was made to put all Egyptian monasticism under church hierarchical supervision. This marked the end of the classical era of early Egyptian Christian monasticism. [59]
455 Rome under, Emperor Romulus Augustus, is sacked by the Vandals. [60] [4]
459
c. 480Birth of Benedict of Nursia who greatly shaped western monasticism ("Benedictine" monks). [62] [4]
484The Great Lavra (Mar Saba) is founded by Sabbas the Sanctified. [63]
491
ca. 520Foundation of the monastery of Seridus by abbot Seridus of Gaza. [64]
527 Saint Catherine's Monastery is founded on Mount Sinai by Emperor Justinian the Great. [65]
c. 543Death of Barsanuphius and John the Prophet, two hermits who wrote over 800 letters of spiritual guidance to monks, priests and lay people. Their disciple Dorotheus of Gaza goes on to found a new monastery. [66]
5704th destruction of Scetis. [47]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony the Great</span> Egyptian Christian monk and hermit (died 356)

Anthony the Great was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony, such as Anthony of Padua, by various epithets: Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Anthony the Hermit, and Anthony of Thebes. For his importance among the Desert Fathers and to all later Christian monasticism, he is also known as the Father of All Monks. His feast day is celebrated on 17 January among the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches and on Tobi 22 in the Coptic calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pachomius the Great</span> Egyptian saint

Pachomius, also known as Saint Pachomius the Great, is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. Coptic churches celebrate his feast day on 9 May, and Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches mark his feast on 15 May or 28 May. In Lutheranism, he is remembered as a renewer of the church, along with his contemporary, Anthony of Egypt on 17 January.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian monasticism</span> A Christian religious way of life

Christian monasticism is a religious way of life of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament. It has come to be regulated by religious rules and, in modern times, the Canon law of the respective Christian denominations that have forms of monastic living. Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). The word monk originated from the Greek μοναχός, itself from μόνος meaning 'alone'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilarion</span> Saint of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches

Hilarion the Great (291–371) was an anchorite who spent most of his life in the desert according to the example of Anthony the Great (c. 251–356). While Anthony is considered to have established Christian monasticism in the Egyptian Desert, Hilarion is considered by some to be the founder of Palestinian monasticism and venerated as a saint by the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cenobitic monasticism</span> Monastic tradition that stresses community life

Cenobiticmonasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts. The older style of monasticism, to live as a hermit, is called eremitic. A third form of monasticism, found primarily in Eastern Christianity, is the skete.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Desert Fathers</span> Early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks, third century AD

The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The Apophthegmata Patrum is a collection of the wisdom of some of the early desert monks and nuns, in print as Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The first Desert Father was Paul of Thebes, and the most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in AD 270–271 and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony had died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to living in the desert following Anthony's example, leading his biographer, Athanasius of Alexandria, to write that "the desert had become a city." The Desert Fathers had a major influence on the development of Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Euthymius the Great</span> Armenian Christian abbot and hermit (377–473)

Euthymius the Great was an abbot in Palestine. He is venerated in both Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Tabenna is a Christian community founded in Upper Egypt around 320 by Saint Pachomius. It was the motherhouse of a federation of monasteries known as the Koinonia. At the time of Pachomius's death in 346, there were nine establishments for men and two for women, along with two or three thousand "Tabennesites". It is considered the first major model of cenobitic monasticism in early Christianity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coptic monasticism</span> Claimed to be the original form of monasticism

Coptic monasticism was a movement in the Coptic Orthodox Church to create a holy, separate class of person from layman Christians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theodorus of Tabennese</span>

Theodorus of Tabennese, also known as Abba Theodorus and Theodore the Sanctified was the spiritual successor to Pachomius and played a crucial role in preventing the first Christian cenobitic monastic federation from collapsing after the death of its founder.

Monasticism is a way of life where a person lives outside of society, under religious vows.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chariton the Confessor</span> 4th-century Anatolian Christian saint

Chariton the Confessor was an early Christian monk. He is venerated as a saint by both the Western and Eastern Churches. His remembrance day is September 28.

Saint Hilarion Monastery, at the archaeological site of Tell Umm el-'Amr, is an ancient Christian monastery close to Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip, Palestine.

Isaiah the Solitary, also known as Isaiah of Gaza, Isaias the Solitary, Abba Isaiah, or possibly also Isaiah of Scetis, was a Christian ascetic and monastic writer known from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and various Palestinian Miaphysite sources. He is canonized as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church, with his feast day on the 11th day of the month Abib (Epip) in the Coptic calendar.

Abba Silvanus was a Palestinian Christian monk who lived during the 4th and 5th centuries. He was one of the Desert Fathers.

Mount Colzim, also known as the Inner Mountain of Saint Anthony, is a mountain in Red Sea Governorate, Egypt. It was the final residency of Anthony the Great from about AD 311, when he was 62 years of age, to his death in 356.

Abba Pitirim of Porphyry or Pitirim of Egypt was an Egyptian Christian monastic and saint of the fourth century, and a disciple of Anthony the Great. His feast day is November 29 in the Orthodox Church.

Seridus of Gaza was a Palestinian abbot of a monastery that was later named after him. He was disciple of the hermits Barsanuphius and John the Prophet and is venerated as saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church on 13 August.

Zeno the Prophet, also known as Zeno the Wonderworker was an Egyptian monk and a Desert Father. He was disciple of the hermit Silvanus of Gaza, became the spiritual guide of the famous Georgian Peter the Iberian and is venerated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church on 19 June.

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