From Monachos.net
Translated by Esmeralda Ramirez de Jennings
Edited by the Revd D.R. Jennings, with corrections by the Monachos.net Library Project
No matter how sharp or sparkling a sword can be, it will end up covered by rust and will lose the splendour of its beauty if it stays for a long time in its scabbard. This is why, when I was afflicted by the death of the saint and venerable Paula (I was not working opposing the precept of the Apostle (1 Thessalonians 4.13-18
), but rather I was aspiring eagerly to see comforted the great number of those whose his death had deprived them of support), I accepted to receive the books that the man of God, the priest Silvan, used to send me. He himself had received them from Alexandria with the purpose of giving them to me to be translated. Since he told me that at the monasteries of Thebaid and at the monastery of Metanoia (this is the monastery of Canope, whose name has been happily replaced by a term that means 'conversion'), many Latins live that ignore Coptic and Greek -- languages in which the Rule of Pachomius, Theodore and Orosius have been written. These men are the ones who established the foundation of the coenobia in the Thebaid region and in Egypt, according to the order of God and of an angel sent by him with this design.
After having been silent during a time in which I was enduring my pain, I was urged to start working by the priest Leoncio and other brothers were sent to me for that. So, after they sent a secretary to me, I dictated in our language the rules that had been translated from Coptic to Greek. I did this to obey, I will not say to the pleas, but rather the orders of those great men, as well as for breaking my prolonged silence, under favourable auspices. Like they used to say: I had come back to my old works and I also attempted a satisfaction for the soul of that holy woman that had not ceased to burn in the love for the monastic life and of meditating about the earth what I was going to contemplate in heaven; besides, the venerable virgin of Christ, her daughter Eustoquia, would have a place to provide rules of conduct to her sisters, and our brothers would follow the examples of the Egyptian monks, I mean from Tabennesi. These monks have priests, financial accountants, people who rotate weekly to be in charge of the choir and the altar, subaltern officers, and family chiefs, who are the chairmen. Each house gathers around forty brothers that have to obey their chairmen. According to the number of brothers, a monastery has thirty or forty houses that are united in tribes or groups of three or four. Those who live in these groups go to work together and succeed each other by rotating during weekly service.
Whoever had joined the monastery first, has also the first place while sitting, walking, chanting, eating and receiving communion at the church. It is not the age of the brothers that determines their position but the date of their entering the profession.
In their cells they do not have more than a door mat and the following objects: two tunics (a kind of an Egyptian sleeveless dress) and a third used tunic that they use to sleep or work, and a linen mantle, a goat skin which they call melota, two cowls, a small belt of linen, shoes and a cane as a walking companion.
The sick are recovered thanks to the admirable cares and copious meals. The ones who are healthy are benefited by a more severe abstinence; they fast twice a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, except during the time from Easter to Pentecost. The rest of the days, the ones who desire to eat after six and in the evening they set the table for those who work, the elders, and the children; and they do this after six because of the intense heat. Some eat a little the second time, some are satisfied with just one meal: breakfast or dinner. Some take just a little bit of bread and leave the room where the food is served. Everybody eats at the same time. When someone does not want to go to the table, he receives in his cell only bread, water and salt, once a day or twice a day depending on what he wishes.
The brothers who practice the same art congregate in a house under the authority of a chairman. For example: the ones that knit linen get together in a group, the ones that make the door mats constitute just one family. The same thing happens with the tailors, the ones that manufacture small carts, the workers, the shoemakers; these groups are governed each by their chairman, and each week they settle accounts to the priest of the monastery.
The priests of all of the monasteries have just one boss that dwells in the monastery of Pbow. At Easter, everybody, except those whose presence is indispensable in their monasteries, get together around him, so that almost fifty thousand men celebrate together the celebration of the Passion of the Lord.
In the month of Mesori, namely August, as an example of the jubilee year (Leviticus 25) there are days in which everybody is forgiven for their sins, and the ones that have had an altercation also reconcile. Then they designate the chiefs, the financial accountants, the chairmen, and the subaltern officers of the different monasteries according to their needs. The ones from the Thebaid still say that Pachomius, Cornelius and Syrus (this last one is still alive and they say that he is more than 110 years old), learned from the mouth of an angel a mysterious language that allows them to write and to communicate with the help of a spiritual alphabet, insinuating under certain signs and symbols, hidden sentiments. We have translated these letters into our language, which have also been read among the Coptic and Greek monks, and when we found those same signs (from the mystic alphabet) we have copied them.
We have imitated the simplicity of the Coptic language, moved by the cares of giving a faithful interpretation, not wanting to produce one using fancy words that the laity would not understand because doing so would create a false idea about the character of those apostolic men who were completely impregnated by the grace of the Spirit.
Regarding the other things that are in the contents of their treatises, I have not wanted to write about them. I did this for those who are delighted by the love of the holy 'Koinonia' so that they will learn directly from the original authors and drink from the source itself instead of doing it in the brooks that are born from it.
Read the Rule
- Having read this introduction by Jerome, go on to the complete text of the Rule of St Pachomius.