In this episode we learn about the ancient practice of living as a hermit, and why people did so. We then look at how innovators like St. Anthony of Egypt and St. Pachomius the Great turned this individual experience into a communal one open not just to those who can survive by themselves in the desert, but to anyone wanting a cloistered life of peace and enlightenment. 

Even though from Pachomius came the idea of a monastery, this idea needed to be spread and defended. We will learn how this was done by the foremost Christian scholar of his day, St. Jerome, who went on to establish monastic communities for men and women in Bethlehem. 100 years after St. Jerome, monastic life would be improved further by the ideas and examples of St. Benedict, the great Abbot, and his twin sister, St. Scholastica, the great Abbess. Benedict's Rule would become the code of monks the world over for more than a millennium. The Rule was not only an inspired masterpiece for monks, but it also inspired political leaders like Charlemagne, and brought the governments of Europe one step closer to embracing Democracy and Constitutional government. They also allowed monasticism to become commonplace throughout Western Europe. These monks and their monasteries would lay the foundation to other great Western institutions like the University and the Scientific Method.  

Sources for this episode are...

britannica.com

franciscanmedia.org

etymonline.org

The Life of St. Antony