Pachomius

Pachomius, an Egyptian monk of the 4th century, the first to substitute for the free asceticism of the solitary recluse a regular cenobiotic system. He was born about 292, and about 340 founded the first monastic institution at Tabenna, an island in the Nile, where ere long there were as many as 1400 monks. He also established the first convent for nuns, which was under the presidency of his sister, and he laboured with so much diligence and zeal that at his death, according to Palladius, not fewer than 7000 monks and nuns were under his inspection. The writings ascribed to Pachomius are not only worthless in themselves, but of dubious authenticity. See the article MONACHISM.