Monasticism in St. Jerome's letters and lives of the hermits : part 3

Abstract

Community monasticism was probably most common in the East. To Pachomius, its real founder Jerome makes in the Letters only a stray reference in 127.5. It was roughly of two kinds: that which tried to unite solitude with organised community life - the monks lived in cells but met at fixed hour for prayers and for meals; and that of monastics living together in community without any obligation of solitude. The former was the type current in Egypt; the latter was adopted by Jerome and Paula in their monasteries at Bethlehem.