قسم الترجمة

Pachomius suffered physically and psychologically for every brick he laid in the construcatioof this monastery and foreach of this followers . journey the path to spiritual per feation.He was constanly plagued by doubts concerning the future of the koinonia, and was also tortured by afear of divine retribution 318 His spiritual life oscillated between his fear of God and his confldence in the mercy and compassion of aloving God .He equated suffering with sanctity. And seemed to have possessed alimited vision whenever God's justice entered the equation . there is atheme of sadness almost

One of unrequited love in pachomius life as he strove to serve and love his un seen God with every fibre of this being but God always seemed to remain just out of this reach . it was in this life as the father superior of the pachomian monasteries that the other side of pachomius' character came to light His care and careand consideration for this monks wasone of this most outstanding aHa ltributes 319 . He regarded himself as their servant in the manner of christ, and placed their welfare before his own .He came to realize that a leader to be successful must lead by example.

Legislate wisely, and be come one with his followers. Pochomius had always enjoyed agood camaraderie with his fellow monks at tabennesi, and as the number of monks and manasteries in cheared, he was sadly to feel the loneliness of the leader as he sought to maintion discipline and his rule there was anather side to pachomius' character which enabled him to cope with the many difficult decisions he was required to make as . father superior . examples of this inculde his refusal to grant amonasric burial toan evil monk 320, and this re fusal to accept ordination to the priesthood 321 Hagiograpy ill served the pachomius of history, as it tended to ex aggerate his sanctity and gloss over his decisions and feelings it placed him on apedestal byond the reach of the world and in so doing dismissed the enormity of this efforts to be come the father superior par excellence he succeeded not because he was asaint but because he was asaint but because he was agreat man . pachomius belonged to the customs values and religious traditions of fourthcentury Egypt.He sould be judgedby the ethos and not by the mores of the twenty – first century .

The desert father would be anathema to to – day's christians . but to the early christians who lived borely tree centuries ofter the brith of christ, they were saints and heroes. Pachomius was one of the most out standing figures of the early Egyption church, whose greethess has rarely been acknowledged. He died from the plague in 364. suffering greet pain and was burried in an unmarked grave . in the heart of the desert . pachomius remained surrounded by an aura of sadness as the god he loved so much always seemed to remain his unseen God .

conclusion

pachomius lived an era daminated by persecution, cultural and ethnic conflict together with political and ecclesiastical intrigues. The perriod was further affected by te presence of bitter and unresolved theological dis putes . and it was atime of great turmoil and uncertainty . During the period of dissension the world of the desert. Fathers envolved to be come aspiritual haven for many egyption christion pachomius spent seven years as an anchorite and became immersed in the cultural and religious raditions of the holy men of te desert their values were to remain with im until

the day he died and were responsible for his be coming adedicated and devout monk to gain an understanding and appreciation of the historical pachomius it has been necessary because of the lack of substantial historical evidence to rely on three main sources pachamian literature, pachomian monasticism and the external in fluences which govetned his development the approach adopted in the thesis was to research and evaluate all the information provided by these sources, and than to makean informed judgment based on the conclusions

reached . chapter one of the thesis was concerned with discussing the development of the egyption nationunder four occupying powers : the Assyrians the persians the Greeks and the Romans . the Assyrians and the persians oppressed and exploited the egyption peopleand plundered the wealth of the nation Both these powers added lihle to religious and cultural traditions of Egypt . but the to succeedingpowers Greece and Rome played important rolesin aiding the development of the cultural economic,agricultural and political ospects of egypt



The ptolemies provided Egypt with three centuries of prosperity and explansion, together with two legacies Hellenism and the city of Alexandria which added new dimensions to the cultural and social traditions of the Egyptian people the effect of Hellenism was to play a vitally important role during the pachomian era, in particular to the world of pachomian monasticism Roman rule followed in the path of the polemies to a large extent, but added a greater degree of political stability due to the presence of the Roman military. It also adied in the development of agriculture and both the ptolemies and the Romans were responsible for indirectly preparoting Egypt for the advent of Christianity.

The Christianzation of Egypt was considered in chapter two under four heading its origins. When and how it reached Egypt the nature of early Egyptian Christianity an the world of the desert fathers for the first twenty years of his life pachomius had lived as part of farming community. Immersed in the traditional values and religious beliefs of pagan Egypt with his conscription in to a colonial Roman army he experienced his first contact with Christianity after his discharge from the army he exper.

His discharge from the army he joined a Christian commune and converted to the Christian faith to gain and understanding of the important role Christianity was to play in the life of pachomius it was he ccessary to discuss the origins nature and evolution of early Egyptian Christianity chapter two dealt in some detail with these issues. The origins of Egyptian Christianity chapter two dealt in some detail with these issues. The origins of Egyptian Christianity remain a contentious issue and four theories were dis cussed the conclusion reached was that no historically acceptable explanation had .

Been discovered exactly when christanity entered Egypt still remained a subject for debate pachomius as acopt would have accepted the pious coptic Christian belief that the presence of the holy family in Egypt was responsible for the advent of Christianity in to their country. The most important issue dis cussed was the evolution of the Christian teaching from that provided by the zealous but not necessarily well in formed missionaries to that proclaimed by the Alexandria church. Bi shop Demetrius had to a degree institutionalized the church and had also to some extent condified its doctrines it was not an ideal religious situation, but pachomius gained great help from the world of the desert fathers.

Chapter two also considered in detail this desert spiritual haven because it played such a vital role in moulding the character and spirituality of pachomius the ethos of the desert fathers symbolized the emerging spirituality of the Egyptian people and it was to become an integral part of pachomian monastricism it was a world part dominated by ascesis renunciation solitude prayer and a constant searvh for God it was a virtual purgatory which offered no material rewards but promised a union wit God and the world of the sacred pachomius lived there for seven years enduring great hard ship both mental and physical and emerged a hardened dedicated christian to gain an understanding of this world chapter two dis cussed the lives of a number of individual desert fathers in particular their unique sense of spirituality chapter three offered a history of the life of pachomius relying onth pachomain virtue the paralipomena and the

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