MONASTICISM, an ascetic system of living apart from the world (Gr. a monk, from ,u6vos, alone). Monasticism is the attempt to develop and regulate the exercise of asceticism and mysticism (qq.v.). It is by no means a creation of Christianity; long before the Christian era a highly organized monasticism existed in India and other parts of Asia.
(I). Pre-Christian M onasticism.— Greek asceticism and mysticism seem never to have produced a monastic sys tem; but among the Jews, both in Judaea and in Alexandria, this development took place. In Judaea the Essenes before the time of Christ lived a fully organized mo nastic life (see Schilrer, Jewish People, ii. §30) ; and the same is true in to the Therapeutae in the neighbourhood of Alexandria (the authenticity of Philo's De Vita contemplativa, describing their life, is again recogriized by scholars).
A general sketch of pre-Christian asceticism and monasticism, with indication of the chief authorities, is given in 0. Zockler's Askese and Allonchtum (1897) pp. 32-135. This account is epitomized by J. 0. Hannay, Spirit and Origin of Christian Monasticism (1993), app. i.: the view now common among scholars is there maintained that these pre-Christian realizations of the monastic idea had no influence on the rise and development of Christian monasticism.
(2). Beginnings of Christian Monasticism.—The practice of asceticism asserted itself at an early date in Christian life: men and women abstained from marriage, from flesh meat, from the use of intoxicating drink, and devoted themselves to prayer, re ligious exercises and works of charity (S. Schiwietz, Das morgen ldndische Monchtum, 1904, pt. i. ; J. 0. Hannay, op. cit. chs. 2, 3). In Egypt, at the middle of the 3rd century, it was the custom for such ascetics to live in solitary retirement in the neighbourhood of the towns and villages. This was the manner of life which St. Anthony (q.v.) began to lead, c. 270; but after years he with drew to a deserted fort on the east bank of the Nile, opposite the Fayum. For 20 years he lived a solitary life until would-be dis ciples called on him to guide them. There are reasons for doubt whether Anthony was actually the first Christian hermit (see E. C. Butler, Lausiac History of Palladius, 1898, p. 23o), but an isolated case does not invalidate the 4th century tradition that Anthony was the father of Christian monasticism.
(3). St. Anthony's Monachism.—The form of monastic life directly derived from St. Anthony was the type that prevailed in
middle and northern Egypt up to the middle of the 5th century. The chief authorities for the study of this type of monastic life are the Vita Antonii (probably by Athanasius), the Historia mon achorum (ed. E. Preuschen), the Historica Lausiaca of Palladius (ed. E. C. Butler)—these works are to be found in Latin in Rosweyd's Vitae Patrum (Migne, Patrol. Lat. LXXIII., LXXIV.) —and the writings of Cassian (English translation by Gibson in "Nicene and Post-Nicene Library.") Antonian monachism grew out of the purely eremitical life, and it retained many of the characteristic features inherited from its origin. The party of travellers whose journey in 394 is narrated in the Historia monachorum found at the chief towns along the Nile, from Lycopolis (Assiut or Siut) to Alexandria, and in the deserts that fringed the river, monastic habitations, sometimes of hermits, sometimes of several monks living together.
(4). St. Pachomius's Monachism.—Very different was the type of monastic life that prevailed in the more southerly parts of Egypt. Here, at Tabennisi near Dendera, about 355-320, St. Pachomius (q.v.) established the first Christian cenobium, or monastery properly so called (see P. Ladeuze, Cenobitisme Pak homien (1898) ; Schiwietz, op. cit. pt. ii. §§ 12-16; E. C. Butler, op. cit. pt. i. p. 234, pt. ii. notes 48, 49, 54, 59). Before his death in 346 Pachomius had established nine monasteries of men and one of women, and after his death other foundations continued to be made in all parts of Egypt, but especially in the south and in Abyssinia. Palladius tells us that (c. 41o) the Pachomian or Tabennesiot monks numbered some 7,000. The life was fully cenobitical, regulated in all details by minute rules, and with prayers and meals in common. Work was done for its own sake, not merely for an occupation, thus marking a new departure in the monastic ideal. St. Pachomius not only inaugurated Christian cenobitical life, but he also was responsible for the creation of the first "religious order." The Coptic abbot Shenout governed on similar lines the great "white monastery," and the ruins still survive near Akhmim. It remained purely Coptic, with no infiltration of Greek ideas or influence (see J. Leipoldt, Schenulte von Atripe, 1903). Egyp tian monachism began to wane after 500, and since the Moham medan occupation it has ever been declining.