Pachomian Monastery Places – References
This chart lists the positions of a Pachomian monastery in the left column. In the right column, the paragraphs that discuss this position are supplied. The numbers are taken from Pachomian Koinonia, Vol. 2: Pachomian Chronicles and Rules, trans. Armand Veilleux (Kalamazoo, Mich.: Cistercian Studies, 1981), pp. 145-67.
| Place | Pachomian Rule reference numbers |
| 1. Synaxis: serves as church and central gathering place | 3,4,5,9,10,11,16,18,23,27,28,49,51, 61, 91, 100, 102, 132, 135, 141 |
| 2. Refactory/Dining hall: where meals are served | 9,28,29,37,49, 91, 100, 102, 135 |
| 3. Alcove: where books are kept; storage | 82, 101 |
| 4. Kitchen | 41, 80 |
| 5. Bakery | 116 |
| 6. Oven | 117 |
| 7. Infirmary | 42,43,45,53 |
| 8. Shops | 111 |
| 9. House/Dorm/Cells | 3,15,19,26,28,32,43,49, 65, 78, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 107, 112, 114, 115, 122, 123, 126, 134, 137 |
| 10. Guest House | 49,51 |
| 12. Outer Wall | 84 |
| 13. Orchard | 73 |
| 14. Fields | 24, 73, 84, 85, 87, 102, 142 |
| 15. Secluded Residences | 24 |
| 16. Boat | 46, 118, 142 |
| 17. Door | 1,51,52,53 |
| 19. Altar | 17, 131 |
| 20. Store Room | 49 |
| 21. Garden | 71 |
| 22. Mountain | 127, 128 |
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One Response so far
Johannes Grossmann on 03 Jan 2009 at 3:07 pm #
Dear producer of the nice homepage “Fourth century Christianity”
Since I am quite deep involved in research on the rule and the life (in all languages) of Saint Pachomios I want to note that there is very few evidence in both texts to locate exactly the position of different buildings. The only feature we can estimate is that the church would have been somehow in the center of the enclosing walls since it is the most important building in the life of the monks. But it would not have been too far from the entrance gate, since Pachomios did allow to foreign (non Pachmian) monks only to attend the church and not to proceed to other areas of the monastery.
Concerning the other buildings, we can only gain an idea of their relative position. In other words, which buildings stood in the neighbourhood to one another, as you have done already with the refectory, the kitchen, the bacery and the oven, but should they not be in closer distance from the cells?
What I miss in the plan is the bath, which is mentioned several times in the rules, or is it ment, that it would have been included in the building of the infirmary, which I do not believe. Another question is what should be the alcove and why should it be in the church?
One final question. Where did you find information on the so called “guest house wall”? According to my reading there is no mention of such a wall.
In any case your plan is a nice attempt to try to make a picture on how the Pachomian monasteries might have looked like. But I believe that for the moment the research ist at the beginning of the every day life of the Pachomian monasteries.
Cincerely
Johannes Grossmann