By Bishop Grigorios of Mesaoria
Today our Holy Church honors the memory of Venerable Pachomius the Great, Saint Achilles, Bishop of Larissa, Venerable Kali and Saint Demetrius of Moscow the Wonderworker.
Saint Pachomius the Great was born in Upper Thebaid of Egypt in 290 AD. from pagan parents. When he became an adult, he was recruited along with others, and in order not to escape, they were imprisoned. There he learned the love and charity of Christians and asked to be baptized. Later, he became a monk and a student of the ascetic Palamon. He was convinced that the spiritual help of the monks could be better achieved through the coenobitic system.
After ten years, Pachomius built a monastery and imposed his monastic canon. He founded a Lavra, after arriving at the point to create nine more monastic communities around his own Monastery.
Athanasius the Great was spiritually connected with Saint Pachomius. On Easter 346 AD. due to a pestilence, many monks died, and among them Pachomius the Great. To this day, Orthodox monasticism is based on his legacy.
Source: Church of Cyprus
