Church history · 300–1400
Monasticism
From the Egyptian desert fathers of the 4th century to Mount Athos and the Russian lavras.
Origins
St Anthony the Great (c. 251–356) is regarded as the father of eremitic monasticism and St Pachomius (c. 292–348) as the founder of cenobitic monasteries in Egypt. St Basil the Great gave monasticism the rules that shaped it in the East.
Spread
Monasticism spread to Palestine (the lavras of St Sabbas), Syria, Constantinople (the Studion monastery, whose typikon underlies the Russian rules) and Mount Athos (from the 10th century).
In Rus
The Kiev Caves Lavra (1051) became the model for Russian monasteries. In the 14th century St Sergius of Radonezh revived the common life; his disciples founded dozens of monasteries in the Russian north.