Theodorus of Tabannese

After the death of St. Pachomius, the popular Theodorus of Tabannese was passed over as a successor for Petronius, who died three months later, appointing Horsiesius. Horsiesius was perceived as a weak leader, drawing opposition from many of the more tenured monks.

Theodorus, who had always been known for the camaraderie he inspired—early in his time at the Pachomian monasteries he had been nicknamed the "brothers' comforter"—went to the monastery at Tabannese, where there were many monks in rebellion against Horsiesius' authority, and tried to calm them down.

Horsiesius resigned in 350, and Theodorus became the leader of the family of the nine Pachomian monasteries (although he called himself the "vicar" of Horsiesius). Although he had been demoted in his youth by Pachomius for a combination of ambition and insufficient discipline over the monks under him—or perhaps because he was aware of these qualities—he ran the monasteries effectively for 18 years by frequently re-organizing them and moving ambitious leaders around to new posts.

Some of Theodorus' sermons have survived, recorded by his followers, as well as some of his letters, written in Coptic. Three letters that we believe he wrote himself have survived, in which he quotes Scripture and gives advice to the monasteries on topics such as maintaining asceticism, vigilance against sin, and celebrating Passover.

We also know about him from other references. St. Athanasius (c.298 - 373), patriarch of Alexandria, writing a letter to Horsiesius, said of Theodorus:

I have seen your fellow-worker and father of the brethren, Theodore, and in him the master of our father Pachomios. And I rejoiced to see the sons of the Church, and they made me glad by their presence. But the Lord is their recompenser. And as Theodore was about to leave me for you, he said to me: "Remember me." And I said to him: "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten, yea let my tongue cleave to my throat if I remember thee not" [Ps. 137:6, LXX.].

It might have comforted Horsiesius that Athanasius thought so highly of Theodorus. When Theodorus died in 568, Athanasius wrote another letter to Horsiesius, praising the deceased, and talking about how the two of them worked well together. In fact, Horsiesius was Theodorus' successor. Horsiesius ran the monasteries until his death in 387.

A lot of what we know about Pachomius and the monastery system he created comes from a later writer, Dionysius Exiguus, who took it upon himself to translate hundreds of religious works into Latin. He was also the man who created the "modern calendar"; I'll explain further tomorrow.