[3] In Lutheranism, he is remembered as a renewer of the church, along with his contemporary (and fellow desert saint), Anthony of Egypt on 17 January.

By Greek folk etymology, it was sometimes interpreted as "broad-shouldered" from παχύς "thick, large" and ὦμος "shoulder".

[5] According to his hagiography, at age 21, Pachomius was swept up against his will in a Roman army recruitment drive, a common occurrence during this period of turmoil and civil war.

Here he first encountered local Christians, who customarily brought food and comfort daily to the conscripted troops.

Pachomius then came into contact with several well known ascetics and decided to pursue that path under the guidance of the hermit named Palaemon (317).

[7] An earlier ascetic named Macarius had created a number of proto-monasteries called lavra, or cells, where holy men who were physically or mentally unable to achieve the rigors of Anthony's solitary life would live in a community setting.

Until then, Christian asceticism had been solitary or eremitic with male or female monastics living in individual huts or caves and meeting only for occasional worship services.

Pachomius created the community or cenobitic organization, in which male or female monastics lived together and held their property in common under the leadership of an abbot or abbess.

[10] Both of these are believed to have initially been abandoned villages, which were then repurposed for Pachomius’ vision of his Koinonia (network of monasteries).

[13] Common meals were provided, but those who wished to absent themselves from them were encouraged to do so, and bread, salt, and water were placed in their cells.

During an epidemic (probably plague), Pachomius called the monks, strengthened their faith, and failed to appoint his successor.

[9] Within a generation, cenobic practices spread from Egypt to Palestine and the Judean Desert, Syria, North Africa and eventually Western Europe.