Skete

Skete communities usually consist of a number of small cells or caves that act as the living quarters with a centralized church or chapel.

Another problem is that early accounts of monastic life are greatly exaggerated, leading some scholars to calculate that if these reports were taken at face value the monasteries were larger than the entire populations of the countries where they were founded.

Early communities began forming, with the monks building small one- or two-room cells or occupying caves.

Eventually, these small communities would draw more people, leading to the need for a simple, communal infrastructure.

The monks would work together to build a church, then retreat to the solitude of their cells or caves to embrace the (at least partial) hermetic and ascetic lifestyle.

[citation needed] The Scetis Valley in Egypt, now known as the Wadi al-Natrun, is 22 miles long and lies west of the Nile River in the Libyan Desert.

Despite the low elevation and water resources, the Scetis Valley was a dangerous place; early writings are replete with travelers who went astray and died trying to cross it.

Instead, the Scetis monasteries were a collection of hermits who for the most part lived separately, each in his own cell, but who would come together for weekly prayers and holy days.

In the early days of the Skete monasteries there was usually a central house for communion and weekend Mass, but the monks did not live there.

It is difficult to be exact as to what sort of daily routine was most common because it seems the monks had some freedom in choosing how to spend their time during the week, and also because almost all monks worked and sometimes these day jobs would be seasonal, or occasionally make it necessary to meet with merchants (i.e., basket weaving or rope making).

Typically a monk would wake at midnight (approximately) and pray the night office, then meditate till dawn.

He did not recite the rest of the offices of the day but instead performed his manual labor while meditating, mixing the menial with the spiritual.

During the ninth hour (after sunrise) a monk would eat his one meal of the day, which usually consisted of two small loaves of bread called paxamatia which together were often less than one pound.

They could be soaked in water to be made softer and seasoned for taste, but few monks had access to resources beyond a bit of salt and perhaps occasionally olive oil.

Records show there were some vegetables such as beans and lentils and even occasionally grapes and fruit, but these were usually reserved for guests or for sick monks in need.

At the end of the meal they would pick up their supplies for the week, including food and materials needed for their day labor and return to their cells.

Monks labored almost continually in their small cells both to make money for the monastery and as a type of daily meditation.

Even Macarius the Great, founder of Egyptian monasticism, was a skilled basket weaver who trained other monks how to weave.

The monks would either take their finished products to the church on the weekends to be sold, or sell them to camel caravans when they passed by their cells.

Many monks, including early church leaders such as Macarius the Great and John the Dwarf, worked as day laborers at local farms during the harvest season.

The Skete monastic style of monasticism fell out of favor with the church at the beginning of the Middle Ages.