After its declaration as a permitted religion in 313, Christianity quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire, BTA recalls.
People were baptized en masse, but there was also a superficial attitude towards the rules of the new faith, which required high morality. However, many believers completely dedicated their lives to God and renounced both property and family life. Some of them lived in solitude in deserted places, and their main occupation was fasting and prayer for their own souls and the souls of other people, as well as manual labor, for example, making objects for sale for their modest living. They were called monks (from the Greek - alone, lonely).
From the middle of the 3rd century, monks first in Egypt began to organize themselves in dormitories, then called monasteries.
One of the prominent representatives of early monasticism was the Monk Pimen, later called the Great because of his great monastic feat. He was born in Egypt around 340. From his youth he went to the desert to asceticism with his two brothers. He lived humbly, avoiding showing off his virtuous life, but soon the other monks saw in him a good spiritual mentor. His strict asceticism did not go unnoticed and many monks came to Pimen for advice. He instructed them in simple words, which, however, showed his great wisdom.
Many of his teachings have been preserved, built on the teachings of Jesus Christ about humility, kindness, and love for others. The venerable one said, among other things: "A brother who lives with other brothers should be like a stone statue: when he is insulted, he should not get angry, and when he is praised, he should not be proud". "Malice never drives out malice, but if someone does you harm, do him good, and your good will overcome his malice".
Saint Pimen the Great died around 450.