Primary source · Coptic & Greek
The Lives of Pachomius (Bohairic & Greek)
Pachomian tradition (first generation of disciples) · late 4th century
What this text is
The community's own memory of its founder — the angel's tablet, the building of Tabennesi, and Theodore the beloved disciple who held the federation together.
Public-domain translations
Bohairic Life (literal gloss)
Theodore, whom our father Pachomius loved above the rest for the purity of his soul, was set to comfort and confirm the brothers in their afflictions; and the brothers called him their father after their father.
Manuscript witnesses
Sahidic & Bohairic Lives; Greek Vita Prima
5th c. onward (medieval copies)The Life survives in interlocking Coptic and Greek recensions, none simply original.
Provenance
The Thebaid koinonia, 4th–5th century — the community remembers its founder
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Pachomian Koinonia, vol. 1: The Life of Saint PachomiusArmand Veilleux, 1980Translations of the Bohairic and Greek Lives.
- Sancti Pachomii Vitae GraecaeFrançois Halkin, 1932The critical edition of the Greek Lives.