Pre-Augustinian Era
361 - 423
In 360 in Sitifis (Setif), a small group of devout Chalcedonians meet in a church on the edge of town. All of them wish to devote their lives to God, but the priesthood seems too connected to the world and hermitage far too distant. After some discussion, Timasius brings up the idea of founding a communal monastery such as that founded by St. Pachomius in Egypt, and they agree that it is the best option. They sell their worldly goods and move to a small village in the mountains west of Zarae (Ain Azel). The villagers are somewhat confused, but the monks are nice enough and don’t steal anything or cause trouble, so they let them be.
By the winter of 361, the monks had raised a chapel and a small lodge, subdivided into two-man cells, at the peak of the mountain above the village, Mount Maius[1]. Over the following years they tend to a small series of farms in the isolated valley north of the mountain to support themselves and begin preaching to the predominantly pagan population of the surrounding countryside. They find success, and begin building churches in the closest villages and instructing priests in the African Rite. Word of the monastery spreads, and over time a number of hermits living in the desert and hills tire of their lonesome existence or decide God can also be found amongst people and decide to join them[2].
Mount Maius is important not because it succeeded in converting great numbers of people--which it did not, having a direct impact only on the small number of villages surrounding it--but because it established the footprint for future cenobitic monasticism in the region. In future years, many more communal monasteries were founded and some of the existing hermits coalesced into settled establishments. These early monasteries were devoted entirely to prayer and contemplation when possible--i.e. when under patronage--but the bulk of them had rotating periods of field work and herding to keep themselves fed, establishing the future tradition of monastic labor and business, but did very little else. It should be noted that these early cenobitic monasteries were far from unified and there was no central rule system like that which would emerge in later periods, being very much disparate units separate from each other. Broad characteristics are difficult to make, but generally these monasteries were small complexes surrounded by a small area of monastery-owned land that the monks would work to support themselves. Their sole unifying force was African Rite Chalcedonianism[3], but this was soon to be joined by the Augustinian Rule.
[4]
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[1] I am unsure of the current name for Mt. Maius, but it is the largest mountain in the small chain just north of El Hamma in Algeria
[2] This process of hermetic consolidation was a major factor in the development of cenobitic monasteries in Syria and Egypt, and I see no reason why it would not occur in Africa/Mauretania
[3] There were no Donatist monasteries organized during this period for a number of reasons--most pressingly that many felt adopting monasteries similar to the Chalcedonians would be ‘surrender’ in their ongoing culture war--and so be default all cenobitic monasteries were Chalcedonian. The African Rite was universal during this period and will be elaborated upon later.
[4] My apologies if this comes off a bit rushed, not much really happens before St. Augustine writes his famous Rule. By the way, I’m erecting a butterfly net around St. Augustine himself because Christianity would be almost unrecognizable in a world without him. Hope that doesn’t break immersion, but it’s the only reasonable option.