Anthony was a selfish hermit. Instead of staying within society to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), he withdrew to a life of solitude. Although his intention was to get closer to God, he actually got further from God by abandoning His people (Psalm 133:1). The hermits saw the German invasions occurring at the time as a judgment of God so instead of seeing the evangelism opportunity that the bishop of Rome eventually recognized (even for selfish motives), Anthony and the hermits ran away to live in caves and be “holy.”
It is unfortunate that many felt that the hermits received special revelation from God in their solitude and began visiting them for advice, as if God is not powerful enough to give us a message unless we are being really holy and quietly listening. Although meditating to hear God’s voice is popular in our culture, I am not aware of any place in the Bible where God was trying to talk to someone, but that person was not paying attention so God could not get His message through. Imagine the silliness of thinking that God wanted to tell Noah to build an ark, but whenever He tried, Noah was just too busy.
Pachomius, though, saw the value of community, but still encouraged withdrawal from society. The purpose was to still get holier by getting away from the society that we are commanded to evangelize. The positive aspects of this community were accountability and encouragement. If one is alone, there is no one there watching over you or assisting you through troubles. What a glorious blessing it would have been if these monks even more actively blessed secular society. One could be not like the world, but still live in it. One does not have to live a life of poverty to be holy or to cure materialism. This form of monasticism feels almost Pharasaic.
The best value that a contemporary Christian can discover through the study of these forms of monasticism is not to do it. To do so abandons our evangelistic calling and may open the door works-based salvation.
