Coptic monasticism is said to be the original form of monasticism as St. Anthony of Egypt became the first one to be called "monk" (Gr: μοναχός) and he was the first to establish a Christian monastery which is now known as the Monastery of Saint Anthony at the base of Mount Colzim. St. Anthony's Monastery (also known as the Monastery of Abba Antonious) is the oldest Christian monastery in the world. Although Saint Anthony's way of life was focused on solitarity, Saint Pachomius the Cenobite, a Copt from Upper Egypt, established communal monasticism in his monasteries in upper Egypt which laid the basic monastic structure for many of the monasteries today in many monastic orders, even outside of Coptic Orthodoxy. Origins Institutional Christian monasticism seems to have begun in the deserts in 4th century AD Egypt as a kind of living martyrdom. Scholars such as Lester K. Little attribute the rise of monasticism at this time to the immense changes in the church that had been brought about by Constantine's acceptance of Christianity as the main Roman religion. This ended the position of Christians as a small group that believed itself to be the godly elite. In response a new more advanced form of dedication was developed to preserve a nucleus of the dedicated. The end of persecution also meant that martyrdom was no longer an option to prove one's piety. Instead the long-term "martyrdom" of the ascetic became common. Many Egyptian Christians went to the desert during the 3rd century, and remained there to pray and work and dedicate their lives to seclusion and worship of God. This was the beginning of the monastic movement, which was organized by Anthony the Great, Saint Paul, the world's first anchorite, Saint Macarius the Great and Saint Pachomius the Cenobite in the 4th century. St. Pachomius Pachomius established his first monastery between 318 and 323 at Tabennisi, Egypt, and when it grew too large, his second one, Pabau monastery, was built in Faou. Pachomius spent most of his time at Pabau. By the time of his death in 345, one count estimates there were 3000 monasteries dotting Egypt from north to south. Within a generation after his death, this number grew to 7000 and then expanding out of Egypt into Palestine and the Judea Desert, Syria, North Africa and eventually Western Europe. Monasticism Christian monasticism was born in Egypt and was instrumental