By great good fortune, then, the studious occupations
which did so much to soften monkish austerities in the
Middle Ages, were recognised early as needful to the system.
Even the ascetics by the Red Sea and in Nitria did not
deprive themselves of all literary solace, although the more
fanatical would abjure it, and many would be too poor to
have it. The Rule of Pachomius, founder of the settlements
of Tabenna, required the brethren's books to be kept in a
cupboard and regulated lending them. These libraries are
referred to in Benedict's own Rule. We hear of St. Pachomius
destroying a copy of Origen, because the teaching in it was
obnoxious; of Abba Bischoi writing an ascetic work, a copy of
which is extant; of anchorites under St. Macarius of Alexandria
transcribing books; and of St. Jerome collecting a
library summo studio et labore, copying manuscripts and studying
Hebrew at his hermitage even after a formal renunciation
of the classics, and then again, at the end of his life, bringing
together another library at Bethlehem monastery, and
instructing boys in grammar and in classic authors. Basil
the Great, when founding eremitical settlements on the
river Iris in Pontus, spent some time in making selections
from Origen.
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