Editing Pachomius the Great (section)

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Bucharest - Biserica Sf. Anton 06.jpg|thumb|Painting of Pachomius the Great in the [[Curtea Veche Church]], [[Bucharest]].]]

Pachomius continued as abbot to the cenobites for some thirty years. During an epidemic (probably [[Bubonic plague|plague]]), Pachomius called the monks, strengthened their faith, and failed to appoint his successor. Pachomius then died on [[Pashons 14 (Coptic Orthodox liturgics)|14 Pashons]], 64 [[Era of Martyrs|AM]] (9 May 348 AD).

By the time Pachomius died, eight monasteries and several hundred monks followed his guidance.<ref name=huddleston/> Within a generation, cenobic practices spread from Egypt to Palestine and the Judean Desert, Syria, North Africa and eventually Western Europe.<ref>[[Kenneth W. Harl]] (2001), ''The World of Byzantium'', {{ISBN|1-56585-090-4}} (audio recording)</ref> The number of monks, rather than the number of monasteries, may have reached 7000.<ref>[[Peter Brown (historian)|Peter Brown]] (Norton, 1971), ''The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150–750'', pp. 99</ref><ref>[[Philip Rousseau]] (University of California Press, Berkeley 1985), ''Pachomius: the Making of a Community in Fourth-Century Egypt'', pp. 74–75 {{ISBN|0-52005048-7}}</ref>

His reputation as a holy man has endured. As mentioned above, several liturgical calendars commemorate Pachomius. Among many miracles attributed to Pachomius, that though he had never learned the Greek or Latin tongues, he sometimes miraculously spoke them.<ref name=butler/> Pachomius is also credited with being the first Christian to use and recommend use of a [[prayer rope]].