CENOBITE (from κοινός common, and βίος life), one of a religious order who live in a convent, or in community; in opposition to an anchorite or hermit, who lives in solitude. Fleury refers the institution of cenobites to the times of
the apostles, making it a sort of imitation of the ordinary lives of the faithful at Jerusalem. But St Pachomius is ordinarily acknowledged as the institutor of the cenobite life, as being the first who gave a rule to any community.