monks who formed a community living in a fixed habitation (coenobium) under a chief (abbot or father). Their name is derived from κοινός, common, and βίος, life; and they are opposed to hermits, who live in solitude. Pachomius is admitted to be the institutor of the coenobite Life, as being the first that gave a rule to any community. — Bingham, Orig. Ecclesiastes 7:2; Coleman, Ancient Christianity, ch. 7, § 5. (See MONACHISM).