The cenobitic tradition is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often the community belongs to a religious order and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by rules. The opposite, to live as a hermit, is called eremetic.

Cenobitic monasticism exists in various religions, though Buddhist and Christian cenobitic monasticism are the most prominent.

Christian cenobitic monasticism started in Egypt. Originally, all Christian monks were hermits, and especially in the Middle East this continued to be very common until the decline of Syrian Christianity in the late Middle Ages. But not everybody is fit for solitary life, and numerous cases of hermits losing their grips are reported.

The need for some form of organized spiritual guidance was obvious, and around 300 St. Anthony started to organize his many followers in what was to become the first Christian monastery. Soon the Egyptian desert abounded with similar institutions.

The idea caught on, and other places followed:

• Mar Awgin founded a monastery on Mt. Izla above Nisibis in Mesopotamia (~350), and from this monastery the cenobitic tradition spread in Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Georgia and even India and China.

• Mar Saba organized the monks of the Judean Desert in a monastery close to Betlehem (483), and this is considered the mother of all monsteries of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

• St. Benedict of Nursia founded the monastery of Monte Cassino in Italy (529), which was the seed of Roman Catholic monasticism in general, and of the order of Benedict in particular.