<P> Hermitism never died out though, but was reserved only for those advanced monks who had worked out their problems within a cenobitic monastery . The idea caught on, and other places followed: </P> <Ul> <Li> Upon his return from the Council of Sardica, Saint Athanasius established the first Christian monastery in Europe circa 344 near modern - day Chirpan in Bulgaria . </Li> <Li> Saint Eugenios 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 . </Li> <Li> Saint Saba organized the monks of the Judean Desert in a monastery close to Bethlehem (483), and this is considered the mother of all monasteries of the Eastern Orthodox churches . </Li> <Li> Saint 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 Saint Benedict in particular . </Li> <Li> The Carthusian Order was founded by Saint Bruno at La Grande Chartreuse, from which the religious Order takes its name, in the 11th century as an eremitical community, and remains the motherhouse of the Order . </Li> <Li> Saint Jerome and Saint Paula decided to go live a hermit's life in Bethlehem and founded several monasteries in the Holy Land . This way of life inspired the foundation of the Order of Saint Jerome in Spain and Portugal . The monastery of Saint Mary of Parral, in Segovia, is the motherhouse of the Order . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Upon his return from the Council of Sardica, Saint Athanasius established the first Christian monastery in Europe circa 344 near modern - day Chirpan in Bulgaria . </Li> <Li> Saint Eugenios 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 . </Li>

Who founded the first monastery ever in the history of christianity