Heh. Long ago, wombat tried to figure out whether the lowest-numbered nodes mean anything. (BTW, the lowest-numbered node that physically exists in the database is 1, not 0. Read chromatic's reply in that thread.)

Now, as to age: I believe the oldest writeup is the Everything 2 Idea List, and it's dated October 4, 1999. I think that one's created when the Everything Engine's first installed, so that's probably the dawn of time for the monastery.

Update
I just realized that can't be right. What we need... is the oldest meditation, and it's dated September 30, 1999.