diff --git a/doc/languages-frameworks/vim.section.md b/doc/languages-frameworks/vim.section.md
index 563fdf45a861..6d7efe455b13 100644
--- a/doc/languages-frameworks/vim.section.md
+++ b/doc/languages-frameworks/vim.section.md
@@ -277,9 +277,6 @@ my-vim =
        copy paste output2 here
     ];
 
-    # Pathogen would be
-    # vimrcConfig.pathogen.knownPlugins = plugins; # plugins
-    # vimrcConfig.pathogen.pluginNames = ["tlib"];
   };
 ```
 
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2211.section.xml b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2211.section.xml
index 958000687810..79bba37a1358 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2211.section.xml
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/from_md/release-notes/rl-2211.section.xml
@@ -121,6 +121,14 @@
           this version for the entire lifecycle of the 22.11 release.
         </para>
       </listitem>
+      <listitem>
+        <para>
+          (Neo)Vim can not be configured with
+          <literal>configure.pathogen</literal> anymore to reduce
+          maintainance burden. Use <literal>configure.packages</literal>
+          instead.
+        </para>
+      </listitem>
     </itemizedlist>
   </section>
   <section xml:id="sec-release-22.11-notable-changes">
diff --git a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2211.section.md b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2211.section.md
index 1a14885ed8c3..50bf15ca197d 100644
--- a/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2211.section.md
+++ b/nixos/doc/manual/release-notes/rl-2211.section.md
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ In addition to numerous new and upgraded packages, this release has the followin
 - PHP 7.4 is no longer supported due to upstream not supporting this
   version for the entire lifecycle of the 22.11 release.
 
+- (Neo)Vim can not be configured with `configure.pathogen` anymore to reduce maintainance burden.
+Use `configure.packages` instead.
+
 <!-- To avoid merge conflicts, consider adding your item at an arbitrary place in the list instead. -->
 
 ## Other Notable Changes {#sec-release-22.11-notable-changes}
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/tests.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/tests.nix
index 1e46a59f563b..3163041dabfe 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/tests.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/neovim/tests.nix
@@ -150,8 +150,8 @@ rec {
   # and do `:call deoplete#enable()`. It will print an error if the remote
   # plugin is not registered.
   test_nvim_with_remote_plugin = neovim.override {
-    extraName = "-pathogen-remote";
-    configure.pathogen.pluginNames = with vimPlugins; [ deoplete-nvim ];
+    extraName = "-remote";
+    configure.packages.foo.start = with vimPlugins; [ deoplete-nvim ];
   };
 
   # only neovim makes use of `requiredPlugins`, test this here
diff --git a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
index 14dbc43d3cd9..1170771c62a1 100644
--- a/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
+++ b/pkgs/applications/editors/vim/plugins/vim-utils.nix
@@ -51,9 +51,6 @@ vim-with-plugins in PATH:
       # full documentation at github.com/MarcWeber/vim-addon-manager
     ];
 
-    # there is a pathogen implementation as well, but its startup is slower and [VAM] has more feature
-    # vimrcConfig.pathogen.knownPlugins = vimPlugins; # optional
-    # vimrcConfig.pathogen.pluginNames = ["vim-addon-nix"];
   };
 
 WHAT IS A VIM PLUGIN?
@@ -103,7 +100,7 @@ It might happen than a plugin is not known by vim-pi yet. We encourage you to
 contribute to vim-pi so that plugins can be updated automatically.
 
 
-CREATING DERVITATIONS AUTOMATICALLY BY PLUGIN NAME
+CREATING DERIVATIONS AUTOMATICALLY BY PLUGIN NAME
 ==================================================
 Most convenient is to use a ~/.vim-scripts file putting a plugin name into each line
 as documented by [VAM]'s README.md
@@ -277,24 +274,18 @@ let
   }:
 
     let
-      /* pathogen mostly can set &rtp at startup time. Its used very commonly.
+      /* pathogen mostly can set &rtp at startup time. Deprecated.
       */
       pathogenImpl = let
         knownPlugins = pathogen.knownPlugins or vimPlugins;
 
         plugins = findDependenciesRecursively (map (pluginToDrv knownPlugins) pathogen.pluginNames);
 
-        pluginsEnv = buildEnv {
-          name = "pathogen-plugin-env";
-          paths = map (x: "${x}/${rtpPath}") plugins;
+        pathogenPackages.pathogen = lib.warn "'pathogen' attribute is deprecated. Use 'packages' instead in your vim configuration" {
+          start = plugins;
         };
       in
-      ''
-        let &rtp.=(empty(&rtp)?"":',')."${vimPlugins.vim-pathogen.rtp}"
-        execute pathogen#infect('${pluginsEnv}/{}')
-
-        filetype indent plugin on | syn on
-      '';
+        nativeImpl pathogenPackages;
 
       /* vim-plug is an extremely popular vim plugin manager.
       */
diff --git a/pkgs/test/vim/default.nix b/pkgs/test/vim/default.nix
index 2beb75391ead..73c25ae20cb8 100644
--- a/pkgs/test/vim/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/test/vim/default.nix
@@ -23,11 +23,6 @@ in
     vimrcConfig.vam.pluginDictionaries = [{name = "vim-nix"; }];
   };
 
-  test_vim_with_vim_nix_using_pathogen = vim_configurable.customize {
-    name = "vim-with-vim-addon-nix-using-pathogen";
-    vimrcConfig.pathogen.pluginNames = [ "vim-nix" ];
-  };
-
   test_vim_with_vim_nix_using_plug = vim_configurable.customize {
     name = "vim-with-vim-addon-nix-using-plug";
     vimrcConfig.plug.plugins = with vimPlugins; [ vim-nix ];