St Paul of Thebes, the first Christian hermit, is venerated today in both the West and the East.
From the West:
HERE FOLLOWETH THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL THE FIRST HERMIT
St Paul which was the first hermit as St. Jerome writeth, was in the time of Decius and Valerianus, emperors, the year of the incarnation of our Lord two hundred and fifty-six. This holy man, St. Paul, saw men for Christian faith cruelly tormented, wherefore he fled into the desert.
Among whom he saw two cruelly tormented. The first for that he abode firmly in his faith, the judge did do anoint all his body with honey and did do bind his hands behind him on his back, and so did him be set in the heat of the sun for to be bitten and stung of flies and wasps.
That other that was young he made him to be in a right soft bed between two sheets, among flowers and delectable roses and herbs sweet smelling, and therein he was bounden so that he might not move him. After, he made an harlot, a ribald, come to him alone for to touch his members and his body, to move to lechery. Finally, when the voluptuosity of his flesh surmounted him, and he might not defend himself ne his members, he bit off a piece of his tongue and spit it in her visage, which always enticed him to lechery by touching and by kissings, and so he voided the temptation fleshly, and the ribauld also, and deserved to have laud and victory.
In this time St. Paul, tofore said, was young, about sixteen years of age, and dwelt in Thebaid which is a part of Egypt, with his sister Maurice. And when he saw the persecutions of Christian men, he departed and became an hermit so long and so many years, that he was old one hundred and thirteen years.
ST. ANTHONY VISITS ST. PAUL
In this time St. Anthony was a hermit in another desert and was then ninety years of age. And on a time he thought in himself that in the world was none so good ne so great an hermit as he was himself. Hereupon came to him a revelation as he slept that, beneath all, low down in that desert was an hermit better than he, a. . . .[Here is a lacuna in the text. Anthony sets out through a forest in search of this better hermit. On the way he encounters first a centaur, then a satyr, and finally a wolf. The wolf leads him to the door of St. Paul's hermitage. At first Paul does not want to come out, but at last he yields to Anthony's entreaties, he opens the door, and they embrace.]
. . . . all. And whiles they were thus talking a crow came flying and brought to them two loaves of bread. And when the crow was gone St. Paul said: Be thou glad and joyful, for our Lord is debonair and merciful, he hath sent us bread for to eat. It is forty years passed that every day he hath sent me half a loaf, but now at thy coming he hath sent two whole loaves, and double provender.
And they had question together until evensong time which of them both should entame or begin to take of the bread. At the last the bread departed even between their hands, and then they ate, and drank of the well or fountain. After graces said they had all that night collation together.
ST. PAUL ASKS TO BE BURIED IN BISHOP ATHANASIUS'S MANTLE
On the morn said St. Paul: Brother, it is long sith that I knew that thou dwelledst in this region and in this country, and God had promised to me thy company, I shall now shortly die and shall go to Jesu Christ for to receive the crown to me promised. Thou art come hither for to bury my body.When St. Anthony heard that, anon he began tenderly to weep, and wailed, praying that he might die with him and go in his company.
St. Paul said: It is need yet that thou live for thy brethren, to the end that they by the ensample of thee be made firm and taught; wherefore I pray thee return to thine abbey and bring to me the mantle which Athanasius the bishop gave to thee for to wrap in my body.
Then St. Anthony marvelled of this, that he knew of this bishop and of this mantle, and after durst nothing say, but did to him reverence, like as God had spoken to him, and weeping kissed his feet and his hands and came again to his abbey with great travail and labour, for he had from that one part to that other many journeys and foul way, through hayes and hedges, woods, stones, hills and valleys, and St. Anthony of great age and feeble of fasting, and not strong ne mighty.
ST. ANTHONY RETURNS FOR THE MANTLE TO HIS MONASTERY
When he was come to his abbey, two of his disciples, to him most secret, demanded of him saying: Fair father, where have ye been so long?And he answered: Alas! I, wretched sinner, which bear falsely the name to be a monk, I have seen Eli the prophet, I have seen John the Baptist in desert, and certes I have seen St. Paul in Paradise.
Thus speaking and beating his breast he brought the mantle out of his cell, and all stilly without more words, he went again the long way all alone through the desert unto St. Paul the hermit, having great desire to see him, for he was afeard lest he should die ere he might come again to him.
ST. ANTHONY BURIES ST. PAUL
It happed in the second journey, where St. Anthony went through the desert the third hour of the day, he saw the soul of St. Paul, shining, ascend into heaven among a great company of angels, of prophets, and also of apostles, and anon he fell down to the earth weeping and wailing, and crying with a high voice: Alas, Paul! wherefore leavest thou me so soon, which have so little seen thee?Then he had so great desire to see the corpse or body that he passed all the remnant of his way as soon as a bird flying, like as he was wont to tell and rehearse, and when he came to the cell of St. Paul he found that the body was right up on his knees and the visage and hands addressed towards heaven and supposed he had been alive and had made his prayers, but when he had advised it, he knew well that he was passed out of this world.
What weepings and what wailings he made upon the body it were a piteous thing to hear; among all other he said: O holy soul, thy body showeth in death this that thou didst in thy life. After this he was much abashed how he should bury the body, for he had no instrument to make his sepulchre; then came two lions which much debonairly made a pit after the quantity of his body, and St. Anthony buried his body therein. And he took with him the coat of St. Paul which was made [of palm leaves], and afterward, for great reverence, St. Anthony ware this coat and clad him withal in great and solemn feasts.
Thus this holy man St. Paul died in the year of the incarnation of our Lord two hundred and eighty-eight. Let us then pray to him that he impetre and get us remission of our sins, that after this life we may come to everlasting joy and bliss in heaven. Amen.
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Settling into a mountain cave, Saint Paul dwelt there for ninety-one years, praying incessantly to God both day and night. He sustained himself on dates and bread, which a raven brought him, and he clothed himself with palm leaves.
Saint Anthony the Great (January 17), who also lived as an ascetic in the Thebaid desert, had a revelation from God concerning Saint Paul. Saint Anthony thought that there was no other desert dweller such as he. Then God said to him, “Anthony, there is a servant of God more excellent than you, and you should go and see him.”
Saint Anthony went into the desert and came to Saint Paul’s cave. Falling to the ground before the entrance to the cave, he asked to be admitted. The Elders introduced themselves, and they embraced one another. They conversed through the night, and Saint Anthony revealed how he had been led there by God. Saint Paul disclosed to Saint Anthony that for sixty years a bird had brought him half a loaf of bread each day. Now the Lord had sent a double portion in honour of Saint Anthony’s visit. The next morning, Saint Paul spoke to Anthony of his approaching death and instructed him to bury him. He also asked Saint Anthony to return to his monastery and bring back the cloak he had received from Saint Athanasius. He did not really need a garment but wished to depart from his body while Saint Anthony was absent.
As he was returning with the cloak, Saint Anthony beheld the soul of Saint Paul surrounded by angels, prophets, and apostles, shining like the sun and ascending to God. He entered the cave and found Abba Paul on his knees with his arms outstretched. Saint Anthony mourned for him and wrapped him in the cloak. He wondered how he would bury the body, for he had not remembered to bring a shovel. Two lions came running from the wilderness and dug a grave with their claws.
Saint Anthony buried the holy Elder and took his garment of palm leaves, then he returned to his own monastery. Saint Anthony kept this garb as a precious inheritance, and wore it only twice a year, on Pascha and Pentecost.
Saint Paul of Thebes died in the year 341 when he was 113 years old. He did not establish a single monastery, but soon after his end there were many imitators of his life, and they filled the desert with monasteries. Saint Paul is honoured as the first desert-dweller and hermit.
In the twelfth century, Saint Paul’s relics were transferred to Constantinople and placed in the Peribleptos monastery of the Mother of God, on orders of the emperor Manuel (1143-1180). Later, they were taken to Venice, and finally to Hungary, at Ofa. Part of his head is in Rome.
Saint Paul of Thebes, whose Life was written by Saint Jerome, is not to be confused with Saint Paul the Simple (October 4).
Troparion — Tone 3
Inspired by the Spirit, / you were the first to dwell in the desert in emulation of Elijah the zealot; / as one who imitated the angels, you were made known to the world by Saint Anthony the Great. / Righteous Paul, entreat Christ God to grant us His great mercy.
Kontakion — Tone 3
Today we gather and praise you with hymns as an unwaning ray of the spiritual Sun; / for you shine on those in the darkness of ignorance, / leading all mankind to the heights, venerable Paul, / adornment of Thebes and firm foundation of the fathers and ascetics.
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Saint John the Hut-Dweller was the son of rich and illustrious parents and was born in Constantinople in the early fifth century. He received a fine education, and he mastered rhetoric and philosophy by the age of twelve. He also loved to read spiritual books. Perceiving the vanity of worldly life, he chose the path that was narrow and extremely difficult. Filled with longing to enter a monastery, he confided his intention to a passing monk. John made him promise to come back for him when he returned from his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and take him to his monastery.
He asked his parents for a Gospel so that he might study the words of Christ. John’s parents hired a calligrapher to copy the text and had the volume bound in a golden cover studded with gems. John read the Gospel constantly, delighting in the Savior’s words.
The monk kept his promise to come back for John, and they went secretly to Bithynia. At the monastery of the “Unsleeping” (Akoimitoi), he received monastic tonsure. The young monk began his ascetical labours with zeal, astonishing the brethren with his unceasing prayer, humble obedience, strict abstinence, and perseverance at work.
After six years, he began to undergo temptations. He remembered his parents, how much they loved him, and what sorrow he caused them. He regretted leaving them and was filled with a burning desire to see them again.
Saint John explained his situation to the igumen Saint Marcellus (December 29) and he asked to be released from the monastery. He begged the igumen for his blessing and prayers to return home. He bid farewell to the brethren, hoping that by their prayers and with the help of God, he would both see his parents and overcome the snares of the devil. The igumen then blessed him for his journey.
Saint John returned to Constantinople, not to resume his former life of luxury, but dressed as a beggar, and unknown to anyone. He settled in a corner by the gates of his parents’ home. His father noticed the “pauper,” and began to send him food from his table, for the sake of Christ. John lived in a small hut for three years, oppressed and insulted by the servants, enduring cold and frost, unceasingly conversing with the Lord and the holy angels.
Before his death, the Lord appeared to the monk in a vision, revealing that the end of his sorrows was approaching and that in three days he would be taken into the Heavenly Kingdom. Therefore, he asked the steward to give his mother a message to come to him, for he had something to say to her.
At first, she did not wish to go, but she was curious to know what this beggar had to say to her. Then he sent her another message, saying that he would die in three days. John thanked her for the charity he had received and told her that God would reward her for it. He then made her promise to bury him beneath his hut, dressed in his rags. Only then did the saint give her his Gospel, which he always carried with him, saying, “May this console you in this life, and guide you to the next life.”
She showed the Gospel to her husband, saying that it was similar to the one they had given their son. He realized that it was, in fact, the very Gospel they had commissioned for John. They went back to the gates, intending to ask the pauper where he got the Gospel, and if he knew anything about their son. Unable to restrain himself any longer, he admitted that he was their child. With tears of joy, they embraced him, weeping because he had endured privation for so long at the very gates of his parental home.
The saint died in the mid-fifth century when he was not quite twenty-five years old. On the place of his burial, the parents built a church and beside it a hostel for strangers. When they died, they were buried in the church they had built.
In the twelfth century, the head of the saint was taken by Crusaders to Besançon (in France), and other relics of the saint were taken to Rome.
Troparion — Tone 4
From your early youth, / you longed with fervour for the things of the Lord. / Leaving the world and its pleasures, / you became an example of monastic life. / Most blessed John, you built your hut at the door of your parents’ house and overcame the devil’s guiles. / Therefore Christ Himself has worthily glorified you.
Kontakion — Tone 2
Longing for poverty in imitation of Christ, / you abandoned your parents’ wealth, wise Father John; / grasping the Gospel in your hands, / you followed Christ God, unceasingly praying for us all.
St
Dom Prosper Gueranger:
Today the Church honours the memory of one of those men who were expressly chosen by God to represent the sublime detachment from all things, which was taught to the world by the example of the Son of God born in a cave at Bethlehem. Paul the Hermit so prized the poverty of his Divine Master that he fled to the desert where he could find nothing to possess and nothing to covet. He had a mere cavern for his dwelling. A palm tree provided him with food and clothing, a fountain gave him with which to quench his thirst, and Heaven sent him his only luxury, a loaf of bread brought to him daily by a crow. For 60 years did Paul thus serve, in poverty and in solitude, that God who was denied a dwelling on the Earth He came to redeem and could have but a poor stable in which to be born. But God dwelt with Paul in his cavern, and in him began the Anchorites, that sublime race of men who, the better to enjoy the company of their God, denied themselves not only the society, but the very sight, of men. They were the Angels of Earth in whom God showed forth, for the instruction of the rest of men, that He is powerful enough and rich enough to supply the wants of His creatures who indeed have nothing but what they have from Him.
The Hermit, or Anchoret, is a prodigy in the Church, and it behoves us to glorify the God who has produced it. We ought to be filled with astonishment and gratitude at seeing how the Mystery of a God made Flesh has so elevated our human nature as to inspire a contempt and abandonment of those earthly goods which heretofore had been so eagerly sought after.
The two names, Paul and Antony, are not to be separated: they are the two Apostles of the Desert. Both are Fathers — Paul of Anchorites, and Antony of Cenobites. The two families are sisters, and both have the same source, the My stery of Bethlehem. The sacred Cycle of the Church’s year unites, with only a day between their two Feasts these two faithful disciples of Jesus in His crib.
*****
Father and Prince of Hermits, you are now contemplating in all His glory that God whose weakness and lowliness you studied and imitated during the sixty years of your desert-life: you are now with Him in the eternal union of the Vision. Instead of your cavern where you spent your life of unknown penance, you have the immensity of the Heaven for your dwelling. Instead of your tunic of palm leaves, you have the robe of Light. Instead of the pittance of material bread, you have the Bread of eternal life. Instead of your humble fountain, you have the waters which spring up to eternity, filling your soul with infinite delights. You imitated the silence of the Babe of Bethlehem by your holy life of seclusion. Now your tongue is for ever singing the praises of this God, and the music of infinite bliss is for ever falling on your ear. You did not know this world of ours, save by its deserts, but now you must compassionate and pray for us who live in it. Speak for us to our dear Jesus . Remind Him how He visited it in wonderful mercy and love. Pray His sweet blessing upon us, and the graces of perfect detachment from transitory things, love of poverty, love of prayer and love of our heavenly country.
From the East:
Settling into a mountain cave, Saint Paul dwelt there for ninety-one years, praying incessantly to God both day and night. He sustained himself on dates and bread, which a raven brought him, and he clothed himself with palm leaves.
Saint Anthony the Great (January 17), who also lived as an ascetic in the Thebaid desert, had a revelation from God concerning Saint Paul. Saint Anthony thought that there was no other desert dweller such as he. Then God said to him, “Anthony, there is a servant of God more excellent than you, and you should go and see him.”
Saint Anthony went into the desert and came to Saint Paul’s cave. Falling to the ground before the entrance to the cave, he asked to be admitted. The Elders introduced themselves, and they embraced one another. They conversed through the night, and Saint Anthony revealed how he had been led there by God. Saint Paul disclosed to Saint Anthony that for sixty years a bird had brought him half a loaf of bread each day. Now the Lord had sent a double portion in honour of Saint Anthony’s visit. The next morning, Saint Paul spoke to Anthony of his approaching death and instructed him to bury him. He also asked Saint Anthony to return to his monastery and bring back the cloak he had received from Saint Athanasius. He did not really need a garment but wished to depart from his body while Saint Anthony was absent.
As he was returning with the cloak, Saint Anthony beheld the soul of Saint Paul surrounded by angels, prophets, and apostles, shining like the sun and ascending to God. He entered the cave and found Abba Paul on his knees with his arms outstretched. Saint Anthony mourned for him and wrapped him in the cloak. He wondered how he would bury the body, for he had not remembered to bring a shovel. Two lions came running from the wilderness and dug a grave with their claws.
Saint Anthony buried the holy Elder and took his garment of palm leaves, then he returned to his own monastery. Saint Anthony kept this garb as a precious inheritance, and wore it only twice a year, on Pascha and Pentecost.
Saint Paul of Thebes died in the year 341 when he was 113 years old. He did not establish a single monastery, but soon after his end there were many imitators of his life, and they filled the desert with monasteries. Saint Paul is honoured as the first desert-dweller and hermit.
In the twelfth century, Saint Paul’s relics were transferred to Constantinople and placed in the Peribleptos monastery of the Mother of God, on orders of the emperor Manuel (1143-1180). Later, they were taken to Venice, and finally to Hungary, at Ofa. Part of his head is in Rome.
Saint Paul of Thebes, whose Life was written by Saint Jerome, is not to be confused with Saint Paul the Simple (October 4).
Troparion — Tone 3
Inspired by the Spirit, / you were the first to dwell in the desert in emulation of Elijah the zealot; / as one who imitated the angels, you were made known to the world by Saint Anthony the Great. / Righteous Paul, entreat Christ God to grant us His great mercy.
Kontakion — Tone 3
Today we gather and praise you with hymns as an unwaning ray of the spiritual Sun; / for you shine on those in the darkness of ignorance, / leading all mankind to the heights, venerable Paul, / adornment of Thebes and firm foundation of the fathers and ascetics.
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