Saint Paul the Hermit

Today, we celebrate the feast of Saint Paul the Hermit (229-342), also known as Paul of Thebes and regarded as the “First Hermit, ”who lived alone in the desert from his sixteenth to the one hundred and thirteenth year of his life.

His feast day is celebrated in the East; he is also commemorated in the Coptic and Armenian rites of the Mass. Saint Paul was born in lower Egypt, near Thebes and was orphaned at age 15. In 250, the persecution by Decius forced him into hiding, first at a friend’s house and then, fearing exposure, to a cave in the Egyptian desert.

He had planned to return home after things quieted down, but the peaceful solitude of the desert seduced him to stay. Upon arriving in the desert, Saint Paul settled in a cave, near a freshly flowing stream and a single palm tree. The stream provided his water and the tree his food for the first 21 years of his contemplative life.

Neither having seen nor talked to anyone during that time, a raven began visiting Saint Paul each day, bringing him a half a loaf of bread. Saint Paul subsisted on this meager ration his entire life. In Paul’s 90th year in the desert his presence was revealed to St. Anthony, who immediately went to find him.

Anthony met Paul in his cave, and the two hermits became friends overnight. They shared a whole loaf of bread brought by the raven, discussed world events, and prayed. Anthony thought he had found a companion, but Paul knew that God had sent Anthony to help him die. Anthony was sad because he did not want to lose his new friend so soon. But, as Paul predicted, he died on January 15, 342.

Saint Anthony returned to bury Saint Paul upon his death, at the urging of then bishop (and now saint) Athanasius. Upon arrival to bury him, Saint Anthony reportedly found a grave freshly dug by a pair of lions. Saint Paul was buried, wrapped in the bishop’s cloak, at the advanced age of 113.

Antony kept Paul’s outer garment woven from palm leaves, which he treasured from that time and which he always wore on great feast days.

The events of his life were later recorded by Saint Jeromein the year 376 in the book entitled “The Life of Paul the Hermit”. The book, which St. Jerome devoted to the life of the first Christian hermit, charmed and instructed generations of the faithful and formed the inspiration of many artists and the west learned of the life of St. Paul the Hermit.

Saint Paul the Hermit, pray for us