ON ST. CHAEREMON, ANCHORITE.
In the fourth or fifth century.
His cult among the Greeks and his manner of life.
Chaeremon, among the Greeks (St.)
J. P.
Although this Saint's name is in some places expressed without the diphthong, in others with it, He is recorded in the Greek calendars, I have written it with the diphthong, with the great printed Menaea, which allude to the name so formed, and with the Menaeum of Chifflet. He is announced on this day among the Greeks in a very vague and indistinct manner. For in the said Menaeum he is placed thus: Χαιρέμων (perhaps Χαιρήμων) ἐν εἰρήνῃ. Chaeremon in peace. But in the Menology of Sirleto thus: On the same day, the birthday of blessed Cheremon, resting in peace. With these agree the great printed Menaea: St. Chaeremon is consummated in peace. There follow two verses, which I render thus from the Greek:
Λήξει βίου σου χαῖρε Χαιρῆμον μάκαρ· Ἀρχὴν γὰρ εἶδες τῆς ἀμοιβῆς τῶν πόνων.
Rejoice, blessed Chaeremon, in the ending of thy life, Beholding the rewards of thy labors begun.
But although from the Greek calendars just brought forward it is not known or clear to us who that St. Chaeremon was, yet light shines from elsewhere. In the historical Commentary on St. John Cassian the abbot, which stands among us in volume V of July, on the XXIII day, page 458 and following, §5, his first journey into Egypt is treated of, and from his own words it is related how he was brought to Chaeremon, and what conferences the latter held. Now Cassian was very young when he departed into Egypt, and about the first time in which he arrived there he was brought to Chaeremon. But Cassian died before the middle of the fifth century. Of his birth and death there is a treatment in the said Commentary, §3. From these things it seems that the death of St. Chaeremon may be fixed at the end of the fourth century or the beginning of the fifth. And that he is the same as the one marked above in the Greek calendars is persuaded us by the celebrity of the name by which he was famous. Add these things:
[2] Before all, let us recall to mind those things which were long ago written in volume 11 of our March, on the XV day, among the Praetermissi, in these words: Theremon, an abbot of remarkable perfection in Scete, is recorded by Whitford in his Martyrology published in English. Peter de Natalibus treats of him in book XI, chapter 57, citing Heraclides, in whose chapter 35, and in Palladius chapter 92, the sudden death of Cheremon the monk is narrated; but the said Peter has other things. The Greeks celebrate Cheremon in the Menology and Menaea on the XVI of August. Receive the text of Peter de Natalibus at the place cited: Theremon the abbot was famous in the desert of Scete, where he died a hundred years old. For he had so bent his back, both by the length of time and by the constancy of his prayers, that as though in his first infancy he was drawn along the ground with his hands set down. Thus he, from Heraclides above. In the Appendix to the Lives of the Fathers published by our Rosweyde, among other things which stand there from the Paradise of Heraclides, at page 974 there is this, with chapter 92 of Palladius cited in the margin: It had happened … in those very days that a monk by name Chaeremon, sitting in his chair, suddenly died, and the other brethren suddenly saw him dead in it and holding in his hands the work which he was doing. The matter is also narrated from Palladius himself in the Lives of the Fathers cited, page 765. In the Monuments of the Greek Church, which Cotelier published, volume 1, page 707, among the Apophthegms of the Fathers these things are read: They used to relate of abbot Chaeremon in Scete that his cave was forty miles distant from the church, and twelve from the marsh and the water; and that he so carried into his cave what he wrought with his hands, and would carry two flagons, one over against the other; and would sit, leading a quiet life. We see, then, that Chaeremon the abbot or monk is praised for his labor, as by a mark proper and characteristic of him. The Greeks moreover, in the verses of their Menaea which we produced above, commend their Chaeremon for his labor. Hence therefore it appears more probable that he who appears in these and in the Lives of the Fathers is the same, especially because the name, the manner of life, and the character of his exercise agree. And this indeed is our opinion, supported by the foregoing reasons. Concerning Scete, of which mention fell before, the preliminary Commentary to the Life of St. Arsenius the anchorite may be consulted, in volume IV of July, on the XIX day, page 605.