ON ST. PAMBO "THE GREAT."
Toward the end of the Fourth Century.
PREVIOUS COMMENTARY.
Pambo, Abbot and Confessor in Nitria (S.)
BY THE AUTHOR J. B. S.
§ I. The celebrity of the Saint, his more recent memory in the Fasti, the various forms of his name.
Concerning the most celebrated monasteries of Egypt our Predecessors have long since handed down so many things in this vast work on the Acts of the Saints that it is plainly superfluous to repeat the same again in other words. Of the mount, village, desert, or monastery of Nitria the discourse also often recurs, Of the monks of Nitria treated often, especially in the month of January in the life of St. Macarius of Alexandria, but most of all in that of the other St. Macarius the Egyptian, Volume 1 from page 1005. Again where it treats of St. Antony: likewise Volume 2 of April page 201; Volume 3 of June page 298, and other places, which there is no need to enumerate here, since we are engaged in a matter otherwise most well known, accurately enough described in Palladius chapter 69, and in almost the same words, at least the same sense, by Rufinus, book 2 chapter 21, in Roswide's edition page 477, from which many more recent writers with Tillemont in various chapters of their ecclesiastical commentaries. I pass over the things which can be made to the reproach of the aforesaid Nitrian desert, on account of the taint contracted from the Origenist dogmas, since these can in no way be drawn back to our Saint. Nor let anyone here deservedly call into doubt the faith of the writers Rufinus, Palladius, or others, because they were sprinkled with the soot of the same heresy. These things had to be premised in a few words, lest anything be lacking for the knowledge of the place, distinguished by the labors, sweats, and rays of all virtues of so many most holy anchorites after St. Ammon.
[2] I do not think it doubtful to anyone that the fame of the excelling deeds of St. Pambo and the exceptional glory of his sanctity among whom the most praised Pambo, made him equal to the great Antonys, Pauls, Pachomii, Paphnutii, and the other ancient prodigious inhabitants of those deserts of Egypt, as can easily be demonstrated from several places of the works which have been written concerning the Lives of the Fathers, although no one of old arranged the series of the acts of so great a man. Of this matter I have as witness, at least in this part beyond all exception, as an eyewitness, Rufinus of Aquileia, in those books which he subjoined to his interpretation of Eusebius. He thus begins the fourth chapter of book 2 or 11: At that time the Fathers of the monks, in life and by merit of antiquity, Macarius and Isidore, and another Macarius and Heraclides and Pambus, disciples of Antony, were held throughout Egypt, and especially in the parts of the desert of Nitria: men who were believed to have fellowship of life and acts not with the rest of mortals, but with the supernal angels. The things which I have seen present, I speak, and I report the deeds of those in whose passions I deserved to be a companion. These agree with the things which he reports in chapter 8 of the same book: Egypt then flourished at that time, not only with men learned in the Christian philosophy, but also with those who, dwelling through the vast desert, did signs and prodigies with apostolic simplicity of life and sincerity of heart. Of whom meanwhile, whom we ourselves saw, and by whose hands we ourselves deserved to be blessed, these are: Macarius of the upper desert, and another Macarius of the lower, Isidore in Scete, Pambus in the Cells, Moses and Benjamin in Nitria. Let the reader here note that Pambo is placed first in Nitria, then in the Cells. The things which Roswide cites from the same Rufinus, see in his edition of the Lives of the Fathers page 441.
[3] in no ancient Latin Martyrologies For lack of Acts, we are compelled to collect centos, so to speak; and first a brief encomium of Palladius from the praised edition of Roswide, then other things heaped up here and there with no order of time, which here cannot be kept, which will be subjoined below. But that we may leave nothing untouched, here those things must first be illustrated which, entangled with doubts or difficulties, desire some preliminary light. Concerning the cult received in the Church, with us there is wont to be the chief inquiry, here not undeservedly to be instituted, since this our Saint, recorded in no ancient Martyrologies, was at last in the latest centuries referred into the sacred Tables by some more recent writers. Among the Latin writers an elogium from Heraclides, as he says, was once composed for him by the Bishop Peter of Equilino, whose age we have often elsewhere noted, and here are again compelled to note, namely that he completed his book in the year 1371, since we think that he was the first who treated of St. Pambo in his Catalogue of the Saints, book 6 chapter 38, assigning this day I July, found I know not where, to his festivity, as if on that day he rested in the Lord.
[4] In the Greco-Muscovite Ephemerides Papebroch observed before me, on the day XVIII July (on which day he is placed also by Castellanus), nor known among the Greeks, that it is to be wondered at, that the name of St. Pambo is inscribed in no Greek Fasti hitherto, except in the one Synaxarium of Chifflet, and that by the bare name only "Pambo." I add that it is no less to be wondered at, that he is nowhere known among the Martyrologists of the ninth century, nor before Equilino is he commemorated in any ancient Fasti of whatever kind, Hagiologies, or Calendars. I confess indeed that among our collections in the fourth codex there exists an apograph of a Calendar, which is called of the Carmelites of Mechelen, brought thither I know not whence, in which is had the memory of Pambo the Abbot on the day I July: but its describer accurately observed that some things there are by a first hand, which perhaps savor of the 14th century, others expressed by a more recent hand; so that on this day the older text reports Aaron the Priest, the octave of St. John the Baptist and the Vigil, namely of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, whence you may form a judgment of its antiquity: but the later, added hand has: Of St. Rumold Bishop and martyr. Of Pambo the Abbot. Whence it is plain, as we have already said, that the Bishop Equilino was the first who endowed our Saint with a sacred commemoration in the Latin Fasti.
[5] Next to him, and his liberal describer, is Greven the Carthusian of Cologne, he is celebrated by more recent writers, in his additions to Usuard, where he adduces the very words of Equilino, taken from Socrates, or from the Lives of the Fathers: Of Pambo the Abbot and Confessor, who, since he was illiterate, and desired to learn some psalm, when that verse had been read to him: I said, I will keep my ways, that I sin not with my tongue; he refused to hear the second verse, saying it sufficed him if he could fulfill the first. From this or from Equilino himself Canisius also received his own, superadding that against that rule he did not remember ever to have sinned. Other more recent writers, Maurolycus, Felicius, Ferrari write with a simpler text: In Egypt, or near Egypt, of St. Pambo the Abbot. Galesinius amplified the phrase a little: In Egypt, of St. Pambo, monk and Confessor, illustrious for the praise of a life divinely lived in solitude. Yet these did not move Baronius to inscribe him in the Roman Martyrology, except under the name of Paemon, when on XXVII August he reads: In the Thebaid, of St. Paemon the anchorite, he wished Pammon or Pambo to be understood, as Roswide gathered from his Annals, in the observation which we subjoined to the supplements of our Usuardine edition, in the seventh Volume of June, on the said day XXVII August.
[6] For the rest, whatever be Baronius's mind concerning Paemon and Pambo, whose series of life exists nowhere. it is to be lamented that those men who wrote of the deeds of those ancient anchorites or monks (for it is not pleasant to dispute here concerning the diverse or single meaning of these appellations): it is to be lamented, I say, that those writers recorded of most of them rather a few virtues and apophthegms scattered, than accurately distributed the lives of each, so that the birth, fatherland, their first conversion, the remaining courses of their age, and the other marks cannot be more distinctly had. Most well known is the excellent lucubration of our Heribert Roswide concerning the Lives of the Holy Fathers most diligently revised by him; from it, further, it is easy to conjecture that it is not everywhere obvious so to arrange the life of Pambo that some things be not placed preposterously here and there, for lack of notes which might lead us by the hand to constructing the chronological series. Concerning the various forms of the name there is no need to labor so greatly, since no one hitherto has called into doubt whether under these various modes of writing—Pambos, Pambus, Pambo, Pambon, Pammon—different Saints lie hidden: for one and the same monk, solitary, anchorite, Abbot of Nitria, holy Pambo is reckoned by all. And these things indeed are plain enough; concerning the doubtful and uncertain matters we must dispute in the following §.
§ II. The age of the Saint; was he one or two? Was he a priest? Was he twice an exile?
In defining his age The first difficulty occurs in defining the age of our saint, not so easily resolved, unless at least two of the same name be established; and this is drawn chiefly from this, that Palladius from the narration of Melania the elder seems to indicate that Pambo died then, when she had come from Rome at the beginning to Alexandria, whence, having advanced into Nitria, she brought to the Saint silver vessels of three hundred pounds of silver: for the praised writer subjoins a little after in the same tenor: But a short time after, the man of God fell asleep … when he was seventy years old. Here seems to be intimated the first approach of Melania to Alexandria and thence into Nitria, which is commonly referred to the beginning of the reign of Valens, or to about the year 367 or 368, unless with Cardinal Baronius you prefer to establish the year 372, or with Pagi the year immediately preceding, which now matters nothing to our purpose. On this the matter turns, that Melania, in the same Palladius book 8 chapter 117 page 773, when she had sold her goods (at Alexandria) and converted them into small gold, entered the mount of Nitria, meeting the holy Fathers, Pambo … and stayed with them about half a year, visiting the solitude and seeing all the Saints.
[8] difficulties from Palladius On this, I say, a sufficiently entangled point turns, that here in both places Palladius seems to speak of the first coming of Melania into Egypt, at which very time, if we adhere to the first text of that writer, St. Pambo departed from the living, and so before the year 373, in the opinion of the most eminent Annalist, for you would not say that these words admit a greater latitude: A short time after, the man of God fell asleep. But since from the words of Palladius one might contend that the praised Melania visited the Nitrian solitude only once, it will follow, as we said, that before the aforesaid year 373 Pambo ceased to live, which we by no means think can be admitted, on account of other arguments to be adduced a little below, from which it will be established that the said Saint, even by the testimony of Palladius himself, survived for several more years. For the rest, that in that former hypothesis his age may be defined, going back and subtracting the seventy years which he lived, another consequence will be drawn, namely that he must have seen the light from the year 303, or according to the first reckoning, which Tillemont defends, toward the end of the third century.
[9] But indeed these cannot in any way be reconciled with what Rufinus hands down, book 11 chapter 4, and from Rufinus, speaking of the persecution which after the death of Athanasius was stirred up by the intruder Lucius, where, after the words cited above: At that time the Fathers of the monks, in life and by merit of antiquity, Macarius and Isidore, and another Macarius and Heraclides and Pambus, disciples of Antony, were held throughout Egypt and especially in the parts of the desert of Nitria, etc., he adds: these led the army of the Lord, an army armed not with mortal weapons, but with the faith of religion, conquering by dying, and which by the pouring out of its blood might follow Christ the victor to heaven. And while, placed in their tents and praying, they awaited their slayers, there was brought to them a man, long since withered in all his limbs and especially in his feet. But when he had been anointed by them with oil in the name of the Lord, immediately his soles were strengthened, etc. It is plain therefore that St. Pambo survived yet some years: indeed, if the things which we shall recite below from the apophthegms in Cotelier are true, he must have prolonged his life even to the times of the Patriarch Theophilus, whom we have shown to have been substituted for Timothy first in the year 385, in our treatise on the Patriarchs of Alexandria page 51.
[10] That these apparently contrary things may be composed, Palladius must be reconciled with himself, who seem to establish two, not being wont to follow the chronological series of things, as is evidently established from the place just related in the life of Melania in Roswide page 773. For there, after the words cited above, he immediately subjoins: But after these things, when the Augustal had banished from Alexandria Isidore and Possimius and Adelphius and Paphnutius and Pambo … and twelve Bishops and presbyters and clerics and anchorites, so that they were all 127 in number, into Palestine near Diocaesarea, she herself (Melania) also followed them, supplying them from her own moneys, etc. If therefore Melania followed Pambo, with the other confessors an exile, into Palestine, she could not have been present at his death, while, having first advanced into Nitria, she stayed there half a year, and so, if St. Pambo died then, when he had received from the aforesaid Melania silver vessels of three hundred pounds of silver, then by a later return Melania came back to him, and that probably in the year 386; since, by the testimony of the same Palladius, when she first arrived at Alexandria, she sold her goods and converted them into small gold. Sufficiently diverse are the things we have already said, yet to be referred to the same Pambo, who could be denied, I do not yet see. There is one Pambo, I think; but a double approach of Melania must be established, or Palladius shamefully hallucinated.
[11] From what has been said, we deduce, if not as certain, at least as most likely; whom we think to have been a single one. that our Saint of that name, one and single, was born in Egypt about the year 317; that, younger, he was instructed and educated in the anchoretic discipline of the great Antony, who died in 356; further that he withdrew into the solitude of Nitria, where Ammonius found him, he who composed concerning the deeds of Pachomius and Theodore an excellent letter to Theophilus of Alexandria, published in Latin and Greek in the Acts of XIV May, page 355 at the end, naming St. Pambo and the servant of God Pior, who had obtained the graces of healings from the Lord. Again page 356 A: While all these things, I say, were being done, the monks dwelling with Pior and Pambo in the mount of Nitria, and the other elders, I announced to them the things which Theodore had foretold concerning that persecution. Finally page 357 A: For these very men thus lay hidden as if quite obscure, just as also holy Ammon, and holy Theodore in the mount of Nitria, and the servant of God and venerable for his fair old age, Pambo.
[12] He did not make him a Priest Whether Ammonius attributes so great an old age to Pambo for that time at which he gave this letter to Theophilus, or perhaps for that at which Julian almost perished, as he had mentioned above, is not distinctly enough explained, although to me it seems more likely that the time is indicated at which the aforesaid letter was written, namely about the beginning of the patriarchate of Theophilus, about which time we believe Pambo, then venerable for his fair old age, departed from the living. Otherwise a new difficulty would arise, no less than the rest. For if holy Pambo was venerable for his fair old age when Ammonius visited him about the year 356, as I suppose from the reckoning of Papebroch and Tillemont, who would believe that more than twenty-five years after, when Melania relates that he died, he was only seventy years old? Other things there occur no less apt for arranging the chronology, but which we here leave untouched. Certainly from the recited words of Ammonius, whether they be read in Greek or in Latin, Tillemont does not seem rightly to have gathered, Volume 8 page 447, and often elsewhere, that St. Pambo was initiated into sacred orders or was a priest in the years 355 or 356.
[13] The letter of Ammonius to Theophilus. We have already given the Latin version, which it is well to repeat, that the question proposed by the praised Tillemont may vanish. ("the monks dwelling with Pior and Pambo in the mount of Nitria, and the other elders I announced.") Namely whether in the aforesaid years 355 or 356 St. Pambo could have been a priest, when he counted only forty years of age? I find there nothing from which such a controversy may be drawn, the Greek text of the Ammonian letter being cited so often, which I here subjoin: "To those about the holy Pior and Pambo and to the rest of the elders, who were in the mount of Nitria, I announced," etc. I read indeed "presbyterois," but that is most rightly rendered in its proper and most received signification, "elders," lest otherwise both Pior, and the rest of the monks all, be said to have been presbyters or priests, which neither Tillemont, nor anyone skilled in the monastic rites of that time would admit. Whatever, however, of it, that perhaps was more rightly asserted by Tillemont; that Ammonius himself in that year 355 or the following saw Pambo in the mount of Nitria. For the rest, it is enough for us to have indicated, as briefly as could be, the first age of our Saint.
[14] To Tillemont's doubts Among the arguments which Tillemont devised for doubling the holy Pambos, page 788, one is brought from this head, that Rufinus, book 11 chapter 8, places St. Pambo, not now in Nitria but in the Cells, which were distant ten miles from Nitria. Thus Rufinus has it: Of whom meanwhile, whom we ourselves saw, and by whose hands we deserved to be blessed, these are: Macarius of the Upper desert, and another Macarius of the Lower, Isidore in Scete, Pambus in the Cells. To say it in passing, Rufinus is supposed to have surveyed the deserts of Egypt in the year 374. There are also those who make Pambo a dweller of Scete, as is in the apophthegms in Cotelier Volume 1 page 463: The same Abbot Theophilus the Archbishop once came into Scete: and the brethren gathered said to abbot Pambo; have some word, etc. These things can be conveniently resolved in various ways, but to me this reason pleases above the rest; that those anchorites were not so bound to one place that they did not sometimes migrate to another. Thus in the Life of St. Macarius of Alexandria it is read, Volume 1 of January page 87, that he had various cells, one indeed in Scete, which is the inner one in the solitude, and one in Libya, and one in the Cells, and one in the mount of Nitria. What wonder then, if the same St. Pambo was sometimes found in the Cells, sometimes also in Scete, besides that perhaps he came thither by chance, or approached for the sake of Theophilus.
[15] From the words of Rufinus and Palladius alleged above, there arises in Tillemont another inquiry concerning the place of St. Pambo's exile. for doubling the Pambos, Rufinus joins him with the Macarii, Isidore and Heraclides, in which he has Sozomen as a follower, book 6 chapter 20 page 662: But Lucius, the duke of Egypt being joined to him, with a great band of soldiers, undertook an expedition against the monks living in the solitude … for many admirable men at that time presided over the monasteries of those regions … of which sort we have received that the prefects of the Monks then were the two Macarii … and Pambo and Heraclides and the rest of the disciples of Antony. Lucius therefore … undertook to compel them by force … further … the soldiers … having seized them by night, led them away into a certain island of Egypt, which is surrounded on all sides by marshes. But we have learned that that exile was brief, for when the holy Confessors had performed the miracles enumerated by Rufinus and Sozomen, Lucius immediately commanded secretly that those who were with Macarius should return to their seats in the solitude. I think it most patent that here our St. Pambo is designated a companion of the other Saints, who therefore is to be adorned also with that title of confessor.
[16] But indeed the text of Palladius related above at number 10 narrates a plainly other matter, expressing distinctly another persecutor, other companions, it is answered. another place, but pronouncing Pambo so clearly, and him the very one whom Melania had met in the mount of Nitria, that no place for doubt remains, but that this confession too must be attributed to our Saint, unless perhaps you reckon it the same as the other, which by Rufinus and Sozomen was confused in the names of the companions, and so also in the place of exile, as Tillemont not improbably thinks, note 3, page 790. I should wish a better way of escape suggested, that we be not compelled to admit that St. Pambo was twice an exile, first into an island of Egypt with the holy Macarii, then with others led away into Palestine, while meanwhile the praised Palladius in the brief life of the Saint, soon to be produced, makes no word of even a single exile. Let it be a rule that from that author who gathers flowers rather than writes histories, not all things can be demanded arranged. We think what has been said suffices for illustrating the things we proposed; if anyone has more leisure, let him discuss the rest more exactly; we have not hitherto been able to be persuaded that the Pambos must be doubled.
LIFE. From Palladius, book 8 chapter 10 page 715.
Pambo, Abbot and Confessor in Nitria (S.)
From Palladius.
[1] A dweller of this mount (Nitria) was also abbot Pambo, a who was the master of Dioscurus the Bishop, He teaches his disciples to despise gold, of Ammonius b and Eusebius and Euthymius the brothers, and of Origen the son of the brother of Dracontius, an illustrious and admirable man. This Pambo had indeed many and various privileges: but among the rest, which were rightly and virtuously borne by him, he had this, in which he was superior to the rest, namely that he despised gold c and silver as much as the Lord's reckoning demands. Whence the blessed Melania narrated to me that when from the beginning she had come from Rome to Alexandria, and had heard of his virtue from the blessed Isidore d the presbyter and host, who narrated to me concerning him and led me to him in the solitude. To him, Distributing Melania's silver vessels to others, she said, I brought silver vessels of three hundred pounds of silver, asking him to be a partaker of my goods. But he, she said, working and weaving branches, blessed me, saying with a great voice: God give you reward. And he said to his steward e Origen: Take, and dispense these to the whole brotherhood which is in Libya and the islands; for these monasteries are more in need: commanding him to give nothing of it to those who were in Egypt, because that region is richer and more abundant.
[2] nor showing him signs of gratitude. But I, she said, standing, awaited that I might either be honored by him with blessings, or at least praised by a word for so great a gift. But when I had heard nothing at all from him, I said to him: Lord, that you may know how much it is, there are three hundred pounds of silver. But he again, when he had not even nodded at all to this, and had not even attended to the box of the vessel, answered: He to whom you have brought these, O daughter, has no need to learn from you the quantity of the weight. For he who weighs the mountains and the woods in a balance, much more knows the quantity of your silver. For if you were giving these to me, you would rightly have told me the weight, but if you have offered them to God, who did not despise even two mites but esteemed them above all, be silent. Thus then, she said, the grace of the Lord dispensed, when I entered this mount.
[3] Seventy years old, he dies holily. But a short time after, f the man of God fell asleep, neither sick, nor feeling pain in any part of his body; but weaving a basket, he summoned me, and when the last stroke was now at hand, he said to me: Take this basket from my hands, that you may remember me; for I have nothing else to leave you. And when he had said this, he departed without fever, when he was seventy years old, commending his spirit to the Lord. Whom when I had cared for, and had wrapped the body of the Saint in linens and laid it down, I withdrew from the solitude, having that basket with me until the day of my death. This Pambo, when he was about to die, in the very hour of his departure, with Origen the presbyter and steward, and Ammonius, illustrious men, and the other brethren standing around him, is said to have said this: From the time g I came into this place of solitude, and built my cell, and dwelt here, there was no day His last words. on which I did not do some work with my hands: nor do I remember to have eaten bread given freely by anyone; nor up to this hour do I repent of any word which I have spoken: and thus I depart to God, as one who have not even begun to be pious and religious.
[4] His humility and taciturnity. This testimony also concerning him the servants of Christ Origen and Ammonius bore, that, never being asked about any matter pertaining either to scripture, or to action or any business, did he answer at once, h but said: I have not yet found what to answer: but often three months had passed, and he gave no answer, saying: I have not yet comprehended. So considerately indeed did he give answers from God, that all received them as from God with all fear. For he was said to have exercised this virtue even above the great Antony and above all the Saints, namely, to be accurate and perfect in speaking.
Palladius chapter 11.
[5] But besides the rest, this action also of holy Pambo is reported, that Pior, who exercised himself in the monastic life, once approaching his cell, brought his own bread. But when Pambo had reproved him, The contest of hospitality with Pior saying: Why did you do this? Pior answered: That I might not burden you. So he sent him away in silence. But after some time the great Pambo, approaching the cell of Pior, brought his bread with him moistened. But being asked by him for what reason he had brought his bread moistened, Pambo answered: I moistened it for this reason, that I too might not burden you.
Palladius chapters 15 and 16.
[6] Others, by name Pacesius and Isaias, i were brothers, their father a Spanish merchant, who indeed, when their father had died, divided the goods which they had in movables: in coins indeed five thousand, but in clothes and slaves, which had been found. They deliberated among themselves and consulting said: What way of life shall we enter, O brother? If we exercise the merchandise which our father exercised, we shall leave our labors to others; and perhaps we shall fall into the dangers either of robbers or of the sea. Come then, brother, let us undertake the monastic life, that we may both gain our father's goods, and not lose our souls. The aim of the solitary life pleased therefore both; but they were found differing one from the other. So when they had divided the moneys and all the rest; this aim indeed they proposed to themselves, that they might please God, but by a diverse plan of life. For one, scattering all, gave to monasteries and churches and prisons, and when he had learned an art by which he might procure himself bread, gave his labor to exercise and prayer. But the other scattered nothing of his, but having made himself a monastery, and taken a few brethren, received every guest, cared for every sick man, retained every old man, gave to every poor man. On Saturday and Sunday setting up three or four tables, he received those who were needy. In this manner he consumed his life.
[7] But both being dead, diverse beatitudes were given to both by the brethren, and a contention arising over the subsequent beatitude inasmuch as both were found perfect in virtue. And to some indeed the life of him pleased who had renounced; but to others that which he shared with all the needy. When therefore among the brethren a contention had arisen, on account of the diverse plan of life of these blessed ones, and especially on account of the diverse praises, they go to blessed Pambo, and refer it to him, that he may answer about this matter, wishing to know which is the better way of life. But he says to them: Both are perfect before God; the one indeed performed the office of Abraham, who received all; but the other took up the most firm and constant zeal of Elijah the Prophet, that he might please God. And when some indeed said to him: How can it be, tell us, we beseech you, who touch your feet, that these are equal? And when others preferred the ascetic, and said: He fulfilled the Gospel precept, as one who sold all and gave to the poor, persevering night and day in prayers, bearing the cross, and following the Savior: but on the contrary others contended for the other, saying: He, we beseech you, showed so many and such bowels of compassion toward all the needy, that he went out and sat in the royal ways, and gathered those who were afflicted, and brought help; nor did he only refresh his own soul, but also that of others, curing the sick and giving them aid.
[8] And blessed Pambo says: Again I will tell you, both are equal before the Lord, but I will satisfy each of you concerning these things. This one, if he had not exercised himself so far, is resolved by St. Pambo would not have been worthy that I should compare him to the goodness of that one. That one again, who refreshed and restored guests, and ministered to the needy, was shown to the Lord equal according to his strength. For He himself said: I came not to be ministered to, but to minister. This minister therefore, although he seemed to have a burden from labor, yet from it also he had refreshment. But wait a little, that I may have a revelation from God also concerning these things, and afterward you shall know when you come. So some days having been let pass, they returned, asking that Great one concerning these things. But the old man answered them, saying: Before God I speak to you, I saw both standing together in paradise.
ANNOTATIONS
The things which we have here taken from the Lausiac history of Palladius, or written to Lausus, are read in almost the same words in the Paradise of Heraclides, in Roswide in the appendix pages 946 and 948. The Lausiac of Palladius, which follows in the same appendix, page 987, lacks the things which are said concerning Pior and the two brothers.
* elsewhere Theodore.
OTHER THINGS CONCERNING ST. PAMBO. Collected from various sources.
Pambo, Abbot and Confessor in Nitria (S.)
Rufinus, book 3 on the Lives of the Fathers number 146, in Roswide page 521, commemorates this example of remarkable charity concerning our Saint. He exercises singular charity. A certain one of the elders of Scete sent his disciple into Egypt, to lead him a camel, which might carry into Egypt the little baskets which he had made. But while he was leading the camel, another old man, meeting him, says to him: If I had known, brother, when you were going into Egypt, I would have told you to bring me also another camel. When that brother had told this to his own Abbot, out of much charity he says to him: Go, son, and lead the camel to him, saying to him: Because we are not yet ready, fulfill your necessity, and you go with the camel itself even into Egypt, and again bring back the camel to us, that we may carry our vessels too. When therefore the brother had done so, and had gone to that old man, saying: Abbot Pambo says, Because we are not yet ready, take and fulfill your necessity. But the old man loaded the camel and went into Egypt. But when he had unloaded, again that brother was bringing back the camel; and he said: Pray for me, Father: and when the old man had asked whither he was going, he answered: I go into Scete, that I may bring here our little baskets too. When the old man had heard this, pricked with compunction he began to do penance, saying with tears: Pardon me, because your charity took away my fruit.
[10] The same writer, in the book already cited, number 164, thus reports: He orders honor to be shown to the monks. The blessed Bishop Athanasius once asked Abbot Pammon to go to Alexandria. Who, coming down with the brethren, when he had seen certain seculars, says to them: Rise and salute the monks, that you may be blessed by them; for these frequently speak with God, and their mouth is holy. And when he had seen there a theatrical woman, he wept. And the bystanders asked why he mourned? But the old man answering said: Two things compelled me to these tears, one indeed the ruin of that woman; the second, that I do not have so great care of pleasing God, as this woman has, that she may please base men. In the book on the Lives of the Fathers, He weeps for the theatrical woman. by an uncertain author, the translator Pelagius, little book 3 number 14, page 566, the same thing is reported concerning Athanasius, the same concerning the theatrical woman, as also in the Apophthegms, in Cotelier Volume 1 page 639 number 4, and in both places the name of Pambo is more distinctly expressed. Another part is had in Cotelier apophthegm 7, where he cites others. See Pelagius little book 67, number 11.
[11] In the praised Pelagius, little book 10 number 65, is read: Outward works do not make the monk. Two brothers once came to abbot Pambo, and one of them asked, saying: Abba, I fast two days, and eat two biscuits; do you think I save my soul, or am I deceived? And the other said: I gather from the work of my hands two carob-pods daily, and retain a little of them for food, but the rest I spend in alms; do you think I shall be saved or am I deceived? And when they begged him much, he did not answer them. But after four days, when they were about to depart, the clerics begged them, saying: Do not be sad, brothers, God will give you reward: for such is the custom of this old man, he does not speak quickly, unless God has given him what to say. They entered therefore to the old man, and said to him: Abba, pray for us. And he said: Do you wish to go? And they said: Yes. And looking at them, taking upon himself their works, he wrote on the earth and said: Pambo fasts two days, and eats two biscuits; do you think in this is a monk? No. Again he said: And Pambo labors a day [for] two carob-pods, and gives them in alms; do you think in this is a monk? Not yet. And being silent a little, he said to them: You work a good work indeed, but if you keep your conscience with your neighbor, thus you shall be saved. The brethren therefore, thus edified in these things, withdrew with joy. This is the second apophthegm in Cotelier page 638. Biscuits are twice-baked breads, concerning which see Roswide page 1045.
[12] An evil will hinders good more than the demon. There follows in Pelagius number 66: A certain brother asked Abbot Pambo, saying: Why do certain spirits prevent me from doing good to my neighbors? The old man said to him: Do not speak so, otherwise you will make God a liar; but say rather: I am altogether unwilling to do mercy. For God, anticipating, said: I have given you power to tread upon scorpions and serpents, and upon all the power of the enemy, why then do you not trample the unclean spirits? Luke 10.
[13] The same Pelagius, little book 14 number 7. Four brothers once came from Scete to Abbot Pambo, The excellence of obedience. clad in leather tunics, and each one indicated the virtue of another, the one of whom he spoke not being present. For one of them fasted much, another possessed nothing, the third had very great charity; but of the fourth they said that for twenty-two years he had remained in the obedience of the elders. But Abbot Pambo answered him: I tell you, that the virtue of this one is greater than that of the rest; since each one of you, the virtue which he possesses, has kept it by his own will, but this one, cutting off his own will, made himself the servant of another's will. For such men are Confessors, if they shall have so remained to the end. Among the apophthegms published by Cotelier, it is the third in order.
[14] Edifying taciturnity. In little book 15 number 42, this saying of St. Pambo is placed: There once came Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria of holy memory, into Scete; and the brethren gathered said to Abbot Pambo: Speak one word to the Pope, that his soul may be edified in this place. And the old man answered: If he is not edified by my silence, neither will he be edified by my speech.
[15] How one is to be saved. Among the sayings of the Fathers in Roswide page 1005, this is attributed to Pambo, or rather to St. Antony, as said to him: Abbot Pambo asked Abbot Antony, saying: What shall I do sitting in my cell? He answered: Do not be confident in the merit of your justice, and do not think about transitory things, and be one keeping his tongue and his belly.
[16] The remaining apophthegms of our Saint I subjoin from Cotelier. How one is to be saved. The tenth in order is: Abbot Pambo said: If you have a heart, you can be saved. Why the 11th is ascribed to Pambo rather than to another, I indeed do not know. Thus it sounds: The presbyter of Nitria asked: In what manner ought the brethren to live? But they said: St. Pambo compared to Moses. In great exercise, and keeping their conscience from their neighbor. There follows the 12th. They used to say of Abbot Pambo: just as Moses received the image of the glory shining forth in Adam, when his face was rendered glorious, so also the face of Abbot Pambo shone like lightning, and he was as a king sitting upon his throne. Of the same working was Abbot Silvanus, and also Abbot Sisoes. Hither refer the first apophthegm: There was a certain one by name Abbot Pambo; of whom it is reported that for three whole years he poured out prayer to God, and said: Do not give me glory on earth. But God so affected him with glory that no one could look upon his face, for the glory which he bore on his countenance.
[17] That he never laughed. Apophthegm 13 contains this story. They used to say of Abbot Pambo, that his face never showed a smile. On a certain day, therefore, when the demons wished to make him laugh, they tied a feather to a piece of wood, and were carrying it, making a tumult, and saying: Alle, Alle. Beholding whom, Abbot Pambo laughed. But the demons began to dance, saying, Vah, Vah, Pambo laughed. But he answered them: I did not laugh, but I derided your feebleness, Mercy toward the neighbor. you who carry one feather with so many in number. The last finally, or the 14th, is of this kind. Abbot Theodore of Pherme asked Abbot Pambo: Bring me a word. And he scarcely said to him: Theodore, go; exercise mercy toward all. For mercy finds confidence before God. Nor is that to be omitted which Cotelier reported in the sixth place: He said again: A monk ought to wear such a garment that if he cast it outside his cell, for three days no one would pick it up.