CONCERNING SAINT ANUB,
HERMIT IN EGYPT.
A compilation of Acts from the Lives of the Fathers, and others.
ABOUT 460.
CommentaryAnub, Abbot and Hermit in Egypt (S.)
BY THE AUTHORS G. H. & D. P.
The Greeks in a manuscript Synaxary, which we found at Dijon in the college of the Society of Jesus with Pierre Chifflet in the year 1662, celebrate the memory of S. Anub, in Greek Ἄνουβ, consummated in peace. Concerning him many things are read in the Lives of the Fathers published by our Rosweyde, and first in book 3
under the name of Rufinus no. 199, in book 5 with Pelagius as translator,
in tract 15 no. 11, and in book 7 with Paschasius as translator, chapter 42
no. 4, the Acts are recounted, of which this is the beginning in Pelagius:
The Abbot John related, A monk with 6 brothers in Scetis. that Abbot
Anub and Abbot Pastor, and the rest of their brothers born
from the same womb, were Monks in Scetis. He who
is here called Pastor is, with the Greek name preserved by others,
Pœmen, and from this, by a distortion of the word, Pimenius. Hence
in Paschasius it is read thus:
[2] When at one time the people of the Mazyces, falling upon Scetis,
had killed many of the Fathers, Abbot
Pimenius, together with another elder Father, Anub, and with
five other Fathers, fleeing from there, came to a place
called Terenuthis; and they found there an ancient
abandoned temple, he goes off to Terenuthis, and these seven remained together,
until each should learn where in Egypt
he was to dwell. And they decided among themselves, saying:
In this week let each one rest by
himself, and let one not speak to another. But when
they were doing this, there was in that temple a statue of a certain
idol. And Abbot Anub, rising in the morning, would throw stones
at it in the face; and coming in the evening, he would say to it,
I have sinned, forgive me; and thus he did throughout the whole week.
But on the Sabbath day, when they had come together,
Abbot Pimenius said to him: What did you mean to do this whole
week, that as a faithful man you would say to an idol,
Forgive me? where, stoning the idol in the morning, and at evening seeking pardon from it, The elder Anub said to him: This I did for
your sake. Tell me: When I was stoning this
idol, did it speak or grow angry? Or
when I sought pardon, did it exalt
itself or boast? To which Abbot Pimenius replied:
By no means. Then the elder said: Brothers,
behold, we are seven; if therefore you wish to remain together,
so that we may gain profit for the soul, let this idol be for us
an example: that when anyone is wronged, he not grow angry;
that when pardon is sought from him, he not boast
or be exalted; he sets it before them as an example of patience and humility: but if you do not wish it thus, let each
go where he will. And they, casting themselves on the ground,
promised that they would do so; and thus they remained
for many years, with great humility and
abstinence, making one of themselves the steward.
And there was in them perfection and one single desire; and whatever
was set on the table, they refreshed themselves with, none saying,
Bring us that; or, I do not wish to eat this.
For they slept four hours in the night, and
four they chanted psalms, and four they worked. And in the day
they devoted themselves to the divine offices at intervals of the hours,
working and reading and splitting the leaves of herbs
until the ninth hour. and for some years he perseveres with them: After this they would prepare
food for themselves, gathering certain herbs of the earth.
[3] These things there, which are found nearly the same in Pelagius,
and also in Greek and Latin in the Apophthegms of the Fathers,
published by John Baptist Cotelier in volume 1 of the Monuments
of the Greek Church, page 393. But in Rufinus, where,
the first letter omitted, it is written Nub, in chapter 154 the
narrative is continued thus: Abbot Poemen and Abbot Nuph,
after they had come into the desert, their mother
desired to see them, and often came to their cell,
yet she could not gaze upon them there. nor does he permit himself or his brother to be seen by their own mother. Having seized
therefore the opportunity, she met them, as they were hastening
to the church. When she was seen, they returned swiftly and
shut the door of the cell; but she, standing outside with tears,
sought them. Then Abbot Nuph, going out to the blessed
Pœmen, said: What shall we do about this our mother,
who weeps at the door? Then rising up, Abbot
Pœmen goes to the door; and not opening it, hearing
her continually lamenting, he said to her: Why such great
outcries, since you are already worn out with age, and pour out
laments? But she, recognizing the voice of her son, cried out
all the more, saying: Because I wish to see you, my sons.
For what is it if I shall see you? Am I not your
mother? Did I not nurse you at these my breasts?
Now I am filled with all the wasting of delays, and
having heard your voice, all my inmost parts are stirred up
with desire. To her Pœmen said: Do you desire to see us more
here, or in the age to come? But she said:
What then, if I do not see you here, as though there I would
surely see you? And the elder answering, Because if
you can restrain yourself here, so as not to see us, there you
will without doubt always see us; then she departed,
saying with joy: If for certain I shall see you there,
here I now do not wish to see you. These things there, which also
are recounted in Pelagius, tract 4 no. 33; but he who
above is called Nub and Nuph, is there called Anub,
and in place of Pœmen, the name of Pastor is written; whose
memory under the name of Pœmen is celebrated in the printed
Menaia and in various Manuscripts on the 27th day of August. Christopher
of Mitylene, in his Menologion on this 6th of June,
inserts only Ποιμένα
πανάριστον, Pœmen the altogether best.
[4] Finally, in the same Rufinus, chapter 10, are indicated
the revelations and pious death of the same Anuph (as
he is there called), which same things we give from the Lausiac History
of Palladius the Bishop, related in Greek and Latin in volume 2
of the Library of the ancient Fathers, printed in Greek and Latin at Paris
in the year 1574, where in chapter 55 and following
it is written in Greek Ἀνοὺβ, in Latin Anuph, and these things are recounted. to be visited by three Abbots,
Abbot Sarus, and Isaiah, and Paul, suddenly
met one another at a river, pious and excellent men,
practicers of the discipline, about to visit the great Abbot Anub.
But the distance between them was three stages;
and they say to one another: Let each one of
us show his rule of life; and how
he was honored by God in this life. And Abbot Sarus
said to them: I ask of God a gift, that we may by the power of the spirit
arrive untired at the place. And when he alone had
prayed, immediately a boat ready and
a favorable wind were found, and in a moment of time they were found
at the place, having sailed against the current of the river. But Isaiah
says to them: And what wonder, O friends, if a man of God
should meet us, who would tell the life of each one?
But Paul says to them: What if God should reveal to us
that after three days he will take up a man?
[5] he meets them: And when they had gone a little farther, a man
met them and greeted them. But Paul says to him:
Tell us what right things you have done; for after tomorrow
you will go away to the Lord. And Anub said to them: Blessed
be God, who has signified to me these things also, and
your rule of life and your coming. And when he had
told what each of them had rightly done,
he then set forth what he himself had done, saying: he relates the things done by him: From the time when
I professed the name of the Savior on earth, from my mouth
no lie has gone forth; of human food I have taken
nothing, an Angel daily feeding me with heavenly nourishment;
no desire of any other thing ascended into my heart,
except of God. Nothing of earthly things has God hidden
from me, which he has not signified and shown
to me. I did not take sleep by day, nor rest by night,
seeking God. One Angel was always present with me,
showing the powers of the world. The light of my thought
was never extinguished. Every petition
I received from God at once. and the revelations made to him, I saw many a time the myriads of Angels
standing before God; I saw the choirs of the Just;
I saw the throng of Martyrs; I saw the order of Monks;
I saw the work of all who praise God;
I saw Satan handed over to fire; I saw his angels
punished; I saw the just rejoicing forever. Telling these and
many other things, on the third day he gave up his soul; and dying he is carried into heaven: and the Angels
and the choirs of Martyrs, at once receiving it,
bore it into the heavens, while they themselves saw and heard the hymns.
D. P.
[6] Thus far the things collected by our Henschenius; let there conclude them
of Chifflet, of this kind:
To the living, as one living up to now,
even though dead, he shows—
working signs—
the grace of Anub.
Working signs after death, as though living, and he works miracles.
Anub bestows graces even to this day.
As regards his age, it can be derived from what was said by me
on the 4th of June, where, concerning St. Alonus, on that occasion I inquired
into the age of St. Pœmen; whom I found speaking of the times
of Theodosius the Younger, as recently past. Since
therefore Pœmen survived that Emperor, who died about
the year 450, it becomes probable that his elder brother
Anub died not long before or after Theodosius. The Mazyes
or Mazyces, whose incursion into Scetis compelled the holy
brothers to flee elsewhere, are said by Stephanus to have been
peoples of Mauretania Caesariensis, he seems to have lived beyond the year 450, and their King
Iarbas is mentioned by Suetonius. Therefore, before they
penetrated into Scetis, the solitude near Alexandria,
they must have ranged plundering through Mauretania Sitifensis, and Numidia
and Byzacena, and the Tripolitan provinces,
with both Libyas, and thus through nearly the whole of Africa,
as long as it is. But it is probable that they,
equally with the other Moors, then fought not under their own,
but under Vandal auspices; and that thereby the more obscure
among the Historians was made the memory of the damages inflicted upon Egypt
by them, inasmuch as they were
Vandal mercenaries. Now the
Moors, as many as inhabited the interior of Africa, were still
heathen, as is clear from Procopius of Caesarea, book 1, chapter 8,
relating how after the death of Geiseric they revolted from the Vandals,
and even conquered them under their own King Trasamund about
the year 490.