ON SAINT PIOR, ANCHORITE IN EGYPT
ABOUT THE END OF THE 4TH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
On his acts & sayings from the Lives of the Fathers.
Pior, anchorite in Egypt (S.)
G. H.
This other holy Anchorite, set forth by the Greeks in the Synaxary of Dijon on this 17th of June, concerning whom in book 3 of the Lives of the Fathers, usually ascribed to Rufinus, a disciple of S. Antony, these things are read at no. 31. There was a certain hermit, Pior by name, of the ancient Brothers, whom B. Antony, when a young man, instructed in the holy purpose of the Monks. And he stayed with B. Antony a few years. And when he was twenty-five years old, he went to another secret place of the desert, to dwell as a solitary, B. Antony also willing & consenting to this; & S. Antony said to him: Go, Pior, & dwell where you wish, & when the Lord has revealed to you through some reasonable occasion, he drinks salt & bitter water: you will come to me. And when this same Pior had come to the place which is situated between Nitria & the desert of Scete, he dug a well, thinking with himself: Since whatever water I find, it behooves me to be content with it: which also happened, & for the increase of his merits such an occasion came about, for the water was found so salt & bitter, that if anyone came to visit him, he carried water for himself in his own vessel. He remained in that place thirty years. The brothers therefore told him to depart from that place because of the bitterness of the water. But he said to them: he lives on one biscuit a day & five olives: & this outside on the road. If we flee the bitterness & labor of abstinence, & wish to have rest in this world; after the exit of this life we shall not perceive those eternal & truly sweet goods, nor shall we enjoy those perpetual delights of blessed paradise. The brothers therefore said: that he took for food only one biscuit & five olives, & this while walking about outside.
[2] This last thing is read also in the Lives of the Fathers, the translator being Pelagius, booklet 5, no. 34. And a certain man asked him why he ate thus, he answered that he did not do this as some work, but as something superfluous. But to another, asking about this, he answered: That the soul might not have bodily delight even in eating. Many of the holy Fathers, says Rufinus, also affirmed this of him: that for thirty years & more, from the time he went out from the house of his parents, he was never persuaded, even when he had heard of the death of his parents, to go to seek out or visit his relatives. he shrinks from visiting his relatives. Nevertheless his sister, when she was a widow, having two sons now young lads, sent them into the desert, to seek out her brother Pior. Who, when they had gone around various monasteries seeking him, scarcely at last finding him, said to him: We are the sons of your sister, who with too great desire longs to see you before her departure. But he did not yield to their petition. But the young men went to the man of God B. Antony, [he shows himself to his sister but with closed eyes & only when ordered by S. Antony,] indicating to him for what cause they had come. And B. Antony sent & called him to himself, & said to him: Why, Brother, have you not come to me for so long a time? Who answering, said to him: You commanded me, most blessed Father, that, if the Lord should reveal to me through some occasion, I should come to you; & behold, hitherto it has not been revealed to me. And B. Antony said to him: Go that your sister may see you. Then he took with him another Monk, & went to the place & house of his sister: & standing outside near the door of the courtyard, with closed eyes, that he might not see his sister, he stood. But she, coming, threw herself at his feet: for she was overwhelmed with too great joy. Pior says to her: or by the Bishop, Behold I am Pior your brother, see me therefore as much as you wish: & after this he immediately returned to the desert into his little cell. But he did this to instruct the Monks, that license might not be given them, when it pleased them, to visit their parents or relatives. The things which are here held concerning the visit to the sister, Palladius narrates in the Lausiac history, chapter 87; & that he went not ordered by S. Antony, but by the Bishop of the place, letters being written at the request of the sister; & that he could not be persuaded to enter the house: & it is added that until he died he was content with the bitterness found in the water, that the endurance of this noble man might become known.
[3] In the Lives of the Fathers, the translator being Palladius, booklet 9, no. 9, these things are reported: A gathering once took place in Scete, & the Fathers were speaking of a certain culpable Brother. he teaches that one's own sins more than another's are to be weighed. But Abbot Pior was silent. But afterward, rising, he went out: & taking a sack, he filled it with sand, & carried it on his shoulders: & putting a little of the same sand in a small basket, he carried it also in front. But being asked by the Fathers what this was, he answered: This sack, which has much sand, is my sins: & since they are many, I placed them on my back, lest I grieve & weep for them: but this little sand is the sins of that Brother: which it is not fitting should be done thus, but rather that my sins be before me, & that I think of them, & pray God to pardon me. But the Fathers, hearing, said: Truly this is the way of salvation. The same things in somewhat another phrasing are held in the aforesaid Rufinus, no. 136. In the Apophthegms of the Fathers which Joannes Baptista Cotelerius published in Greek & Latin, this also is read: B. Pior, when he had worked for someone in the harvest, reminded him about paying the wage; & he deferring, he serves three years in the harvest without pay: he returned to the monastery. Again, the time calling, he reaped for the same man, & eagerly applied himself to the work: & when he provided nothing, he returned to his monastery. Likewise the third year being completed, after he had finished the usual work, he departed, having received nothing. But the Lord prospered the man's house: whence, bringing the wage through the monasteries, he went around seeking the Saint. Whom, scarcely found, he fell at his feet, paid the wage, & said: The Lord has bestowed upon me. But he commanded that he give it back to the Presbyter in the Church. So there, among the Monuments of the Greek Church, page 643.
[4] Moreover, by Palladius it is written thus in chapter XI. It is reported, he says, besides others, this action also of the holy Pambo; he visits & is visited by Pambo the Abbot. that Pior, who exercised himself in the monastic life, coming once to his cell, brought his own bread. But when Pambo had reprehended him, saying, Why have you done this? Pior answered, Lest I burden you. And so he dismissed him silently. But after some time, the great Pambo, coming to the cell of Pior, brought his bread with him, moistened. But being asked by him for what cause he had brought the bread moistened, Pambo answered: I moistened it for this, lest I too should burden you. The said Pambo is mentioned by the Greeks on the 18th day of July. The holy Pambo too, & God's servant Pior, having obtained from the Lord the graces of healings, are mentioned in the letter of Ammonius the Bishop concerning S. Pachomius & Theodorus, no. 21, who visited them on the mountain of Nitria. Finally, in Palladius, chapter 87 cited above, toward the end it is read: Many monks after his death, when they had striven to remain in his cell, could not accomplish it for one year. For the place is terrible & alien from all consolation. In that place therefore, as in the Ms. Menaea of Dijon on this 17th of June, S. Pior ended his life in peace: & there two verses are added, & the place remains in veneration after his death. alluding to the name, which, although it is Egyptian or Coptic, as to the sound of the letters nevertheless is not far from the Greek Πίων, which means fat & plump, or well-fattened.
Having a soul greedy for virtue, Pior Departed well fat, his spirit full of fatness. Because Pior had a soul greedy for virtue, Well fat he departed, full of the fat of the spirit.
[5] Ammonius, a Bishop of I know not what see in Egypt, the time of his life from the Letter of Ammonius. who had put on the monastic habit about the year 351 with S. Theodorus the disciple of S. P. Pachomius, in the Letter written about both to Theophilus the Bishop of Alexandria, set forth by us on the 14th day of May, no. 21, narrates how, when the third year among the Monks was being passed by him, the year of Christ 354, the aforesaid S. Theodorus was the author for him to choose a dwelling on the mountain of Nitria, where then lived men conspicuous in holiness & most pleasing to God, with S. Ammon: among whom were S. Pambo & God's servant Pior, who had obtained from the Lord the grace of healings. And hence the time of his death set forth at the beginning is justified, namely about the end of the 4th century: for that Ammonius wrote after the Episcopate had been undertaken by Theophilus, that is after the year 386; & he wrote as of one still living. But although that Theophilus held the see up to 412; Ammonius nevertheless, if he had lived then, would have been about ninety years old; & so it is more credible that he wrote before the end of the fourth century, only eighty years old, about Monks famous in Nitria about fifty years before.