ON ST. PAUL THE SIMPLE, ANCHORITE IN THE THEBAID,
FOURTH CENTURY.
HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.
Paul the Simple, anchorite in the Thebaid (St.)
BHL Number: 6594
CHAPTER I.
The memory of St. Paul the Simple in the sacred calendars and among the ancient writers: his eulogy from Sozomenus.
[1] Our Matthaeus Raderus composed the second part of his Garden of the Saints concerning Simple Obedience and contempt of self, and in it, about to give the Life of St. Paul the Simple, he introduces it thus: The obedient Simplicity of this man has more panegyrists St. Paul the Simple is praised: than the supreme wisdom of Aristotle has encomiasts. The first is that sun of the Western Church, Jerome, in the History of the Fathers, who wrote at length the deeds accomplished by him; the second is Palladius in the Lausiac History; the third Sozomenus; the Roman Calendars of the Martyrs and the Greek Menaea; Nicephorus; others. So Raderus.
[2] In the Ecclesiastical Calendars of the Latins, various days are found assigned to the veneration of this Saint: inscribed in the sacred calendars on December 18: of these, December 18 is in the Martyrology printed at Cologne and Lubeck in the year 1490, in which this is found: On the same day, of St. Paul the Simple, Confessor, disciple of Blessed Antony the Abbot: whom Hermann Greuen in his additions to Usuard, published in 1515 and 1521, praises as a man of wondrous patience and obedience. Canisius in the German Martyrology adds to these the occasion of his conversion to monastic life on account of the dissolute morals of his adulterous wife. In a manuscript Florarium a long eulogy is woven from Palladius and Rufinus. Another day is January 11, on which Maurolycus celebrates him thus: January 11: Likewise of Paul the Simple, monk, who was a disciple of Blessed Antony. Nearly the same things are read at that day in the cited Martyrology of Canisius.
[3] And especially March 7: The third and principal day is this seventh of March, on which
the Tables of the Roman Martyrology record him in these words: In the Thebaid, of St. Paul, surnamed the Simple. Of him the Greeks have this in the Menologion: Of the holy Father Paul, surnamed the Simple, on account of his upright and simple character, tested in many ways by that great Blessed Antony: which God himself also confirmed by miracles, as the written records testify. Also among the Greeks: The Greeks also in the Great Menaea and in Maximus of Cythera, in his Lives of the Saints, relate in a very long eulogy the principal deeds accomplished by him in that simple obedience, confirmed by miracles from God: which eulogy Raderus published in Latin in the aforementioned part 2 of the Garden of the Saints, where he is said to have been surnamed the Simple on account of the guilelessness and snowy candor of his soul; in Greek: "guileless and unsophisticated in disposition as no one else."
[4] We give the deeds from Palladius: Omitting this eulogy, we give what Palladius, Bishop of Helenopolis, published in the Lausiac History, chapter 28, and received from the holy servant of Christ, Hierax, and from Cronius, and from many others. The author of book 7 of the Lives of the Fathers, which Paschasius translated into Latin, chapter 19, number 5, relates what both Cronius and the holy Hierax and many other neighboring brethren reported. And Palladius in chapters 25, 26, and 27 writes that Cronius was a Priest of Nitria and an interpreter of the words of St. Antony, since Antony did not know Greek, and he inserts into his history things learned from him. What is reported in chapter 10 of the Paradise of Heraclides agrees with Palladius. We add what has been handed down about the same St. Paul in book 2 of the Lives of the Fathers, chapter 31, and book 3, chapter 167. These books Raderus cites in the place indicated above under the name of St. Jerome, as do very many others; and from Rufinus: but our Rosweyde in Prolegomenon 4 to the Lives of the Fathers vindicated both for Rufinus, Priest of Aquileia. What we give from book 3 is also read in Pelagius, book 5, booklet 18, number 20, and Paschasius, book 7, chapter 23, number 2.
[5] Eulogy from Sozomenus: Sozomenus in book 1 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 13, treats of the Great Antony and his disciples, and writes this about St. Paul: There were certain of those whom we have learned to have been disciples of Antony, men of altogether outstanding worth, both many others and Paul surnamed the Simple, who they say was a rustic man and had a wife of very comely and honest appearance: when he caught her in adultery, he laughed calmly and bound himself by oath that he would no longer live with her. And when he had said to the man who had debauched his wife, "Keep her for yourself," he went straight to the desert to Antony. He is said moreover to have been most gentle and most patient of all troubles. Of him, already advanced in age and less accustomed to enduring the harshness of monastic life (for he had recently entered it), Antony made trial in various ways and found him lazy in nothing: having given him the testimony of a perfect life, as needing no further teacher, he gave him the freedom of living separately. This testimony of Antony God himself confirmed, and made Paul a man truly most illustrious, and in tormenting and expelling demons far superior to his Master. So Sozomenus, whom Nicephorus nearly transcribed in book 8 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 40.
CHAPTER II.
The Life of St. Paul the Simple from the Lausiac History of Palladius, chapter 28.
[6] The holy servant of Christ, Hierax, and Cronius, and many others of the Brethren, narrated the things I am about to tell: that a certain Paul, a rustic farmer, remarkably innocent and simple in character, had married a woman of surpassing beauty but of wicked morals, who for a very long time sinned without his knowledge. But one day, returning unexpectedly from the field and entering his house, he found his wife in adultery: he found them perpetrating shameful acts — Providence guiding Paul to what was advantageous for him. And when he had seen her with the man with whom she had a habitual liaison, he laughed honestly and decently, and cried out to them, saying: Well and good! Well and good! Truly I do not care. By Jesus, I will not take her back anymore. Go, keep her for yourself and her children; for I am leaving, and I will become a monk. And without saying anything to anyone, to become a monk: he passed through eight stations and went to St. Antony, and knocked at the door. St. Antony came out and asked him: What do you want? Paul said to him: I want to become a monk. Antony answered him: You are an old man of sixty; you cannot become a monk here; he goes to St. Antony: but rather go to the village and work and live a laboring life, giving thanks to God; for you cannot endure the afflictions of the desert. The old man answered and said: Whatever you teach me, I will do. Antony said to him: I told you that you are old he is rejected for three days: and cannot be a monk. Go. But if you wish to be a monk, enter a cenobium where there are many Brethren who can bear your weakness. For I sit here alone, eating every five days, and that while hungry. With these words therefore Antony was driving Paul away. But when he did not admit him, Antony, having closed the door, did not go out for three days on his account, not even for his own necessities. The old man, however, remained and did not leave. On the fourth day, pressed by necessity, Antony opened the door and went out, and seeing Paul again, said to him: Go away from here, old man; why are you troublesome to me? You cannot stay here. Paul said to him: It cannot be that I die anywhere but here.
[7] When Antony looked at him and saw that he had nothing for sustenance — no bread, he is admitted on the fourth day: no water, nothing else — and had already persevered fasting for four days, he thought to himself: Perhaps he will die, since he is not accustomed to fasting, and will stain my soul. So he admitted him. Then Antony said to him: You can be saved if you have obedience and do what you hear from me. And Paul answering said: he pledges perfect obedience: I will do whatever you command. And Antony took up such a regimen of austere living in those days as he had when he was in the prime of his youth. Therefore, testing his spirit, Antony said to him: Stand and pray in this place until I come in and bring you something to work on. And entering the cave, he observed him through the window, remaining in that place for a whole week without moving, he perseveres in prayer: while he was scorched by the heat. Coming out after the week, when he had moistened palm branches, he said to him: Take these and weave rope as you see me do. The old man wove until the ninth hour fifteen cubits with great labor. When Antony had seen what he had woven, it did not please him at all, he weaves and unweaves ropes: and he said to him: You have woven badly; unweave it and weave again — although he was already fasting for the seventh day and was advanced in age. He afflicted him to this extent for this reason: he fasts for seven days: so that the old man, unable to bear it, might flee from Antony and the monastic life. But he both unraveled the same branches and wove them again with great labor, since from the first weaving they had become wrinkled.
[8] When therefore the great Antony saw that he had neither murmured, nor lost heart, he wins the affection of St. Antony: nor turned his face away at all, nor shown even the slightest resentment, he was moved with compunction on his account. And at sunset he said to him: Little father, would you like us to eat a piece of bread? Paul said to him: As it seems good to you, Abba. This also again moved Antony — that he had not rushed immediately at the announcement of food, but had left the decision to him. Prepare the table, then, he said; and he obeyed. He prepares the table: Antony brings bread and places on the table four biscuits of six ounces each; and for himself he soaked one (for they were dry), and three for the other. Antony sang a psalm that he knew; and having sung it twelve times, he sings the psalm with him twelve times: he prayed twelve times, in order to test Paul in this also. But the old man prayed together with him more readily and eagerly than the great Antony himself; for he would have preferred, I think, to feed on scorpions than to live with an adulteress. After the twelve prayers, the great Antony said to Paul: Sit down, and do not eat until evening; but only look at the food. He goes to sleep fasting: When evening came and Paul had not eaten, Antony said to him: Rise, pray, and sleep. And he, leaving the table, did so. Antony said to him: Why are you silent? Speak. In the middle of the night he roused him to prayer and extended the prayers until the ninth hour. When the table was again set and he had again sung and prayed, late in the evening they sat down to eat. When therefore the great Antony had eaten one biscuit, he touched no other. But the old man, eating more slowly, was still holding the biscuit he had taken. On the 8th day he eats a biscuit of 6 ounces: So Antony waited until he finished, and said to him: Eat, little father, even one more biscuit. Paul said to him: If you eat, I will eat too; but if you do not eat, neither will I eat. Antony said to him: It is enough for me; I am a monk. And Paul said: It is enough for me too; for I also wish to become a monk. He rises again and makes twelve prayers and sings twelve psalms. He rises at midnight to pray: And after the prayers of the first sleep, they sleep a little; and again they awake to sing from midnight until day.
[9] Then he sent him out to traverse the desert, saying to him: Come back after three days. When this had been done and certain Brethren had come to him, he keeps silence and fasts for three weeks: Paul observed Antony to see what he wished him to do. And Antony said to him: Keep silence while you serve the Brethren; and do not taste anything until the Brethren have set out on their journey. When the third week had already been completed during which Paul had not eaten, the Brethren asked him: Why are you silent? And when he did not answer, Antony spoke with the Brethren. But Paul answered. He obeys simply: When once an urn of honey had been brought to him, Antony said to him: Break the vessel and let the honey pour out. And so he did. And Antony said again: Gather the honey again with a shell, so that you bring in no impurities. Therefore he merits the grace of casting out demons: And again he ordered him to draw water the whole day. And again, when he had undone his garment, he ordered him to sew it up. In the end this man possessed such obedience that the grace was given him from God, namely, to cast out
demons.
[10] When therefore the great Antony saw that the old man had readily followed him in every form of life's exercise, he said to him: See, Brother, if you can do this every day, stay with me. Paul said to him: Whether you can show me something more, I do not know; for the things I have seen you do, I also do easily and without labor, God helping me. Then Antony said to him the next day: In the name of Jesus, behold, you have become a monk. When the great and blessed Antony had more than sufficiently ascertained in all things that the soul of this servant of Christ was exceedingly perfect, since he was exceedingly simple, after some months — with the grace of God assisting blessed Antony — he built him a cell at three or four stones' distance from his own cell. He lives apart: And he said to him: Behold, by the power of Christ assisting you, you have become a monk; henceforth remain apart, so that you may also make trial of the demons. When therefore Paul the most Simple had lived by himself for one year, he was also deemed worthy of the grace against demons and against every kind of disease, conducting himself perfectly in the virtue of his training.
[11] One day, therefore, a young man who was exceedingly and severely tormented by a demon was brought to Blessed Antony, having a chief and most savage demon who even pursued heaven itself with curses and reproaches. When therefore the great Antony had observed the young man, he said to those who were bringing him: This is not my work; for against this order of demons, namely the chief ones, ordered by St. Antony to cure one possessed: I have not yet been gifted with grace; but this is the grace of Paul the Simple. So the great Antony went and led them also to the proven Paul, and said to him: Abba Paul, cast out this demon from this man, so that he may return healthy to his own people and glorify the Lord. Paul said to him: And what about you? Antony said to him: I have no time; I have another matter to attend to. And leaving the boy there, the great Antony returned to his cell. He pours forth prayers: When therefore the guileless old man had risen and poured forth an effective prayer, he said, provoking the demoniac: Abba Antony said: Come out of this man. But the demon cried out with reproaches and curses, saying: I will not come out, you glutton, you old man, you trifler! He beats him with his own sheepskin: Taking therefore his own sheepskin, he beat him on the back, saying: Come out; Abba Antony said so. But the demon cursed Paul and Antony: You gluttons in old age, you sluggards, you who are never satisfied, who are never content with your own things — what do you have in common with us? Why do you exercise tyranny over us? At length Paul said to him: Either you will come out, or I will go and tell Christ, and he will make it woe for you. But Jesus too the merciless demon pursued with reproaches and curses, crying: I will not come out.
[12] For this reason Paul, indignant against the demon, went out of his lodging at the very stroke of noon: and the heat of the Egyptians has a kinship with the Babylonian furnace. He prays to Christ more insistently in the burning sun: Standing therefore, the holy old man like a pillar upon a rock, thus prayed to Christ, saying: You see, Jesus Christ, who were crucified under Pontius Pilate, that I will not come down from this rock, nor eat nor drink until I die, unless you hear me now and cast out this demon from this man and free him from the unclean spirit. He drives out the demon: While the simple and humble Paul was still speaking to Jesus, before he had even finished his prayers, the demon cried out, saying: I depart, I depart; I am driven out by force and expelled by tyranny; I leave this man, confessing that he is expelled by the humility of St. Paul: I will not approach him again. The simplicity and humility of Paul expels me, and I do not know where to go. And immediately the demon went out and was transformed into a very great dragon of about seventy cubits, and departed crawling toward the Red Sea, so that what was spoken through the Holy Spirit might be fulfilled: The righteous man will proclaim faith that is demonstrated. Prov. 12 And again elsewhere: Upon whom shall I look, says the Lord, if not upon the meek and humble, and the one who trembles at my words? Isa. 66 For the lesser demons are accustomed to be cast out of men by those of chief faith, while the chief demons in turn are put to flight by the humble. These are the miracles of St. Paul the Simple and humble, and many others greater than these. He was called the Simple by the whole brotherhood.
NotesCHAPTER III.
The Life of St. Paul the Simple from Rufinus, On the Lives of the Fathers.
[13] There was a certain one among the disciples of St. Antony, Paul by name, surnamed the Simple. Book 2, chapter 31: The beginning of his conversion was of this kind. When he had seen his wife with his own eyes lying with an adulterer, saying nothing to anyone, he left the house; He abandons his wicked wife: and touched by grief of soul, he betook himself to the desert, where while he was wandering in distress, he came to the monastery of Antony; He goes to Blessed Antony: and there, prompted by the place and the opportunity, he formed his resolution. And when he had approached Antony to seek from him the way of salvation, Antony, perceiving that the man was of a simple nature, answered him that he could indeed be saved if he obeyed the things that would be said to him. Then Paul answered that he would do everything he promises obedience: that was commanded him. So to test his promise, Antony said to him as he stood before the door of his cell: Wait here for me, praying, until I come out. And going inside, Antony remained within for a whole day and a whole night; yet looking through the window from concealment more frequently, he perseveres in prayer: he saw him praying without ceasing and never moving at all, but standing in the heat of the day and the dew of the night, and so mindful of the command that he did not even move a little from his place.
[14] Going out the next day, Antony began to instruct and teach him about each thing: he is taught the manner of exercising manual labor: how to console the solitude with the work of the hands, and with the fingers of the body to do the carnal work, but with the thought of the mind and the attention of the soul to do the things that are of God. He also commanded him to take food in the evening, but to take care never to reach the point of satiety, and abstinence in food and drink of water: and especially in drink — affirming that fantasies of the mind are produced no less by an abundance of water than the heat of the body increases through wine. And when he had fully instructed him in how he should conduct himself in each matter, he built him a cell nearby — that is, three miles from himself — and there commanded him to practice what he had learned; and visiting him rather frequently, he lives in a remote cell: he rejoiced to find him remaining in those things that had been handed down to him with complete attention and care.
[15] On a certain day, however, when Brethren had come to St. Antony — great and perfect men indeed — asking whether Christ existed before the Prophets: it happened that Paul was also present with them. And when a discussion was being held about deep and mystical matters, and many things were being treated about the Prophets and the Savior, Paul in the simplicity of his soul asked whether Christ existed before the Prophets. Blessed Antony, as though embarrassed at so absurd a question, ordered to be silent: with a gentle nod, as he was accustomed to do with simpler people, commanded him to be silent and go away. And Paul, because he had determined to observe everything whatsoever that was said by Antony as a precept of God, withdrawing to his cell, he keeps strict silence: as though he had received a command, determined to keep silence and not to speak at all. When Antony learned of this, he began to wonder where this observance had come from that pleased him — knowing it had not been commanded by himself. And when he had ordered him to speak and to indicate why he was silent, Paul said to him: You, Father, said that I should go and be silent. And Antony, astonished that a word he had casually spoken was so observed by him: to the amazement of St. Antony: This man, he said, condemns us all; for while we do not hear God speaking to us from heaven, by this man whatever word falls from our mouth is observed.
[16] Nevertheless, St. Antony, wishing to teach him much about obedience, he is exercised by St. Antony in various works of obedience: used to command him even things that reason and circumstance did not require, in which his disposition toward obedience might be tested. For he sometimes ordered him to draw water from a well and pour it on the ground all day; and to undo woven baskets and weave them again; and to unstitch a garment and sew it again, and undo it again. And he is remembered to have been trained in very many exercises of this kind, so that he learned never to contradict anything at all, even things that seemed to be commanded contrary to reason; and thus formed through all these things, he attains to great perfection: he quickly came to perfection. From his example, blessed Antony used to teach that if anyone wishes quickly to reach perfection, he should not make himself his own teacher or obey his own will, even though what he wants seems right; but according to the command of the Savior, he should observe this: that before all things each one should deny himself and renounce his own will — because the Savior himself also said: I came, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Matt. 26 And surely the will of Christ was not contrary to the will of the Father; but he who had come to teach obedience would not be found obedient if he did his own will. How much more, then, shall we be judged disobedient if we do our own wills? John 6
[17] Finally, the aforementioned Paul is an example to us, who by the merit of obedience and simplicity ascended to such a height of spiritual graces more powerful in virtue than St. Antony: that the Lord worked through him many more and more powerful miracles than through St. Antony. And because, on account of the abundance of his graces, many from all parts of the earth flocked to him to be cured by him, Blessed Antony, fearing lest the annoyance of the multitude should drive him away, caused him to dwell in the inner desert, he lives in the deeper desert: where no one could easily approach, so that Antony himself might rather receive those who came. But those whom Antony himself could not cure, he sent to Paul, as having a more abundant grace of healings,
and they were cured by him. They relate that such was the confidence of his simplicity before the Lord, that at a certain time when a man suffering from madness was tearing like a dog everyone who dared to approach him, and was brought to Paul, he persisted in prayer to put to flight the demon that was tormenting him. And when there was a delay he expels the demon by prayer: and a swift result did not follow, as though indignant in the manner of children, he is said to have said to the Lord: Truly I will not eat today if you do not cure him; and immediately, as if to satisfy a spoiled child of the Lord, God responded, and immediately the madman was cured.
[18] Book 3, chapter 167: Abba Paul the Simple had this grace: that looking at those entering the church, he could perceive from the very face of each one their thoughts, he knows the consciences of those entering the church: whether they were evil or good. When therefore they had come to the church and were entering, the old man saw them entering with bright faces and joyful spirits, and their Angels likewise entering with them in joy. But one he saw dark, with a murky body, and Angels or demons variously joyful or sad: and demons on either side dragging him toward themselves with a bridle placed in his nostrils, and his holy Angel following from afar, sad. The blessed Paul therefore began to weep most bitterly and to beat his breast, sitting before the church on account of the one he had seen in such a state. But all the other old men, seeing him weeping thus, began to ask that if he had seen anything in them, he would make it known, or that he would enter with them into the assembly; but he was unwilling to enter, and kept weeping on account of the one he had seen in such a state. After a little while, when they were leaving after the service was concluded, he again looked around at the faces of all, to see whether they were leaving as they had entered; and he saw the one whom he had before seen dark and murky, he sees the penitent with a bright face: coming out of the church with a bright face and white body, and the demons following him from afar; but his holy Angel near him, cheerful and rejoicing exceedingly over him. Then Paul, rising with joy, cried out, blessing God and saying: How great is the mercy and kindness of God! How great is his compassion! And climbing to a higher place, he said in a loud voice: Come and see the works of God; come and see how he wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Come, let us adore him, saying: For you alone can take away sins. And when all had assembled, Paul explained to them what he had seen before they entered the church, and what afterward; and he asked that Brother whom he had seen in such a state having publicly confessed the sins committed: to reveal to him his thoughts and deeds, and how God had granted him such a great transformation. And that man before all began to relate, saying: I am a sinful man, and in all these long times I have always practiced fornication. But having entered now into the church of God, I heard the words of Isaiah the Prophet — or rather of God speaking through him: Wash yourselves, be clean, and take away the wickedness from your souls before the sight of my eyes. Isa. 1 Learn to do good; seek judgment. stung in soul: And if your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow; and if you are willing and hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land. But I, wretched and a fornicator, stung by this word of the Prophet, having sought pardon: and entering into my own breast, said to God: Lord, you are he who came to save sinners. These things, therefore, which you have now promised through the Prophet, fulfill in deed in me, an unworthy sinner. Behold, from this moment I pledge myself to you, and a resolution of living well: and from my whole heart I confess that I will no longer do this evil, but I renounce all unrighteousness, and from now on I serve you in a pure conscience. From today, therefore, Lord, and from this hour, receive me as a penitent, worshiping you and renouncing all sins. I have sworn and resolved within myself to keep all your justifications. Under this pledge, therefore, I came out of the church, resolving within myself to do nothing further of my former sins. Then all the old men cried out, saying to the Lord in a loud voice: How magnificent are your works, O Lord! You have made all things in wisdom.
Note