Wednesday 10 June 2020

St Paul the Hermit



15th January is the saint’s day for Paul the Hermit, the first well-known person who adopted this lifestyle as a means of devoting himself to his Christian faith.

Paul was born in Lower Egypt in the year 229. He became a Christian but lost his parents when he was only 15. He had an inheritance to live on, but was in danger from persecution by the Roman authorities. He was given refuge by a pagan friend but a relative threatened to betray him in order to gain his inheritance. That was when Paul decided to escape into the desert to live the life of a solitary hermit.

Until the age of 43 he lived alone in a desert cave next to a stream, depending for all his physical needs on a palm tree that supplied both food and clothing. However, at that point he was visited by a raven which brought him half a loaf of bread, which he did every day without fail for the next 70 years.

St Anthony visited Paul when the former was aged 90 and the latter 103. The raven then turned up with a full loaf, and the two saints debated for a long time over which of them should have the privilege of breaking it.

Paul lived on for another ten years until Anthony, on another visit, found him lying dead on the ground, apparently prostrated in prayer.

There is a lot of suspension of disbelief needed in order to accept the full story of Paul the Hermit, not least the exceptional longevity of Paul, Anthony and the raven!  And where did the raven get the bread from? As with many such early stories of the saints, the details tended to become embellished with the retelling, and one must always bear this in mind.


© John Welford

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