| Saint Paul of Thebes | |
|---|---|
Saint Paul of Thebes |
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| The First Hermit | |
| Born | c. 228 AD Egypt |
| Died | c. 341 AD Thebes, Egypt |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Churches Oriental Orthodox Churches |
| Major shrine | Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite, Egypt |
| Feast | January 15 (Roman Catholic Church) January 5 or January 15 (Eastern Orthodox Churches) February 9 (Oriental Orthodox Churches) |
| Attributes | Two lions, palm tree, raven |
| Patronage | San Pablo City, Philippines |
Paul of Thebes, (Coptic: Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲉ) commonly known as Saint Paul the First Hermit or St Paul the Anchorite (d. c. 341) is regarded as the first Christian hermit. He is not to be confused with Paul the Simple, who was a disciple of Anthony the Great.
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The legend according to Jerome's Vitae Patrum (Vita Pauli primi eremitae) is that, as a young man, Paul fled to the Theban desert during the persecution of Decius and Valerianus around 250 AD. He lived in the mountains of this desert in a cave near a clear spring and a palm tree, the leaves of which provided him with raiment and the fruit of which provided him with his only source of food till he was 43 years old, when a raven started bringing him half a loaf of bread daily. He would remain in that cave for the rest of his life, almost a hundred years.
Jerome further related the meeting of Anthony the Great and Paul, when the latter was aged 113. They conversed with each other for one day and one night. When Anthony next visited him, Paul was dead. Anthony clothed him in a tunic which was a present from Athanasius of Alexandria and buried him, with two lions helping to dig the grave.
His feast day is celebrated on January 15 in the West, on January 5 or January 15 in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, and on 2 Meshir (February 9) in the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Saint Anthony described him as "the first monk". The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit was founded in Hungary his honour in the XIII century: see Pauline Fathers. He is usually represented with a palm tree and two lions.
In the XIV century, his body-relic was taken from Venice to Hungary in 1381 under the rule of the King Louis I of Hungary. The relic was kept in the pauline monastery of Budaszentlőrinc and as the surviving registers say, many knights went in peregrination to honor him. In 1523 during the reign of the King Louis II of Hungary, Saint Paul's head-relic was taken from the czeh castle of Karlstein to Hungary and finally after many centuries both body and head were reunited.[1]