Paul the First Hermit (Paul of Thebes, (d. c.345)), traditionally the first Christian hermit, visited and later buried by Antony of Egypt. He had fled to the desert in persecution (perhaps of Decius) and was reputed to have lived there ever since to well over a hundred years of age. Jerome's Life of Paul, based on a Greek original and almost the only authority for these details, is a baffling mixture of fact and fantasy. Paul is represented in art usually with two lions, who traditionally burrowed the ground at Antony's request for Paul's grave, or else with a palm tree, which provided him with food and shelter during his long life as a hermit. Scenes from his life, especially the meeting with Antony, are depicted on the Ruthwell cross (c.700) and on some Irish crosses. He also appears on the 15th-century painted rood-screen of Wolborough (Devon) with other monastic saints. Feast (kept in several medieval monasteries): 10 January in the West: 5 or 15 January in the East.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- AA.SS. Ian. I (1643), 602–9; Life by Jerome also in P.L., xxiii. 17–28 (tr. in H. Waddell, The Desert Fathers (1936), pp. 35–53); J. Bidez, Deux versions grecques inédites de la vie de Paul de Thèbes (1900); F. Nau, ‘Le texte grec originale de la Vie de S. Paul de Thèbes’, Anal. Boll., xx (1901), 121–57; H. Delehaye, ‘La Personnalité historique de S. Paul de Thèbes’, Anal. Boll. xliv (1926), 64–9
