Paul of Thebes

Who they were

What is known of Paul comes from the Life written by St Jerome. At sixteen, during the persecution of Decius, Paul fled into the desert of the Thebaid in Egypt and lived in a cave in the mountainside until the age of 113.

When St Anthony, at ninety, was tempted to think himself the first to live in the desert, a vision sent him to find his predecessor. The Life tells of their meeting, of the raven that brought them bread, and of Paul's death before Anthony returned with a cloak, given him by Bishop Athanasius, in which to bury him.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: Paul has been honoured since the fourth century as the first Christian hermit.

Why that counted as sanctity

Paul spent almost a century alone with God in the desert, the first of the hermits, whose hidden holiness humbled even St Anthony.

Connected on this site

• Gelasius I Saint
  “He was canonized in 491 by Pope Gelasius I, and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Oriental Orthodox Churches.” — Wikipedia
• Paul the Simple Saint
  “John, the Abbot of Sinai wrote "Paul the Simple was a clear example for us, for he was the rule and type of blessed simplicity." Though contemporaries, he is not to be confused with Paul of Thebes, regarded as the First Hermit.” — Wikipedia