Saint Paphnuce
Évêque en Égypte (+ 360)
Moine, il devint évêque de la Thébaïde et confessa sa foi sous l'empereur Maximien. Les mutilations dont il fut victime: œil droit crevé, tendon d'Achille de la jambe gauche coupé et condamnation aux mines, lui donnèrent un grand prestige auprès des Pères du Concile de Nicée quand il siégea au milieu d'eux.
Commémoraison de saint Paphnuce, évêque en Égypte au IVe siècle. Il fut l’un de ces confesseurs de la foi, qui, sous l’empereur Galère, eurent l’œil droit arraché et le jarret gauche coupé, puis furent condamnés aux mines; il participa par la suite au Concile de Nicée et combattit activement pour la foi catholique contre les ariens.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1837/Saint-Paphnuce.html
SAINT PAPHNUCE
Dans les déserts de la Thébaïde, qui entourent Héraclée,
il y eut beaucoup de solitaires. Le dernier d’entre eux fut saint Paphnuce, dont l'histoire est fort étrange.
Paphnuce avait mené dans le désert la vie étonnante
des solitaires, une vie qui ne ressemblait ni à la vie des hommes, ni même á
celle des saints modernes, une vie dont l’austérité surpasse l’imagination. Un
jour il se dit á lui-même : Quel est celui des saints auquel je ressemble ?
La question devint une prière.
— Seigneur, disait-il, parmi vos saints quel est celui
auquel je ressemble le plus?
— Paphnuce, Paphnuce, lui dit la voix qui luí parlait,
car il était souvent conduit par une voix ; toi, Paphnuce, tu ressembles á un
musicien qui chante dans un village á quelque distance d'IIéraclée.
Paphnuce fut plus surpris qu’il ne l’avait encore été
depuis le jour de sa naissance. Un musicien qui chantait dans un village ne
répondait pas á l’idéal d’une sainteté semblable á la sienne.
II approche du village, il arrive ; il demande le
musicien.
— II est là, luí répondent les gens du pays ; il est
dans ce cabaret; il chante pour amuser les gens qui boivent.
Paphnuce marchait de stupéfactions en stupéfactions.
II aborde le musicien, lui demande un entretien particulier, et l'ayant obtenu,
lui demande par quelles voies il s’est élevé si haut en sainteté devant Dieu et devant les anges.
— Brave homme, répond le musicien, je pense que vous
plaisantez.
— Voilà donc, pensait Paphnuce, le saint auquel je
suis semblable!
Le musicien reprit :
— Je suis le dernier des misérables. Avant de jouer
dans les cabarets, j’étais voleur de profession. Je faisais partie d’une bande
de brigands. Ma vie est un tissu d’abominations, et je me fais horreur á
moi-même.
Paphnuce devenait pensif.
— Cherchez bien, lui dit-il, vous trouverez quelque
bonne action.
— Je ne vois pas, dit le voleur.
— Cherchez bien, dit Paphnuce.
— Je me souviens, répondit l’autre, qu’un jour nous
avons saisi, mes brigands et moi, une vierge consacrée á Dieu; je la leur
arrachai ; je la conduisis dans un village ou elle passa la nuit, et le lendemain
je la reconduisis au monastère telle qu’elle en étaít sortie.
— Ensuite? dit Paphnuce.
— Un jour, dit le voleur, je rencontrai une trés belle
femme, errante et seule, dans un déserl.
— Comment, lui dis-je, êtes-vous ici ?
— Ne vous informez pas de mon nom, répondit-elle. Mais
si vous avez pitié de moi, prenez-moi pour esclave, et conduisez-moi où vous
voudrez. Ma situation est horrible. Mon mari s’est trouvé redevable des deniers
publics. Après lui avoir fait souffrir les plus horribles traitements, on l’a enfermé
dans une affreuse prison, d’où il ne sort de temps en temps que pour subir de
nouvelles tortures. Nous avons trois fils qui ont été arr¸etés pour la même
dette. On me poursuit á mon tour ; je me cache dans ce désert, et il y a trois
jours que je n’ai mangé.
Touché de compassion, j’emmenai cette femme; je la
conduisis, je la soutins, je la restaurai.
Quand elle eut mangé et qu’elle fut revenue de la faiblesse oü je l’avais
trouvée, je lui dis : Que vous faut- il?
— Avec trois cents pièces d’argent, dit-elle, nous
serions sauvés, mon mari, mes fils et moi !
— Voici trois cents pièces d’argent, lui dis-je ; maintenant
soyez heureuse. Elle emporta les trois cents pièces et la famille fut sauvée.
II me semble que cette histoire contient quelque chose
de particulier. Ce n’est pas l'enseignement ordinaire. C’est un enseignement
exceptionnel. Elle nous fait non pas voir, mais entrevoir une chose ignorée. Elle
ouvre une fenêtre sur les mystères de la justice divine, qui mesure tout, qui juge
infailliblement, étrangement, tenant compte des grâces données, des tentations
subies, des situations dífférentes, se jouant des pensées humaines et des
vraisemblances les plus accentuées. II me semble que la voix qui parlait á
Paphnuce nous parle encore, disant aux uns : Vous vous croyez bons, ne présumez
pas; aux autres : Vous vous croyez mauvais : ne désespérez pas.
Beaucoup demeurent dans la haine, qui se croient dans
l’amour; beaucoup se croient dans la haine, qui demeurent dans l’amour, dit la
bienheureuse Angèle de Foligno ; et le Saint-Esprit avait dit avant elle: «c
Nul ne sait s’il est digne d’amour ou de haine. Les choses visibles et les
choses invisibles brûlent ensemble dans l’inscrutable abîme du coeur humain,
comme dans une chaudi;ere les métaux en fusion, et nul ne voit l’opération intérieure,
excepté celui qui p;ese les tentations et les grâces comme íl pèse le vent et le
feu. Promenez-vous le soir sur les bords de la mer. Baissez les yeux, comptez
les grains de sable du rivage. Levez les yeux, comptez les étoiles du ciel.
Tout cela est peu de chose. Mais si vous essayez de compter les actions et les
réactions intérieures et extérieures, les actions et les passions, les grâces
et les tentations, les circonstances, les coups et les contrecoups, les
assauts du dedans et les assauts du dehors, les velléités, les désirs, les succès,
les échecs, les douleurs et les attaques, cette multitude inouïe d’efforts
contradictoires qui venant de lui, sur lui, pour lui ou contre luí ont produit,
aprés quarante ou cinquante ans, l'homme qui est là, aujourd’hui, devant vos
yeux ;
Si vous essayez ce calcul infini, vous cherchez un
nombre que Dieu seul connaît : vous tentez de soulever le voile qui cache la
justice éternelle, et peut-être cet attentat ressemble-t-il à celui du soldat
de Josué qui mit la main sur la chose réservée, sur l’anathème. Dieu, qui est
jaloux, est jaloux de sa justice.
Lui seul est assez étranger á nos misères pour les
connîttre dans leur profondeur, er en tenir un compte digne d’elles. Lui seul
est assez clairvoyant pour avoir une indulgence égale á nos besoins. Lui seul est
assez haut sur la montagne inaccessible, pour tenir dans la main la mesure de
notre abîme.
A lui seul appartient la justice comme une propriété.
Justice profonde et mystérieuse, justice divine,
inconnue comme Dieu, justice qui nous réserve des étonnements immenses !
Justice sans défaillance, qui voit d*un seul coup d’oeil au-delà des quatre
horizons ! Justice qui tient compte de toutes les choses relatives, parce
qu’elle est absolue !
Un prétre alla visiter Paphnuce dans le désert.
Paphnuce, disciple de saint Macaire, lui parla de son
maître.
— Connaissez-vous, dit-il, connaissez-vous l’histoire
du présent de la hyène? Car c’est ainsi que mon maítre appelait sa tunique, la
tunique qu’il légua depuis á Mélanie la bienheureuse.
— Je ne connais pas, dit le prêtre, cette histoire.
— Un jour, reprit Paphnuce, Macaire, mon maître, était
assis dans sa cellule, s’entretenant avec le Seigneur. Un animal frappa de la
tête contre la porte de la cellule ; la porte céda, l’animal entra et se jeta
aux pieds de Macaire, déposant devant lui son petit. Le solitaire les regarda
tous deux : c’était une hyène qui montrait son petit á mon maître Macaire.
Macaire, l’ayant examiné, s'aperçut qu’il était aveugle. Alors il cracha sur ses
yeux fermés, et aussitôt ses yeux s’ouvrirent. Sa mère lui donna immédiatement
son lait et remporta. Le lendemain on frappe encore; la porte s'ouvre : c’était
la Hyène qui revenait. Cette fois, au lieu d’apporter son petit, elle apportait
une grande peau de brebis. Macaire, ayant considéré cette peau, dit á la Hyène
: Comment as-tu pu te procurer cette peau, sinon par un vol et par un meurtre ?
Malheureuse, je t’ai fait du bien, et toi tu as volé un pauvre et tu as tué sa
brebis !
La Hyène continuait á tenir la peau et á la présenter
d'un air suppliant.
— Non, dit mon maître, je ne veux pas ce bien: il est
mal acquis.
La Hyène baissa la tête et plia les genoux.
Alors mon maître, touché de compassion, lui dit :
Hyène, veux-tu me promettre de ne plus faire tort aux pauvres désormais et de
plus dévorer leurs brebis ?
La Hyène fit signe de la tête, comme si elle eût
promis.
— Alors, dit mon maître, j’accepte ton présent.
Et la tunique de Macaire s’appelait le présent de la
Hyène. Jamais il ne la nomma autrement, et il la donna, comme un don très
précieux, á Mélanie.
C’est ainsi que Paphnuce parlait.
II y avait á la même époque une pécheresse nommée
Thaïs, dont la beauté était extraordinaire.
Plusieurs se réduisirent á l’aumône pour luí faíre des
cadeaux, et la jalousie allumait entre ccs hommes de telles fureurs que souvent
sa maison était teinte de sang.
Le scandale prit de telles proportions que le bruit en
arriva jusqu’á l’abbé Paphnuce. On alla lui demander ce qu’il fallait taire
dans da telles circonstances.
Quelque temps après, saint Antoine dit á ses disciples
: Veillez et priez.
Et tous passèrent la nuit en oraison. Ils n'étaient pas
réunis, mais séparés, et chacun priait sans discontinuer.
Parmi les disciples de saint Antoine, le plus ardent
et le plus simple était Paul.
Et pendant cette nuit d’oraison continuelle, il arriva
que le Seigneur ouvrit á Paul les yeux de l’esprit, et Paul vit le ciel ouvert,
et dans le ciel un lit magnifique, environné de trois vierges dont le visage
était resplendissant, et la lumière sortait de leur face.
Paul s’écria dans l’extase : O mon père
Antoine, que de superbe récompense vous est réservée dans le ciel ! Une telle
faveur ne peut être faite qu’á vous, et je vois le lieu de votre repos éternel
!
Mais la voix qui parle dans l’extase s’éleva et dit á
Paul :
— Ce lit n’est pas réservé á ton père Antoine.
— Et á qui donc, dit Paul stupéfait ? A quel saint, à
quel martyr?
— Ce lit est réservé á Thaïs la pécheresse, dit la
voix qui parle dans l’extase.
Or, voici ce qui s’était passé.
Paphnuce, informé de la vie de Thaïs et du scandale
universel, prit de l’argent, revêtit un habit séculier et se rendit dans la
ville où habitait la pécheresse.
II se présenta chez elle :
— Sans doute, lui dit-il, cette chambre est retirée et
secrète Cependant elle ne me convient pas parfaitement, J’en voudrais une plus
retirée et plus secrète.
— Je vous assure, répondit Thaïs, que nous sommes ici
parfaitement á l’abri des regards des hommes.
— Sans doute, dit Paphnuce, mais cela ne me suffit
pas. Je vous prie de vouloir bien me conduire dans une chambre ou nous soyons á
l’abri des regards de Dieu.
Thaïs fut troublée au fond de l’âme. La conversation
continua. Paphnuce lui demanda comment elle osait faire devant Dieu ce qu’elle
n’osait pas faire devant les hommes, Enfin, telle fut son éloquence, telle fut
la puissance donnée á ses paroles, que Thaïs ne voulut pas sortir de la chambre
où ils étaient enfermés avant d'avoir obtenu de lui pardon et pénitence.
— J’irai, lui dit-elle, passer ma vie oü vous me l’ordonnerez.
Donnez-moi seulement trois heures ; dans trois heures, je suis á vous, et vous ordonnerez
de moi cj que vous voudrez.
Thaïs sortit, prit tous les meubles et objets qui avaient
été le prix de ses péchés f Ies fit porter sur la place publique, puis elle les
brûla en présence de tout le peuple, et annonça publiquement son repentir et sa
conversión.
Ceci fait, elle se rendit au lieu oú l’attendait
Paphnuce.
— Maintenant, lui dít-elle, je suis á vos ordres.
Papbnuce la conduisit dans un monastère de vierges, et
l’enferma dans une cellule dont il boucha l’entrée avec du plomb, laissant
seulement une petite fenêtre par où les soeurs devaient lui passer, tous les
jours, du pain et de l’eau.
Entre les hommes d'alors et les hommes d’aujourd’hui
la différence est énorme. Moeurs, habitudes, tempérament physique, tout a
changé. La nature de nos tentations n'est plus la même. Les remèdes ont changé
comme l'état des malades ; mais nous ne devons pas plus nous étonner des
rigueurs de nos pères que de leur forcé physíque et des armures qu'ils
portaient.
— De quelle façon dois-je prier? dit Thaïs á Paphnuce
qui s’en allait.
— Vous n’êtes pas digne de prononcer le nom de Dieu,
répondit Paphnuce, et je vous défends de lever les bras vers le ciel. Dites
seulement ces paroles : « Vous qui m’avez faite, ayez pitié de moi. Et telle fut,
pendant trois ans, la seule prière de Thaïs !
Au bout de trois ans, Paphnuce, à qui saint Antoine
raconta la vision de Paul son disciple, alla au monastère des vierges et ouvrit
la cellule où Thaïs était renfermée. Mais Thaïs ne voulait pas sortir.
— Sortez, dit Paphnuce; car vos péchés sont pardonnés,
— Depuis que je suis ici, répondit Thaïs, je les ai
mis devant mes yeux, comme un monceau, et je n’ai pas cessé de les regarder.
— C’est pour ce regard, dit Paphnuce, et non à cause
de votre pénítence extérieure et matérielle, que Dieu vous a pardonné.
Thaïs sortit de sa cellule, et mourut quinze jours
aprés.
Ernest Hello, Physionomies de saints, Paris, Victor
Palmé, 1875
SOURCE : https://archive.org/stream/PhysionomiesDeSaintsParErnestHello/physionomies%20de%20saints_djvu.txt
Also known as
Paphnutius of Egypt
Paphnutius the Confessor
Pafnucius…
Profile
Hermit.
Spiritual student of Saint Anthony
the Abbot. Monk. Bishop in Egypt.
During the persecutions of
emperor Galerius Maximinus, Paphnutius had his right eye torn
out, his left knee crippled,
and was sent to work in the mines,
all as punishment for his faith.
Rescued by emperor Constantine the Great in 313,
Paphnutius resumed his pastoral duties and worked against Arianism heresy.
Participated in the Council of Nicea, and afterwards worked to spread the
Nicene Creed. Attended the Council of Tyre in 335 where
he again had to oppose Arianism.
Additional Information
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MLA Citation
“Saint Paphnutius of Thebes“. CatholicSaints.Info.
11 September 2018. Web. 25 February 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-paphnutius/>
This law was evidently in force in Egypt; for Synesius, when chosen bishop of Cyrene or Ptolemais, hoped to put a bar to his ordination by alleging (ep. 10, p. 248,) that he would not be separated from his wife. He was, notwithstanding, ordained bishop; whether this law was dispensed with, or whether, as is most probable, he afterwards complied with it. Socrates, indeed, says, that customs varied in this article in some parts; that he had seen in Thessaly, that a clerk is excommunicated if he cohabited with his wife, though he had married her before his ordination; and that the same custom was observed in Macedon and Greece; that in the East that rule was generally observed, though without the obligation of an express law. SS. Jerom and Epiphanius were certainly better informed of the canons and discipline of the Church of Syria and Palestine, where they both spent part of their lives, than the Constantinopolitan lawyer could be; whose relation is rejected by some, who think it not reconcilable with their testimony, though the fact is not a point of such importance as some who misrepresent the relation, seem desirous to make it.
The celibacy of the clergy is merely an ecclesiastical law, though perfectly conformable to the spirit of the gospel, and doubtless derived from the apostles. In the modern Greek church a married man is not compelled to quit his wife before he can be admitted to Orders, though this was the ancient discipline of the oriental, no less than of the western churches. However, this rule, though established by express canons, in the principal churches, yet, for some time (as Socrates was well informed) was, in certain places, a law only of custom. St. Epiphanius tells us, that contrary examples were abuses unless they were done by express dispensation, necessary where ministers were scarce; and violence was sometimes used by the people in the choice of persons the best qualified among the converts that were engaged in a state of wedlock. Nor could the law of celibacy be imposed on married persons, but by the voluntary consent of the parties. Yet such dispensations were not allowed in any of the principal churches. Socrates should have called contrary examples, where a dispensation had not been granted, abuses, had he been as well informed as St. Epiphanius and St. Jerom. See Stilting, Diss. ante Tomum 3. Septembris, § 8, p. 13, 14, 18. In Gaul, Urbicus, bishop of Clermont, in the beginning of the fourth century, who had formerly been a senator, after his ordination returned to his wife; but to expiate this transgression retired into a monastery; and, after doing penance there, returned to the government of his diocess, as St. Gregory of Tours relates. (Hist. l. 1, c. 39.) All agree that this proves the law to have been observed in Gaul. A like example demonstrates the same law in the Eastern churches. For Antoninus, bishop of Ephesus, was accused before St. Chrysostom among other things to have cohabited with his wife whom he had left at his ordination, as Palladius mentions in Vita S. Chrysostomi. [back]
September 11: Saint
Paphnutius the Confessor
Few specific details are known today about the life of Saint Paphnutius. We do not know the dates of his birth or death, but only of his works. Tradition tells us, however, he was a disciple of Saint Anthony of the Desert. Paphnutius lived as a hermit and ascetic for some time in the desert, emptying himself of worldly desires and connections, and coming to rely fully on the Lord. Eventually, Saint Anthony elevated him to bishop.
Through the grace of God, Paphnutius outlived Emperor Maximinus’ short reign, and was able to leave the mines and return to Egypt. When the persecution ended, these faithful “surviving” Christians were dubbed “confessors” for having confessed their faith even in the face of such costly consequences. Back in Egypt, Paphnutius set about rebuilding the region’s Church and congregations as a model pastor, actively fighting against the Arian heresy which began soon thereafter. He ministered to his flock and defended Orthodoxy until his death. He was also highly respected by the Emperor Constantine who sometimes asked the saint for personal advice, and never dismissed him without kissing respectfully the place which had once held the eye he had lost for the Faith.
Paphnutius was also a great friend of Pope Saint Athanasius I (c. 293-373). When charges of decadent and inappropriate behavior were brought against Athanasius, Paphnutius was one of the forty-nine bishops who attended the First Synod of Tyre (335) and helped to clear Athanasius' name.
From 'The Desert Fathers,’ the story of a pilgrimage made through Egypt in AD 394, by a brother, possibly Timotheus, from Rufinus' own monastery on the Mount of Olives:
Of him we had a most warrantable account from the Fathers, how at one time, after living an angelic life, he had prayed to God that He would show him which of the saints he was thought to be like. And an angel stood by him and answered that he was like a certain singing man, that earned his bread by singing in the village. Dumbfounded at the strangeness of the answer, he made his way with all haste to the village, and sought for the man. And when he had found him, he questioned him closely as to what works of piety and religion he had ever done, and narrowly enquired into all his deeds. But the man answered that the truth was that he was a sinful man of degraded life, and that not long before from being a robber he had sunk to the squalid craft which he was now seen to exercise. But for this Paphnutius was the more insistent, asking if perchance some good thing might have cropped up amidst his thieving. “I can think of nothing good about me,” said he: “but this I know that once when I was among the robbers we captured a virgin consecrated to God: and when the rest of my company were for deflowering her, I threw myself in the midst and snatched her from their staining, and brought her by night as far as the town, and restored her untouched to her house. Another time too, I found a comely woman wandering in the desert. And when I asked her why and how she had come into these parts, ‘Ask me nothing,’ said she, ‘nor question me for reasons, that am the wretchedest of women, but if it pleases thee to have a handmaid, take me where thou wilt. I have a husband that for arrears of tax hath often been hung up and scourged, and is kept in prison and tortured, nor ever brought out unless to suffer torment. We had three sons also that were taken for the same debt. And because they seek me also to suffer the same pains, I flee in my misery from place to place, worn out with grief and hunger, and I have been in hiding, wandering through these parts, and for three days have had no food.’ And when I heard this, I had pity for her, and took her to the cave and restored her soul that was faint with hunger and gave her the three hundred solidi for which she and her husband and their three sons were liable, she said, not only to slavery but to torture; and she returned to the city and paid the money and freed them all.” Then said Paphnutius, “I have done naught like that, yet I think it may have come to thine ears that the name of Paphnutius is famous among the monks. For it was with no small pains that I sought to fashion my life in this kind of discipline. Wherefore God has shown me this concerning thee, that thou hast no less merit before Him than I. And so, brother, seeing that thou hast not the lowest room with God, neglect not thy soul.” And straightway he flung away the pipes that he carried in his hand, and followed him to the desert, and transforming his skill in music into a spiritual harmony of life and mind, he gave himself for three whole years to the strictest abstinence, busying himself day and night in psalms and prayer, and taking the heavenly road with the powers of the soul, gave up his spirit amid the angelic host of the saints.”
Inspired by the origins and spiritual history of the Holy Rosary, we continue our meditation on the psalms, one each day, in order, for 150 days.
Saint Paphnutius
The holy confessor St. Paphnutius was an Egyptian who,
after having spent several years in the desert under the direction of the great
St. Antony, was made bishop in the Upper Thebaid. He was one of those
confessors who under the Emperor Maximinus lost the right eye, were hamstrung
in one leg, and were afterwards sent to work in the mines.
Peace being restored to the Church, Paphnutius
returned to his flock, bearing all the rest of his life the glorious marks of
his sufferings for the name of his Crucified Master. He was one of the most
zealous in defending the Catholic faith against the Arian heresy and for his
holiness. As one who had confessed the Faith before persecutors and under
torments, he was an outstanding figure of the first General Council of the
Church, held at Nicaea in the year 325.
Paphnutius, a man who had observed the strictest
continence all his life, is said to have distinguished himself at the Council
by his opposition to clerical celibacy. Paphnutius said that it was enough to
conform to the ancient tradition of the Church, which forbade the clergy marrying
after their ordination.
To this day it is the law of the Eastern Churches, whether Catholic or dissident, that married men may receive all Holy Orders below the episcopate, and continue to live freely with their wives. St. Paphnutius is sometimes called “the Great” to distinguish him from other saints of the same name; the year of his death is not known. His feast day is September 11.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-paphnutius/
Saint Paphnutius
Maurice M. Hassett
I. The most celebrated personage of this name was bishop of a city in the Upper Thebaid in the early fourth century, and one of the most interesting members of the Council of Nicæa (325). He suffered mutilation of the left knee and the loss of his right eye for the Faith under the Emperor Maximinus (308-13), and was subsequently condemned to the mines. At Nicæa he was greatly honoured by Constantine the Great, who, according to Socrates (H. E., I, 11), used often to send for the good old confessor and kiss the place whence the eye had been torn out. He took a prominent, perhaps a decisive, part in the debate at the First Œcumenical Council on the subject of the celibacy of the clergy. It seems that most of the bishops present were disposed to follow the precedent of the Council of Elvira (can. xxxiii) prohibiting conjugal relations to those bishops, priests, deacons, and, according to Sozomen, sub-deacons, who were married before ordination. Paphnutius earnestly entreated his fellow-bishops not to impose this obligation on the orders of the clergy concerned. He proposed, in accordance "with the ancient tradition of the Church", that only those who were celibates at the time of ordination should continue to observe continence, but, on the other hand, that "none should be separated from her, to whom, while yet unordained, he had been united". The great veneration in which he was held, and the well known fact that he had himself observed the strictest chastity all his life, gave weight to his proposal, which was unanimously adopted. The council left it to the discretion of the married clergy to continue or discontinue their marital relations. Paphnutius was present at the Synod of Tyre (335).
II. PAPHNUTIUS, surnamed (on account of his love of solitude) THE BUFFALO, an anchorite and priest of the Scetic desert in Egypt in the fourth century. When Cassian (Coll., IV, 1) visited him in 395, the Abbot Paphnutius was in his ninetieth year. He never left his cell save to attend church on Saturdays and Sundays, five miles away. When in his paschal letter of the year 399, the Patriarch Theophilus of Alexandria condemned anthropomorphism, Paphnutius was the only monastic ruler in the Egyptian desert who caused the document to be read.
III. PAPHNUTIUS, deacon of the church of Boou, in Egypt, suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Diocletian, under the Prefect Culcianus.
HEFELE-LECLERCQ, Histoire des conciles, I, i (Paris, 1907).
MAURICE M. HASSETT
"Paphnutius". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
SOURCE : http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/Paphnutius
Who Was St. Paphnutius?
A famous American jurist once said that a man must
share in the action and passion of his time, at peril of being judged not to
have lived.
Saint Paphnutius, the Egyptian monk and bishop whom
the Catholic Church honors today, certainly shared in the action and passion of
his time. Paphnutius lived through the Nicean Council and the transition from
the era of persecution under pagan Rome to the era of Constantine. Had more
information been collected about his life at the time, it sounds like it would
have made for a riveting biography.
Just based on the biographical scraps cobbled together
by the
Catholic News Agency, he lived a truly storied life.
A disciple of St. Anthony of the Desert, Paphnutius
started out as a desert hermit. He later became a bishop and was tortured for
his faith by the Roman ruler of Egypt in the early 300s. The account of his
suffering is gruesome: he had his left leg partially mutilated and his right
eye cut out. When that failed to get him to renounce his faith, he was
sentenced to the mines.
Paphnutius lived to see the tide turn towards Christianity. After Emperor Constantine converted in 312, the tortured bishop suddenly became a revered figure in the imperial court, as CNA puts it: “Constantine is said to have met frequently with the bishop from the Upper Thebaid, showing his respect by kissing the wound left by the loss of his eye.”
The restored bishop went on to participate in the
Ecumenical Council at Nicea, which upheld Christ’s divinity and left us with
the Nicene Creed. According to the CNA account: “During the years of doctrinal
confusion that followed the Council of Nicea, Paphnutius stood in defense of
Christian orthodoxy alongside Saint Athanasius of Alexandria and other Church
leaders who upheld the doctrine of Jesus’ eternal preexistence as God.”
For us, I think Paphnutius’ life poses a
question. It’s one thing to be ready to die for Christ—in of itself,
certainly a testament to extraordinary heroic virtue.
But to be tortured for Him—that is, in some ways, an
even tougher fate to face. Torture promises suffering without end—severe
suffering without the comfort of knowing it will end with your death, suffering
knowing that you will have to live maimed, either physically or
psychologically, for the rest of your life. That takes great strength of faith
(not to mention grace). Many lesser men and women would choose death over
living with a mutilated body or psychological trauma.
Pause for a moment to ask yourself if your faith is
strong enough to endure torture for His sake.
Tagged as: catholicism, saint of the day, St. Paphnutius
Stephen Beale is a freelance writer based in
Providence, Rhode Island. Raised as an evangelical Protestant, he is a convert
to Catholicism. He is a former news editor at GoLocalProv.com and was a
correspondent for the New Hampshire Union Leader, where he covered the 2008
presidential primary. He has appeared on Fox News, C-SPAN and the Today Show
and his writing has been published in the Washington Times, Providence Journal,
the National Catholic Register and on MSNBC.com and ABCNews.com. A native of Topsfield,
Massachusetts, he graduated from Brown University in 2004 with a degree in
classics and history. His areas of interest include Eastern Christianity,
Marian and Eucharistic theology, medieval history, and the saints. He welcomes
tips, suggestions, and any other feedback at bealenews at gmail dot com. Follow
him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/StephenBeale1
SOURCE : https://catholicexchange.com/who-was-st-paphnutius
San Pafnuzio Vescovo in Egitto
Martirologio Romano: Commemorazione di san
Pafnuzio, vescovo in Egitto: fu uno di quei confessori della fede, condannati
alle miniere sotto l’imperatore Galerio Massimino, dopo che fu loro cavato l’occhio
destro e tagliato il tendine del piede sinistro; prese in seguito parte al
Concilio di Nicea, dove lottò strenuamente per la fede cattolica contro gli
ariani.
