E00750: Jerome's Life of *Paul of Thebes (the First Anchorite, S00089) presents him as the first hermit, who spent his entire life in solitude and was discovered only just before his death by *Antony ('the Great', monk of Egypt, ob. 356, S00098). Written in Latin in the desert of Chalkis (Syria), c. 375.

Jerome, Life of Paul of Thebes

Summary:

The aim of the Life of Paul, as Jerome presents it in the prologue, is to answer the question of who was the first Christian monk in the desert (ch. 1). The actual aim is to demonstrate that the title of the first hermit should be given to the formerly unknown Paul of Thebes, and not to Antony whose life had been written by Athanasius of Alexandria (see E00631).

According to Jerome, Paul, a pious and well educated young Christian, goes to the desert during the persecution of 'Decius and Valerian' (that is either in 250 or in 257-260) in order to avoid trial (chs. 2-5). The two following chapters briefly present Paul's hermitage (chs. 6-7). Then the action moves abruptly into the middle of the 4th century when the existence of Paul, which remained hidden for almost hundred years, is revealed in a vision to Antony whom God orders to find the monk who was the real protagonist of the new way of life. Antony sets off to find Paul, meets fabulous creatures, fauns and satyrs, in the desert, and finally meets Paul, who is 113 at this time, at his hermitage. There Antony is witness to a daily miracle: a raven brings a loaf of bread to Paul (chs. 8-9). The two monks spend a short time together (chs. 10-11). Paul predicts his own death and asks Antony to bury him, wrapped in the cloak that he received from bishop Athanasius (ch. 12). Antony returns to his own hermitage to collect the cloak, but while returning to Paul he sees his soul taken into heaven by angels (chs. 13-14). He finds Paul already dead in his hermitage and buries him in a grave dug by two lions (chs. 14-16). The life ends with a rebuke of wealthy Christians (ch. 17).

Summary: Robert Wiśniewski.