g 35. PAUL OF THEBES AND ST. ANTHONY. 17l'
Iv tills day the mournful state of tilings in the southern couD' tries of Europe and America, where nionasticism is most prevalent, and sets the extreme of ascetic sanctity in contrast with the profane laity, hut where there exists no healthful middle 'jlass of morality, no blooming family life, no moral vigor in the masses. In the sixteenth centm'y the monks were the bitterest enemies of the Reformation and of all true progress. And yet the greatest of tlie reformers was a pupil of the convent, and a child of the monastic system, as the boldest and most free of tlie apostles had been the strictest of the Pharisees.
§ 35. I^aul of TJiehes and St. Anthony.
I. Athanasius : Vita S. Antonii (in Greek, Opera, ed. Ben. ii. 793-866).
Tlie same in Latin, by Evagbius, in the fonrth century. Jekome : OataJ. c. 88 (a very brief notice of Antliouy) ; Vita S. Pauli Theb. (Opera, ed. Vallars, ii. p. 1-12). Sozom : H. E. 1. i. cap. 13 and 14. Socbat. : H. E. iv. 23, 25.
II. Acta Sanctorum, sub Jan. 17 (torn. ii. p. 107 sqq.). Tillemont : Meui.
torn. vii. p. 101-144 (St. Antoiue, j^remier p&re des solitaires d'Egypte). BiiTLEE (R. C.) : Lives of the Saints, sub Jan. 17. Moiilek (R. C.) : Athanasius der Grosse, p. 382-402. Neander : K. G. iii. 446 sqq. (Torrey's Engl. ed. ii. 229-234). BoHP.rNGEE: Die Ivirche Ohristi in Biographien, i. 2, p. 122-151. II. Rtjffnee: 1. c. vol. i. p. 247-302 (a condensed translation from Athanasius, with additions). K. Hase : K. Gesch. § 64 (a masterly miniature portrait).
The first known Christian hermit, as distinct from the earlier ascetics, is the fabulous Paul of Thebes, in Upper Egypt. In the twenty-second year of his age, during tlie Decian persecution, a. d. 250, he i-etired to a distant cave, grew fond of the solitude, and lived thei'e, according to the legend, ninety years, in a grotto near a spring and a palm tree, which furnished him food, shade, and clothing,' until his death in 340. In liis later years a raven is said to have brought him daily half a loaf, as the ravens ministered to Elijah. But no one knew of this wonderful saint, till Anthony, who under a higher impulse visited and buried him, made him known to the world. After knocking in vain for more than an hour at the door of the hennit, who would receive the visits of beasts and reject
* Pliny counts thirty-nine different sorts of palm trees, of which the best grow in Egypt, are ever green, have thick iblJage, and bear a fruit, from which in £omo f laces bread is made.
180 THIRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
those of men, he was admitted at last with a smiling face, ana greeted with a holy kiss. Paul had sufficient cm-iosity left tc ask the question, whether theio were any more idolaters in the world, whether new houses were built in ancient cities, and by whom the world was governed? During this interesting conversation, a large raven came gently flying and deposited a doable portion of bread for the saint and his guest "The Lord," said Paul, "ever kind and merciful, has sent ua a dinijcr. It is now sixty years since I have daily received half a loaf, but since thou hast come, Christ has doubled the supply for his soldiers," After thanking tlie Giver, they sat down by the fountain ; but now the question arose who should break the bread ; the one urgijig the custom of hospitality, the other pleading the right of his friend as the elder. Tliis question of monkish etiquette, which may have a moral significance, fionsumed nearly the whole day, and was settled at last by the compromise that both should seize the loaf at opposite ends, pull till it broke, and keep what remained in their hands. A drink from the fountain, and thanksgiving to God closed the meal. The day afterward Anthony returned to his cell, and told his two disciples : " Woe to me, a sinner, who have falsely pretended to be a monk, I have seen Elijah and John in the desert ; I have seen St. Paul in paradise." Soon afterward he paid St. Paul a second visit, but found him dead in his cave, with head erect and hands lifted up to heaven. He wrapped up the corpse, singing psalms and hymns, and buried him without a spade ; for two lions came of their own accord, or rather from supernatural imjuilse, from the interior parts of the desert, laid down at his feet, wagging their tails, and moaning distressingly, and scratched a grave in the sand lai-ge enough for the body of the departed saint of the desert! Anthony returned witli the coat of Paul, made of |)alm leaves, and wore it on the solemn days of Easter and Pentecost.
The learned Jerome wrote the life of Paul, some thirty years afterward, as it appears, on the authority of Anathas and Macarius, two disciples of Anthony. Put he remarks, in thu prologue, that many incredible things are said of him, which ire not woi-th)' of repetition. If he believed his story of the