medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Paul of Thebes (d. ca. 345, supposedly). We know about the legendary Egyptian desert hermit Paul (also Paul the Hermit, Paul the First Hermit) through his Vita by St. Jerome (BHL 6596) and from other sources dependent upon it. Whether Paul was entirely Jerome's invention or else a literary development from now lost oral tradition is unknown and, in the present state of the evidence, unknowable. According to Jerome, during a mid-third-century persecution the sixteen-year-old-Paul, fearing for his life, fled into the Theban desert, found a cave with a spring, and took up residence there as an hermit. Almost a century later St. Anthony of Egypt, then twenty-three years of age, received a celestial vision informing him that deep in the desert there dwelt a monk whose monastic way of life was more perfect than his own. Anthony then set out to find this divinely indicated paragon.
During his journey Anthony received guidance first from an hippocentaur, then from a faun or satyr, and finally from a she-wolf. Pushing on, he found the one-hundred-and-thirteen-year-old Paul at his cave, wearing a garment stitched together from palm leaves. They conversed, a raven brought them a large loaf of bread (cf. 3 Reg 17:1-6) which they broke and shared, and on the following day Paul announced that his time on earth was at an end. Anthony saw Paul's soul ascend to heaven; conducting his funeral with hymns and psalms, he buried Paul's body in a hole miraculously dug by two lions. Anthony kept Paul's palm-leaf tunic and always wore it at Easter and at Pentecost. Thus far Jerome.
Jerome's account made Paul a figure of common knowledge, especially in monastic circles. It had at least five Greek-language versions (BHG 1466-1470) and, from these, translations into Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Arabic. In the Latin church it circulated in _Vitaspatrum_ collections and in vernacular translations made from these. Nigel of Canterbury recast it into Latin verse in the twelfth century (BHL 6957d). In Latin prose it was reworked in perhaps the tenth century as the _Acta beati Antonii et Pauli heremite collecta de Vitas Patrum_; in the thirteenth century it received abbreviations in Bartholomew of Trent's _Liber epilogorum in gesta sanctorum_,Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_, and Bl. Jacopo da Varazze's _Legenda aurea_.
Herewith some medieval images of Paul of Thebes (supplementing those already linked to by Genevra and by Gordon). Several of the "eastern" ones show him vested as a monk and wearing an epitrachelion, the very long liturgical vestment signifying priesthood and worn suspended from the neck; these attributes give him the status of abbot (ἀββᾶς; not necessarily the head of a monastery) and thus place him on a par with St. Anthony of Egypt (cf. also the image on Muiredach's High Cross, where both Paul and Anthony have abbatial staffs). Some of the more numerous images showing Paul dressed in a garment woven from palm leaves likewise depict him wearing an epitrachelion.
a) Paul of Thebes (at left) and St. Anthony of Egypt (second register from bottom) as portrayed on a panel on the north face of the probably eighth-century Ruthwell Cross, Ruthwell Church, Ruthwell (Dumfries and Galloway):
http://tinyurl.com/ou3v88u
b) Paul of Thebes (at left; at right, St. Anthony of Egypt) as depicted in the lower left-hand panel of a detached portion of a probably mid-tenth-century triptych (painted in Constantinople?), now in St. Catherine's monastery, St. Catherine (South Sinai governorate), Egypt:
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/raid2/no_dgb/pics/26/large/019133022497_75.jpg
c) Paul of Thebes (at right) as depicted in a tenth-century fresco from the monastery of St. Sozomenos in Agios Sozomenos, a locality of Potamia (Nicosia prefecture) in the Republic of Cyprus, now in the Byzantine Museum in Nicosia:
http://tinyurl.com/n3fvewg
d) Paul of Thebes and St. Anthony of Egypt (Anthony Abbot) in the desert as portrayed on a panel on the south side of the probably tenth-century Muiredach's High Cross at the former monastery of Monasterboice (county Louth):
http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/muiredach/northtop.jpg
e) Paul of Thebes being laid to rest by St. Anthony of Egypt as depicted in the earlier eleventh-century Imperial Menologion for January in the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore (ms. W. 521, fol. 28r):
http://tinyurl.com/m8g4jan
f) Paul of Thebes (at right) breaking bread with St. Anthony of Egypt as portrayed on an earlier twelfth-century nave capital (ca. 1125) in the basilique Sainte-Marie-Madeleine at Vézelay:
http://www.medart.pitt.edu/image/france/france-t-to-z/vezelay/capitals-nave/veznave75b.jpg
g) Paul of Thebes as depicted in the earlier twelfth-century frescoes (1140s) of the Transfiguration cathedral of the Mirozh monastery in Pskov:
http://tinyurl.com/nhdvrym
h) Paul of Thebes (highly probably) as depicted in the later twelfth-century frescoes (1164) of the church of St. Panteleimon (Pantaleon) at Gorno Nerezi (Skopje municipality) in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/89t7ros
i) Paul of Thebes as depicted in a late twelfth-century mosaic in the basilica cattedrale di Santa Maria Nuova in Monreale (for a better view, click on the image):
http://tinyurl.com/7uc6xjq
j) Paul of Thebes (at right; at left, St. Arsenius the Great) as depicted in the earlier thirteenth-century frescoes (1230s) in the narthex of the Mileševa monastery near Prijepolje (Zlatibor dist.) in southern Serbia:
http://www.srpskoblago.org/Archives/Mileseva/Details/w2-n1n2/large/l1-1-3.jp
Detail views:
http://www.srpskoblago.org/Archives/Mileseva/Details/w2-n1n2/large/l1-1-12.jpg
http://www.srpskoblago.org/Archives/Mileseva/Details/w2-n1n2/large/l1-1-13.jpg
http://www.srpskoblago.org/Archives/Mileseva/Details/w2-n1n2/large/l1-1-14.jpg
k) Paul of Thebes as depicted in a thirteenth-century fresco in the abbey church of Santa Maria delle Cerrate at Squinzano (LE) in southern Apulia:
http://tinyurl.com/728uebs
l) Paul of Thebes (at right; at left, St. Euthymius the Great) as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1260 and ca. 1263) in the north choir of the church of the Holy Apostles in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/ydtoqnz
m) Paul of Thebes (at far right, after two unidentified Desert Fathers) as depicted in the later thirteenth-century frescoes (betw. ca. 1263 and 1270 or slightly later) in the narthex of the church of the Holy Trinity in the Sopoćani monastery at Sopoćani (Raška dist.) in Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/7zyef67
Detail view (Paul of Thebes):
http://tinyurl.com/894g3j9
n) Paul of Thebes' soul received by angels as depicted in a late thirteenth-century copy of French origin of the _Legenda aurea_ (San Marino, CA, Huntington Library, ms. HM 3027, fol. 19v; image greatly expandable):
http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/ds/huntington/images//000972A.jpg
o) Paul of Thebes as depicted in a thirteenth- or fourteenth-century fresco in the cripta di San Leonardo in Massafra (TA) in southern Apulia:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24271543@N03/5732826152/
p) Paul of Thebes (at center, betw. Sts. Sabas of Jerusalem and Ephraem the Syrian) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1311-ca. 1322) in the church of St. Nicholas Orphanos in Thessaloniki:
http://tinyurl.com/kft3rhn
Detail view (Paul of Thebes):
http://tinyurl.com/7wyuugg
q) Paul of Thebes (at right; at left, St. Arsenius the Great) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (betw. 1313 and 1318; conservation work in 1968) by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. George at Staro Nagoričane in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/7paghk5
r) Paul of Thebes (second from left; with Sts. Ephraem the Syrian, Sabas of Jerusalem, and John Climacus) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century (ca. 1312-1322) frescoes of the parecclesion of the Theotokos in the monastery church of the Theotokos at Gračanica in, depending on one's view of the matter, either Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija or the Republic of Kosovo:
http://www.srpskoblago.org/Archives/Gracanica/exhibits/digital/s1-e1e4/large/s1-e1e4-22.jpg
Detail view (Paul of Thebes):
http://tinyurl.com/pnnbbbu
s) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at center, betw. Sts. Arsenius the Great and Anthony of Egypt) in the earlier fourteenth-century (ca. 1314-ca. 1320) frescoes by Michael Astrapas and Eutychios in the church of St. Nikita at Čučer in today's Čučer-Sandevo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/orjeyop
Paul's identifying legend in its present state is from a restoration in 1483-1484.
t) Paul of Thebes (at right; at left, St. Arsenius the Great) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1330) in the church of the Holy Savior (Sv. Spas) at Kuceviste in today's Čučer-Sandevo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/6c2cocn
Detail views (Paul of Thebes):
http://tinyurl.com/5wkdbse
http://tinyurl.com/3g3puzs
u) Paul of Thebes (at right; at left, St. Euthymius the Great) as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (1330s) in the nave of the church of the Hodegetria in the Patriarchate of Peć at Peć in, depending on one's view of the matter, either the Republic of Kosovo or Serbia's province of Kosovo and Metohija:
http://tinyurl.com/yd3mny7
v) Paul of Thebes in three scenes from a reworking of his Vita as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century copy (ca. 1335) of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Arsenal 5080, fols. 190v, 191r, 191v):
http://tinyurl.com/pjddsx4
http://tinyurl.com/ncf79x4
http://tinyurl.com/pa4uq25
w) Paul of Thebes as depicted in an earlier fourteenth-century copy (1348), from the workshop of Richard and Jeanne de Montbaston, of the _Legenda aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 241, fol. 37r):
http://tinyurl.com/yl4u3oj
x) Paul of Thebes as depicted by Lorenzo Veneziano on the central predella panel of his later fourteenth-century Lion Polyptych (1357) now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice:
http://tinyurl.com/mkgsj5o
y) Paul of Thebes in scenes from a reworking of his Vita as depicted by the workshop of Bartolo di Fredi in two late fourteenth-century panel paintings from a predella (ca. 1380-ca. 1390) now in the Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mazanto/14799545545/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mazanto/14612885829/
z) Paul of Thebes (at right; at left, another Desert Father) as depicted in the late fourteenth-century frescoes (1389; restored in the early 1970s) in the monastery church of St. Andrew at Matka in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/7tho7vh
aa) Paul of Thebes as depicted by Johannes Aquila in the later fourteenth-century chancel frescoes (1392) in the church of St. Martin in Martjanci (Mura statistical region), Slovenia:
http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7011371.JPG
bb) Paul of Thebes embracing St. Anthony of Egypt (lower register; above, Anthony's search for Paul) as depicted by the Maestro dell'Osservanza in an earlier fifteenth-century panel painting (ca. 1435-ca. 1440) now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC:
http://www.wga.hu/art/m/master/osservan/anthony3.jpg
cc) Paul of Thebes' burial as depicted in an earlier fifteenth-century panel painting by Pascual Ortoneda now in the Museo Nacional de Arte de Cataluña in Barcelona:
http://tinyurl.com/q2cflqw
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/ppet4t8
dd) Paul of Thebes (at left; at right, St. Anthony of Egypt) as portrayed on the earlier fifteenth-century north portal (ca. 1442) of the Justinuskirche in Höchst, now a _Stadtteil_ of Frankfurt am Main (image greatly expandable):
http://tinyurl.com/ybvysuw
ee) Paul of Thebes as depicted in a later fifteenth-century mosaic (1458) in the basilica cattedrale di San Marco in Venice:
http://www.christianiconography.info/Edited%20in%202013/Italy/paulHermitStMarks.html
ff) Paul the Thebes in scenes from a reworking of his Vita as depicted in a later fifteenth-century copy (1463) of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (Paris, BnF, ms. Français 51, fols. 29r, 29v):
http://tinyurl.com/yambuaz
http://tinyurl.com/knw627c
gg) Paul of Thebes weaving a basket as depicted by the Master of Ippolita Sforza in a later fifteenth-century copy (1465) of Domenico Cavalca's _Vite de' santi padri_ (Paris, BnF, ms. Italien 1712, fol. 1r):
http://tinyurl.com/q9tee55
hh) Paul of Thebes (at right; at left, St. Anthony of Egypt) as depicted in a late fifteenth-century Book of Hours (ca. 1480-1490) for the Use of Autun (Autun, Bibliothèque municipale, ms. 269, fol. 164r):
http://www.enluminures.culture.fr/Wave/savimage/enlumine/irht7/IRHT_107583-p.jpg
ii) Paul of Thebes (at right; at left, St. Anthony of Egypt) as depicted by Matthias Grünewald in a panel of his early sixteenth-century Isenheim Altarpiece (ca. 1515; image expandable):
http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/g/grunewal/2isenhei/3view/3view1l.html
Some context:
http://www.joerg-sieger.de/isenheim/menue/frame10.htm
jj) Paul of Thebes as depicted by Theofanis Strelitzas-Bathas (a.k.a. Theophanes the Cretan) in the earlier sixteenth-century frescoes (1545-and 1546) in the katholikon of the Stavronikita monastery on Mt. Athos:
http://images.oca.org/icons/lg/January/0115paulofthebes.JPG
Best,
John Dillon
(an older post revised)
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