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A rather better image of Paul of Thebes and St Anthony on the Ruthwell
Cross:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/20695131611

Gordon Plumb



-----Original Message-----
From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
To: MEDIEVAL-RELIGION <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sun, 10 Jan 2016 22:01
Subject: [M-R] Feast - A Saint for the Day (Jan. 10): St. Paul of Thebes

medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture

We know about the legendary Egyptian hermit Paul of Thebes (also Paul
the Hermit; d. ca. 345, supposedly) through his Vita by St. Jerome (BHL
6596, _Vita Pauli primi eremitae_; several versions in Greek, BHG
1466-1470) and from other sources dependent upon it.  Whether Paul is
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 where he found a cave with a spring and took up
residence 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.

After a journey in which Anthony encountered an hippocentaur and a faun
or satyr (the former perhaps diabolic, the latter certainly so) he
found the one-hundred-and-thirteen-year-old Paul at his cave, wearing a
garment stitched together from palm leaves.  They conversed, were fed
by a raven (cf. 3 Reg 1-7), 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 Paul's funeral with hymns and psalms, he buried
the saint'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, whose Vita of this saint made him a figure of common
knowledge, especially in monastic circles.


Herewith some links to period-pertinent images of Paul of Thebes:

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 and Anthony of Egypt as portrayed (with crossed
staffs) 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

c) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right) 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 as depicted (at left in the lower left-hand panel; at
right, St. Anthony of Egypt) in a detached portion of a probably
mid-tenth-century triptych (painted in Constantinople?) in the Holy
Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai, St. Catherine (South Sinai
governorate):
http://rubens.anu.edu.au/raid2/no_dgb/pics/26/large/019133022497_75.jpg

e) Paul of Thebes as depicted (being laid to rest by St. Anthony of
Egypt) 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 and Anthony of Egypt as portrayed (sharing their
meal) on an earlier twelfth-century nave capital (ca. 1120-1132) 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/z4ervgn

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 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

k) Paul of Thebes as depicted (his meeting with St. Anthony of Egypt;
his death; his burial) in the thirteenth-century Legendary of St.
Petersburg (Paris, BnF, ms. nouvelle acquisition française, fol. 80r):
http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8446925z/f163.item.zoom

l) Anthony of Egypt and Paul of Thebes as depicted (scenes) in the
earlier thirteenth-century Anthony Abbot and Paul the Hermit window
(bay 30b; ca. 1205-ca. 1230; cleaned, 1990) in the basilique cathédrale
Notre-Dame in Chartres:
http://tinyurl.com/oj5htx8
http://www.therosewindow.com/pilot/Chartres/w30b.htm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22274117@N08/3513091431/ [photograph by
Gordon Plumb]

m) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right; at left, St. Arsenius the
Great) in the earlier thirteenth-century frescoes (1230s) in the
narthex of the Mileševa monastery near Prijepolje (Zlatibor dist.) in
southern Serbia:
http://tinyurl.com/ydyadyv
Detail views (the epitrachelion, signifying priesthood, is an
interesting touch):
http://tinyurl.com/y9289va
http://tinyurl.com/ycuhfo3
http://tinyurl.com/y9dfrpc
http://tinyurl.com/y8ghe77

n) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right in the third illumination from
the top, being fed by a raven; at left, St. Anthony of Egypt) in an
earlier thirteenth-century book of hours of French origin (betw. 1230
and 1239; New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library and Museum, Morgan MS.
M.92, fol. 112v):
http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/55/77348

o) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right; at left, St. Euthymius the
Great) 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

p) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at far right, after two unidentified
Desert Fathers) 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

q) Paul of Thebes as depicted (his soul received by angels) in a late
thirteenth-century copy of French origin of the _Legenda aurea_ (San
Marino, CA, Huntington Library, ms. HM 3027, fol. 19v):
http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/ds/huntington/images//000972A.jpg

r) 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/

s) Paul of Thebes as depicted (with a very thin epitrachelion
appropriate to his austere lifestyle) in the earlier fourteenth-century
frescoes (ca. 1311-ca. 1322) in the church of St. Nicholas Orphanos in
Thessaloniki:
http://tinyurl.com/yau4fo6

t) Paul of Thebes as depicted (second from left; with Sts. Ephraem the
Syrian, Sabas of Jerusalem, and John Climacus) in the earlier
fourteenth-century frescoes (ca. 1312-1322) 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://srpskoblago.org/Archives/Gracanica/exhibits/digital/s1-e1e4/large/s1-e1e4-22.jpg
Detail view (Paul of Thebes):
http://srpskoblago.org/Archives/Gracanica/exhibits/digital/s1-e1e4/large/s1-e1e4-24.jpg

u) Paul of Thebes as depicted in the earlier fourteenth-century
frescoes (ca. 1314-ca. 1320) in the church of St. Nikita at Čučer in
today's Čučer-Sandevo in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/jjps7y2
Paul's identifying inscription in its present state is from a
restoration in 1483-1484.

v) Paul of Thebes as depicted (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/ox7unpk

w) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right; at left, St. Arsenius the
Great) in the earlier fourteenth-century frescoes (1330s) in the church
of the Holy Savior (Sv. Spas; a.k.a. church of the Presentation of the
Theotokos) at Kučevište in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia:
http://tinyurl.com/hbqyxgu
Detail view:
http://tinyurl.com/jtxadty

x) 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

y) Paul of Thebes as depicted (in three scenes from a reworking of his
Vita) 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

z) Paul of Thebes as depicted in a mid-fourteenth-century copy, from
the workshop of Richard and Jeanne de Montbaston, of the _Legenda
aurea_ in its French-language version by Jean de Vignay (1348; Paris,
BnF, ms. Français 241, fol. 37r):
http://tinyurl.com/yl4u3oj

aa) Paul of Thebes as depicted by Lorenzo Veneziano on the central
predella panel of his mid-fourteenth-century Lion Polyptych (1357) in
the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice:
http://tinyurl.com/mkgsj5o

bb) Paul of Thebes as depicted (in scenes from a reworking of his Vita)
by the workshop of Bartolo di Fredi in two late fourteenth-century
panel paintings from a predella (ca. 1380-ca. 1390) in the
Gemäldegalerie, Berlin:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mazanto/14799545545/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mazanto/14612885829/

cc) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right, embracing St. Anthony of
Egypt) by Agnolo Gaddi in his late fourteenth-century frescoes (betw.
1383 and 1385) in the Castellani chapel of Florence's basilica di Santa
Croce:
http://tinyurl.com/hccd3pj

dd) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right; at left, another Desert
Father) 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/zpknq5g

ee) 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

ff) Paul of Thebes (at right, in his meeting with St. Anthony of Egypt)
as depicted by Lorenzo Monaco in an early fifteenth-century panel
painting (ca. 1400-1410) in the Pinacoteca Vaticana:
https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2483/3538552908_a1271839cd_b.jpg

hh) Paul of Thebes as depicted (lower register, embracing Anthony;
above, Anthony's search for Paul) by the Master of the Osservanza in an
earlier fifteenth-century panel painting (ca. 1435-ca. 1440) in the
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC:
http://www.wga.hu/art/m/master/osservan/anthony3.jpg

ii) Paul of Thebes as depicted (being laid to rest by St. Anthony of
Egypt) 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

jj) as depicted (at upper right, perusing a codex; at lower left, St.
Anthony of Egypt) in the early fifteenth-century _Belles Heures_ of
Jean de France, duc de Berry (ca. 1407; New York, Metropolitan Museum
of Art, The Cloisters Collection, ms. 1954 [54.1.1], fol. 191v):
http://tinyurl.com/zcu82s3

kk) Paul of Thebes as portrayed in high relief (at left; at right, St.
Anthony of Egypt) on the earlier fifteenth-century north portal (ca.
1442) of the Justinuskirche in Höchst, a _Stadtteil_ of Frankfurt am
Main:
http://tinyurl.com/ybvysuw

ll) Paul of Thebes as depicted in a mid-fifteenth-century mosaic (1458)
in the basilica cattedrale di San Marco in Venice:
http://www.christianiconography.info/Edited%20in%202013/Italy/paulHermitStMarks.html

mm) Paul of Thebes as depicted twice in a later fifteenth-century copy
of Vincent of Beauvais' _Speculum historiale_ in its French-language
version by Jean de Vignay (1463; Paris, BnF, ms. Français 51, fols.
29r, 29v):
1) Scenes from a reworking of his Vita:
http://tinyurl.com/yambuaz
2) Being laid to rest by St. Anthony of Egypt:
http://tinyurl.com/knw627c

nn) Paul of Thebes as depicted (weaving a basket) 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

oo) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right; at left, St. Anthony of
Egypt) in a late fifteenth-century book of hours for the Use of Autun
(ca. 1480-1490; Autun, Bibliothèque d'Autun, ms. 269, fol. 164r):
http://tinyurl.com/ydameaw

pp) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right; at left, St. Anthony of
Egypt) by Joseph Koler in a series of late fifteenth-century panel
paintings of scenes in the life of St. Anthony (ca. 1480-1490) in the
filialkirche St. Blasius in Kaufbeuren:
http://tinyurl.com/hv9jp7p
The panels as a group:
http://www.adolphus.nl/xus/antonius/aland/dldstatu/kaufbeuren00.jpg

qq) Paul of Thebes as depicted (left margin at top) in a hand-colored
woodcut in the Beloit College copy of Hartmann Schedel's late
fifteenth-century _Weltchronik_ (_Nuremberg Chronicle_; 1493) at fol.
CXXXIr:
https://www.beloit.edu/nuremberg/book/6th_age/right_page/35%20%28Folio%20CXXXIr%29.pdf

rr) Paul of Thebes as depicted in two panels of the early
sixteenth-century altarpiece of St. Anthony of Egypt (ca. 1503-1505) in
the church of St. George in Spišská Sobota, a borough of Poprad in
northeastern Slovakia:
1) At left, sharing food with St. Anthony of Egypt:
http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7012656.JPG
2) Being laid to rest by St. Anthony of Egypt:
http://tarvos.imareal.oeaw.ac.at/server/images/7012653.JPG

ss) Paul of Thebes as depicted (at right; at left, St. Anthony of
Egypt) by Matthias Grünewald in a panel painting on a wing of his
earlier sixteenth-century Isenheim Altarpiece (ca. 1515):
http://www.wga.hu/art/g/grunewal/2isenhei/3view/3view1l.jpg
Some context:
http://www.joerg-sieger.de/isenheim/menue/frame10.htm

tt) Paul of Thebes as depicted by the Master of Messkirch in an earlier
sixteenth-century panel painting (ca. 1535-1540; from a side altar in
the St. Martinskirche in Messkirch, Baden-Württemberg) in the
Kunsthalle Würth, Schwäbisch Hall:
http://tinyurl.com/jv2fzhv

uu) 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

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