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St. Paphnutius the Ascetic of Kephala

St. Paphnutius the Ascetic of Kephala (Commemorated February 25) St. Anthony the Great said of St. Paphnutius that he could heal and save souls. St. Paphnutius was a disciple of St. Makarios the Great, and they were anchorites (recluses) in the 4th-century Egyptian desert. He is best known for his spiritual writings, which offer profound insights into monastic life and asceticism. One notable account describes how he journeyed into the Egyptian Thebaid desert to seek out the most devout hermits, where he encountered St. Onouphrios the Great, a recluse who had lived in isolation for 60 years. This meeting, recounted in the life of St. Onouphrios, was recorded by St. Paphnutius himself, highlighting his role as a spiritual witness and recorder of monastic lives. Another notable story recounts how he once met a repentant flutist, a former robber, and was deeply moved by the man’s hidden acts of mercy—saving a woman and her family from slavery and freeing her husband and sons. St. Paphnutius declared the man’s good deeds equal to his own, emphasizing that true righteousness is not in outward appearance but in hidden virtue. Once St. Paphnutius said the following: “When I was walking along the road, I happened to lose my way and found myself near a village and I saw some people who were talking about evil things. So I stood still, praying for my sins. Then behold an angel came, holding a sword and he said to me, ‘Paphnutius, all those who judge their brothers perish by his (the) sword, but because you have not judged, but have humbled yourself before God, saying that you have sinned, your name is written in the book of the living!’ ” Three old men went to Abba Paphnutius, he who is called Kephalas, to ask a word of him, “What do you want me to say to you? A spiritual word, or a bodily word? They said, “A spiritual word.” The old man replied, “Go and choose trials rather than quietness, dishonour rather than glory, and to give rather than to receive.” St. Paphnutius wore the same monastic garment for 80 years. He was visited in his later years by St. John Cassian in 395 AD, when he was 90 years old, a testament to his lasting spiritual reputation. His life exemplifies the virtues of humility, prayer, asceticism, care for creation, reverence for the dead, and the belief that even the most sinful can be transformed through repentance and acts of compassion. May St. Paphnutius intercede for us all!!!