PAUL THE SIMPLE

The ultimate grace of the man who went down in the history of early Christian asceticism under the name “Paul the Simple”, was the ability to exorcise the most complicated demons. His example, of opening a new chapter in holiness at an age that was considered old at the time, and starting to live a completely new life in Jesus, is relevant, contemporary, and inspiring.

1 Saint Paul the Simple (+339) or, in Church Slavonic, „preprosty”, meaning literally „super-” or „hyper-simple,” should be distinguished from Paul of Thebes (228–341). Both ascetics were contemporaries and died at about the same time, although Paul the Simple was considerably younger. It is all the easier to confuse these two saints because in ancient ascetic literature, both ascetics serve as prototypes for moral edification. And yet, their personal biographies and church lives are completely different.

2 Paul of Thebes is recognized as the first Christian hermit in history. Paul the Simple was one of the most famous disciples of Anthony the Great, who is considered the founder of Christian monasticism. The life of Paul of Thebes was recorded and thus preserved from oblivion by Saint Jerome (347–420), the famous translator of the Bible into Latin.

3 The Life of Anthony was written by Athanasius the Great (297–393). Incidentally, it was this work that inspired, or, in a positive sense, “provoked” Jerome to write the Life of Paul, as he also wanted to immortalize the memory of one of the great prototypes of monastic Christianity. Paul the Simple became part of the life of Anthony, but not thanks to Athanasius, who does not mention him. Palladius of Galatia writes about Paul in “The Lausiac History,” Rufinus of Aquileia in “The History of Monks,” and John of Sinai in “The Ladder.” It is said that Paul came to Anthony when he was over 60 years old. Before that, he was a farmer and a family man, but one fine day, it turned out that his wife was constantly cheating on him. He did not fight for her, or, even more so, take revenge, but simply left.

4 Anthony refused to accept Paul for a long time, considering him incapable of living in strict asceticism and remaining in the desert. Hagiographers are silent about this, but famous ascetics, such as Anthony was at that time, was apparently guided by a basic human reluctance to take on as a disciple a mature person on the threshold of old age. Asceticism is, after all, the reformatting of one’s personality according to a specific plan laid down by the great ascetics who lived before us. Many people would like to take a kitten into their home, but hardly anyone would take in an adult cat. This is especially true since people initially entered monastic life to escape pagan persecution, as was the case with Paul of Thebes himself, or to escape justice, as happened to many “former robbers”, or in youth in search of the Christian ideal. Family life seemed to many ascetics to be the abode of earthly happiness and prosperity. They did not welcome it when someone, having been a family man, tried, in a late monastic decision, to “finally” attain heavenly bliss in Heaven. In other words, it was often elementary human jealousy, albeit clothed in monastic garb.

5 Anthony subjected Paul to complete obstruction in the hope that he would simply leave. Paul remained and was then subjected to many trials. The hagiography provides instructive stories on this subject. One of them tells how Anthony commanded Paul to read the Holy Scriptures. Not wanting to devote time to him and introduce him to the sacred texts, he simply gave him a psalm. Paul took this literally and zealously repeated the beginning of the first psalm in prayer for a long time. “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,” he repeated over and over again. There was nothing new in this practice of constantly repeating the same sacred words, from which Jesus’ prayer was later born. But the desert fathers apparently believed that the mind of a worldly person would not be able to constantly concentrate on something exclusively sacred and spiritual.

6 Anthony was greatly surprised when, after quite a long time, he saw Paul transformed by the words of Scripture and immersed in constant invocation of the Redeemer and Creator. We do not know how many more years Paul lived after becoming a disciple of the great monk. From the words of Anthony himself, quoted by ancient authors, we know that he was granted the special gift of being an exorcist, whose “specialization” became the expulsion of Satan himself and the most evil demons. Anthony himself testified that he could not do this because, unlike Paul, he was not simple enough. How can one not remember that in the philosophical categories of that time, in which the Funding Fathers of monasticism and Anthony himself were raised, was one of God’s distinctive characteristics. It was to attain His simplicity; ascetics dedicated their entire lives to Jesus.