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Sayings of Paphnutius of Scetis

Apophthegmata

Date written: collected about 450 to 500; the place is not known. The date is the usual view of scholars; some doubt it.

Paphnutius of Scetis did not write this text. Another person wrote it about Paphnutius of Scetis, or wrote down what Paphnutius of Scetis said.

Sayings and short stories of Paphnutius of Scetis, taken from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.

Sayings · first written in Greek

The Wikipedia page "Paphnutius the Ascetic" joins him with the writer of the Life of Onuphrius; that is not sure. Paphnutius did not write this. The sayings are spoken words and stories that the unknown collectors of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers wrote down. The corpus files it under Paphnutius.

Translated by E. A. Wallis Budge (1907). The Paradise or Garden of the Holy Fathers, vol. 2 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1907); sayings picked out of it Public domain. Source and rights

About this text (1 note)

The Wikipedia page "Paphnutius the Ascetic" joins him with the writer of the Life of Onuphrius; that is not sure. Paphnutius did not write this. The sayings are spoken words and stories that the unknown collectors of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers wrote down. The corpus files it under Paphnutius.

How we know the date and place
Date written probable
Sayings were gathered and written in Greek in the later 5th century (W. Bousset, Apophthegmata, 1923; J.-C. Guy, Sources Chretiennes 387, 1993)
The man spoke in his own lifetime; this date is for the written collection. The English is from Budge, Paradise of the Fathers (1907), made from the 7th-century Syriac of Anan-Isho.
Place written not known
Guy (SC 387) and L. Regnault think the Greek collection was made in Palestine; no town is known

601 words. 1 section.

Sayings of Paphnutius of Scetis

§ 1

THEY used to say about Abb& Paphnutius that he would not readily drink wine, and that on one occasion he came by chance upon a band of thieves, and found them

92. They used to say about Abb£ Paphnutius that he did not drink wine readily, even though he was sick.

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256. They say concerning Abbd Paphnutius, the disciple of Abba Macarius, that when he was a youth he used to look after the oxen with others of his companions; and they went to take some cucumbers to the animals, and as they were going along one of the cucumbers fell, and Abb& Paphnutius took it up and ate it, and whensoever he remembered this thing, he used to sit down and weep over it with great feeling.

276. Mother Sarah sent a message to Abta Paphnutius, saying, "Dost thou think that thou art doing God's work in " allowing thy brother to be reviled?" Abbk Paphnutius saith, "Paphnutius is here doing the work of God, and I have no "concern whatsoever about man."

Abb£ Paphnutius happened to be there, and he spake a word unto them, saying, "I saw a man in the river "with the mud up to his knees, and some men came to give " him help and to drag him out, and they made him to sink up " to his neck." And when Abbft Anthony heard [him say this], he spake concerning Abbd Paphnutius, saying, "Behold, in- " deed, a man who is able to make quiet and to redeem souls!" And the eyes of those brethren were opened, by the word of the old men, and they took that brother, and he departed with them to their monastery.

110. Abbd Paphnutius, the disciple of Abb£ Macarius, used to say, "I entreated him, saying, 'Father, tell me a word'"; and he said unto me, "Do no harm to any man, and condemn " no man; observe these [words], and thou shalt be redeemed. "

344. Abb£ Poemen used to say, " Abba* Paphnutius was ex- " ceedingly great and mighty, and he ran at all times to minister " unto shortcoming."

386. They used to say of Abbd Serapion, the Bishop, that whensoever a man came to him to receive the monastic garb, he said these words to him, "When thou prayest say, 'Lord, 4 4 4 teach me to do Thy will. ' "

387* On one occasion Abb& Paphnutius was living in a re- mote desert, and it happened that a certain brother came to him and found him sick, and the brother took him, and washed him, and of the food which he had with him he boiled a little, and brought it to him to eat. And when he saw [this] he answered and said, " In very truth it had passed from my mind " that this gratification for the children of men existed"; and he brought him a cup of cream. Now when the old man saw him, he wept, and said, "I never expected that, even to the " day of my death, I should drink wine."

465. Abbd Paphnutius used to say, " He who esteemeth him- " self as nothing, whithersoever he goeth, or wheresoever he " dwelleth, he shall find rest."

37. 39. 55. 56. 74. 84. 97. 144.

148, 175, 183, 194. 196. 207, 284.

285

Pammachius, the noble, 1, 163
Panther, 1, 14; the panther and

Abbi John, 11, 52
Paphnutius, Abba. 1, 49, 124, 156,

176, 358ft; 11, 16, 21, 58, 63, 86,