Venerable Pimen the Great

Life

An Egyptian by birth and a great ascetic of Egypt. As a boy he visited renowned spiritual fathers and gathered from them experiential knowledge as a bee gathers honey from flowers. Once Pimen entreated the elder Paul to take him to Saint Paisius. Seeing him, Paisius said to Paul: "This child will save many; the hand of God is with him." In time Pimen was tonsured a monk and drew two of his brothers into monasticism as well. Once their mother came to see her sons, but Pimen would not let her in, and through the door he asked her: "Do you desire more to see us here or there in eternity?" The mother departed with joy, saying: "Since I shall surely see you there, I do not wish to see you here." In the monastery of these three brothers, which was governed by the eldest brother, Abba Anubius, the rule was as follows: at night they spent four hours in handiwork, four hours in sleep and four hours in psalmody. By day, from morning to noon, they alternated between work and prayer; from noon to vespers they read, and in the afternoon they prepared their supper — the only meal in twenty-four hours — usually of some greens. Concerning their life Pimen himself said: "We ate what was set before us; no one ever said: give me something else; or: I will not eat that. In this manner we spent our entire life in silence and peace." He practiced asceticism in the fifth century and reposed peacefully at a very advanced age.

From the Hymn of Praise

Venerable Pimen, a depth of wisdom,And a great torch of the light of Christ,Since the vain world behind him he cast,He reproached no one, blamed no one.