Alas, Paul of Thebes is apocryphal, not an historical hermit; he is sprung from the creative quill of St. Jerome. Young Jerome was irascible, strong-willed, moving deftly within elite circles of Rome. Jerome wrote a hagiographic biography of the supposed first Christian hermit shortly after his own conversion around the age of thirty — although some versions suggest he wrote after offending enough people in Rome that he had to leave for Antioch and Bethlehem, where he pursued his best work. Given Jerome, one can speculate that the aspiring ascetic did not like or may even have been jealous of the success of the recent biography of St. Antony by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, which exaggerated the monumental struggles against demonic forces by the stalwart Antony — contrasted with the style of quiet contemplation and asceticism now animating Jerome.
The story of Paul, living in quiet solitude in his hermit’s cave, is the obverse of the busy Antony fighting demons and organizing ranks of aspiring hermits. Jerome has the young pre-desert Antony seeking out Paul of Thebes for advice. Antony is tolerated, perhaps, and sent by Paul to Athanasius to bring back a burial cloak for Paul. Here Antony is reduced to errand-runner, and he gets back too late. Paul has died in the meantime. A couple of lions have dug a grave for Paul, Antony having forgotten to bring a spade. Not for this story is Jerome associated with lions, but it’s an early clue of where hagiography about Jerome was to go!
The essential attraction of Paul of Thebes lies in his reflective questions to Antony when Antony first happens upon Paul, isolated in the desert. Says Paul, rhetorically:
Tell me, how fares the human race?
Do new roofs rise in ancient cities?
Whose empire now sways the world?
Do any yet survive, snared in the errors of demons?
And here is the essential question of history and human affairs, whether asked by an observer east or west, ancient or modern. That which the average person finds permanent, enduring, important, are for deeper souls reflective of impermanence, temporality, even poignant in its short-lived presence on earth. This wide contemplation of a trajectory that transcends the concerns of average people is what the hermit catches on to. The hermit pays heed to and takes to heart, the lesson of life and death, watching as the world passes.