Paphnutius of Egypt

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St. Paphnutius . Copper engraving, probably from the 17th / 18th century, private collection.

Paphnutius of Egypt , also Paphnutios , (* in Egypt ; † around 360) was a Christian confessor , abbot and bishop of the upper Thebais .

Life

Around 308, because of his faith, he had an eye gouged out in the persecution of Christians (303-312 / 13) under Emperor Maximinus Daia and the tendons of the left hollow of the knee were cut. He then had to work as a slave labor in a mine for three years . He was liberated in 311, presumably lived as a monk with Antony the Great and was elected bishop of the upper Thebais a few years later. He fought against Arianism , which he also strongly condemned at the First Council of Nicaea . He was extremely popular with the people. In his Twenty-Four Conversations with the Fathers ( Collationes patrum ), Johannes Cassianus cites numerous episodes from the life of Paphnutius.

Paphnutius is Coptic and translated means one who belongs to God .

He is considered the patron saint of miners. His Catholic feast day is September 11th, the Orthodox June 12th and the Coptic day February 9th and May 1st.

Hrotsvit von Gandersheim wrote a dialogue legend about Paphnutius in 965.

Paphnutius' criticism of celibacy

Socrates Scholasticus reports on the (alleged) appearance of Paphnutius at the Council of Nicaea, where Paphnutius spoke out against the celibacy of the clergy. Socrates writes:

“It pleased the bishops to introduce a new law in the Church that the clergy, namely the bishops, presbyters and deacons, should no longer attend their wives whom they had married as lay people. And when this was discussed, Paphnutios stood up in the midst of the bishops' meeting and advocated vehemently not to burden the clergy with heavy burdens. The marriage bed is honorable and the marriage flawless. "

- Socrates Scholasticus : Historia ecclesiastica I, 11th PG 67,101-104.

Doubts about the intervention at the council

The theologian Friedhelm Winkelmann doubts his existence - or at least his speech at the council - because Athanasius the Great , another fighter against Arianism, does not mention him. Winkelmann argues that the failure to mention Paphnutius of Athanasius, although he is said to have been an ally in his struggle against Arianism, would also refute Paphnutius' participation in the Council of Nicea.

There are no other sources than the church history of Socrates Scholastikus for the intervention of Paphnutius at the Council of Nicaea, although he himself is frequently mentioned in patristic texts. Theodoret of Kyrrhos, for example, mentions Paphnutius in his church history as a participant in the Nicene Council, but does not mention his speech.

In addition, there should not have been such a Paphnutius legend in Egypt until the death of Athanasius. It did not emerge until the end of the 4th century. Winkelmann believes that the accounts of Paphnutius were taken from the lives of two men of that name and intertwined, creating a legendary third person.

Stefan Heid takes up this thesis in his book Celibacy in the Early Church. The beginnings of abstinence for clergy in East and West to underpin the apostolicity of celibacy. He calls the report of the intervention at the council "a typical legend of justification that can only come from a schismatic or heretical special church that opposes a tradition of the overwhelming majority of bishops". He describes a possible origin of the legend and suspects the Novatians to be the originator .

literature

  • Christian Cochini: Apostolic Origins of Priestly Celibacy. San Francisco 1990, ISBN 0-89870-280-1 .
  • Stefan Heid: Celibacy in the early church. The beginnings of abstinence for clerics in East and West. Schöningh, Paderborn 1997, ISBN 3-506-73926-3 .
  • Vera Schauber, Hanns Michael Schindler: Saints and Patrons in the course of the year . Pattloch, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-629-00068-1 .
  • Tim Vivian (Ed.): Paphnutius - Histories of the monks of upper Egypt and The life of Onnophrius (= Cistercian studies series, Volume 140). Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo 2000 (2), ISBN 0-87907-540-6 .
  • Friedhelm Winkelmann: Paphnutios, the confessor and bishop . In: P. Nagel (Ed.): Problems of Coptic Literature. Halle 1968, pp. 145–153.
  • Friedhelm Winkelmann: The problem of the origin of the Paphnutios legend . In: J. Herrmann: Greece - Byzantium - Europe (= Berlin Byzantine Works, Volume 52). Berlin 1985, pp. 32-42.
  • Ekkart Sauser :  Paphnutios of the Thebais. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 21, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-110-3 , Sp. 1113-1114.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive  on 2007-06-29)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Röm, Martyrologium, Sept. 11 , whereas Theodoret, Hist eccl I, 7 writes about the right hollow of the knee
  2. ↑ Especially in the Third Conversation with Abbot Paphnutius .
  3. ↑ Paphnutius of Egypt in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
  4. ↑ Roswitha von Gandersheim: The Conversion of Buhlerin Thais (Paphnutius) ( Memento of the original from January 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (German translation) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / sophie.byu.edu
  5. ^ Socrates Scholasticus: Historia ecclesiastica I , 11th PG 67, 101-104.
  6. ^ BKV: Historia ecclesiastica I, 7.
  7. ^ Heid, Zölibat, p. 276.
  8. ↑ Heid, Zölibat, pp. 277-279.
personal data
SURNAME Paphnutius of Egypt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Paphnutios
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of the Upper Thebais (Thebes)
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century or 4th century
PLACE OF BIRTH Egypt
DATE OF DEATH around 360