Venerable Paul the Obedient

The years of the Venerable Paul the Obedient’s labours are unknown. Only his short Life has come down to us, in which it is said that Paul was the son of rich parents. When he came of age, he withdrew from this world and took up the monastic life. He earned the surname “the Obedient” for his wonderful humility and complete cutting off of his own will. Once the venerable father stirred boiling pitch with his bare hand, but took no harm at all. After this some of the brothers regarded him as a God-bearing ascetic, while others met the blessed one with mistrust. Through the monks’ prayer God sent them a vision, by which He showed that their brother was a true ascetic. At night they were all caught up into the Kingdom of heaven and talked with the monk Paul, who allowed each of them to take a flower or a branch as a keepsake. In the morning, when they woke up, each of them was holding flowers and branches of paradise in his hands. After this the blessed Paul went first to Jerusalem and then to Cyprus. He laboured in solitude, and at last committed his soul to the Lord in peace on Mount Perigora. Before his repose the saint heard from on high: “Go up, Paul, onto the mountain, and receive the end of thy life.”