Paul the Obedient
Our Venerable Father Paul the Obedient
Venerable
Commemorated 7 December — Repose on Mount Paregoros
Paul the Obedient is a monastic saint known only from a short synaxarion notice, which gives neither his dates nor his country. Born of wealthy parents, he renounced the world on reaching maturity and received his surname "the Obedient" for the depth of his humility and the complete renunciation of his own will. Marvels attended his ascetic life, and after journeys to Jerusalem and Cyprus he ended his days as a solitary on Mount Paregoros ("the mountain of Solace"). He is commemorated on December 7.
The record of Paul is a brief and undated synaxarion account. He was the son of wealthy parents and left the world when he grew up, taking on the monastic life. The name by which he is known — "the Obedient" — was given him for his profound humility and for the perfect surrender of his own will to God, obedience being the ground of his sanctity.
The tradition preserves two marvels. Once, the monk stirred boiling tar (or pitch) with his bare hand and took not the least burn from it. Some of the brethren honoured him as a God-bearing ascetic on account of such signs, but others grew suspicious of him; and to resolve their doubt they were granted, one night, a shared vision in which they were all carried to Paradise, where they conversed with Paul, who allowed each to take back a flower or a twig as a remembrance. Waking, they found the flowers and twigs of Paradise in their hands, and so were assured that their brother was a true ascetic.
Afterward Paul went to Jerusalem and then to Cyprus, and having lived the life of a solitary, ended his days on Mount Paregoros. Before his death a voice from God said to him, "Ascend the mountain, Paul, and receive the end of your life."
Feast and commemoration
December 7 (church date; Old Calendar civil December 20), within the Nativity Fast, kept in the general synaxarion of the day. No dates are transmitted for him.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 8
By a flood of tears thou didst make the barren desert bloom, and by thy deep sighs thou didst make thy labours bring forth fruit a hundredfold, becoming a beacon that shone upon the world with wonders. O Paul our venerable father, intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Paul is depicted, as the venerable ascetics generally are, as a monk in the habit with a scroll and blessing hand, long-bearded and worn by asceticism; no distinctive attribute is transmitted. No public-domain image identified with this saint has been located; he is entered in the the list of icons still being sought list.