Pharmuthius of Egypt
Our Venerable Father Pharmuthius the Anchorite of Egypt
Venerable · d. 4th century
Commemorated 11 April — Repose of the anchorite
Pharmuthius was a solitary of the Egyptian desert in the fourth century, remembered among the anchorites of the Thebaid for his obedience, humility and gift of feeding the hidden servants of God. The tradition links him with the ascetics John, Mark and Serapion, and tells how, by God's command, he carried bread to a holy hermit whom the Lord had shown him in a vision. He reposed in peace in old age.
Pharmuthius — whose name is that of the Egyptian month, betraying his Coptic origin — lived as an anchorite in the deep desert of Egypt in the age of the great fathers, the fourth century. The stories of him belong to the cycle of the desert ascetics: it is told that there was revealed to him a solitary of extraordinary holiness dwelling unknown in the wilderness, and that Pharmuthius was bidden by God to take of his own bread and carry it to that hidden servant — a token of how the Lord sustains His secret saints by the hands of others, and of the bond of charity among the hermits, who, scattered though they were across the sands, were one in obedience.
He is remembered for profound humility, for perfect obedience to the will of God, and for unbroken prayer; and having spent his long life in the desert, he reposed in peace at a great age. His name is kept in the synaxaria among the venerable fathers of Egypt.
Feast and commemoration
April 11 (church date; Old Calendar civil April 24), within Great Lent, together with the hieromartyr Antipas. His service is covered by the common of an ascetic father.
Hymns
Troparion — Tone 8 (common of an ascetic)
By a flood of tears thou didst make the barren desert fruitful, and by thy sighs from the depths thou didst bear fruit a hundredfold in labours; and thou becamest a beacon, shining upon the world by thy miracles, O Pharmuthius our father: intercede with Christ God that our souls may be saved.
Original translation from the Greek
Iconography
Pharmuthius is shown as an aged desert-monk in the tunic and mantle of the anchorites, bearded and holding a scroll or a cross; loaves of bread may be shown in his hands, in allusion to his ministry to the hidden hermit. No pre-1900 icon of him alone has been identified for this collection.