Paphnutius of Egypt

Holy Venerable Martyr Paphnutius was a hermit of Egypt, who suffered in the persecution of Diocletian, at the turn of the third and fourth centuries, and received the crown of martyrdom in the year 303, according to one source. He is commemorated on 25 September by the old calendar (8 October by the new), together with those who suffered with him. Our record does not agree with the sources on his dates, giving him between 300 and 400.

He was from Egypt and lived in the desert. In the time of persecution of Christians, the governor Arian ordered that Saint Paphnutius be brought to him, but the ascetic, without waiting for those sent for him, came of himself to the ruler of Egypt to declare himself a Christian and was given over to torments. Two soldiers who tortured him, Dionysius and Callimachus, seeing how the power of God kept the martyr, believed in Christ the Saviour, and for this they were beheaded.

Thrown into prison again, Paphnutius brought to Christ forty officials whom the governor had shut up there. All were given to the fire for the confession of Christ. Then, miraculously freed from prison and received with joy in the house of a rich man named Nestorius (or Eustorgius), he stirred Nestorius himself to the struggle of martyrdom, together with his wife Hermione and their daughter Stephana, who were beheaded by Arian. Next he brought to Christ sixteen schoolboys, sons of notable parents; they were pierced with javelins, and one of them was burned at the stake. Eighty fishermen, urged to martyrdom, were put to death with the axe. The saint also brought to faith four hundred soldiers with their commander Eusebius, and all of them were burned in pits.

After long torments, his tormentors threw him into the river with a stone around his neck, but by a miracle he swam to the shore with the stone. At last the martyr was sent to the emperor Diocletian himself, who ordered him crucified on a date palm.

The sight of his suffering turned a multitude of people to faith in Christ. Of these, five hundred and forty-⁠six at once declared themselves Christians. All received a martyr's death: some were cut down with swords, others burned. They suffered together in the year 303.