Philemon of Egypt

Venerable Philemon of Egypt (Abba Philemon) was a Christian monk and writer in Egypt, at the end of the sixth century and the beginning of the seventh. He is spoken of in the Philokalia. Our source does not say when he was canonized and gives no day of his commemoration.

According to the Philokalia, he shut himself in a cave near the Lavra called Romius. There he gave himself to ascetic labour, after the example of Saint Arsenius the Great, and spent much time in the cave. He busied himself with weaving ropes and baskets, which he exchanged for bread and salt. On Saturdays and Sundays he went to church and there raised his prayers with head bowed, shedding seas of tears.

Later he moved and lived in the Lavra of Venerable John the Short. There he read the whole Psalter and the songs at night. At dawn he would sing the First Hour, and then sit on his stool, facing east, and read in turn, as he chose, the Psalms or from the Apostle and the Gospel. So he spent the whole day, singing without ceasing, praying and delighting in the contemplation of heavenly things.

He is the author of numerous monastic teachings, of which the best known are: On Commandments, On Thoughts, On Wealth, On the Neighbour, On Illnesses, On the Mind, On the Kingdom of Heaven, On Prayer, On Communion, On Man, On the Struggle, On the Knowledge of God, On Spiritual Life, On Temptation, On Righteousness and On Salvation. One of Philemon's writings, from the beginning of the seventh century at the latest, contains the earliest citation of the Jesus Prayer in what is regarded as its standard form: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me. This prayer of the Abba has been cherished by Christians for centuries as a practical guide on how to raise the heart and mind above the powerful attractions of the fallen world. As the Abba says: For by unceasing prayer and the study of the divine Scripture the eyes of the soul are opened, and see the King of the heavenly powers, and great joy and fierce longing burn in the soul; and when the body too is taken by the Spirit, a man becomes wholly spiritual.