His twenty-four disciples had built their huts near his, and imitated his austerities.  He loved them all dearly in Jesus Christ, and unceasingly exhorted them to good works.  Amongst his spiritual children were men who had been robbers for many years, and had been persuaded by the exhortations of the holy abbot to embrace the monastic life, and who now edified their companions by the purity of their lives.  One, who had been cook to the Queen of Abyssinia, and was converted by the Abbot of Antinoe, never ceased to weep.  There was also Flavian, the deacon, who knew the Scriptures, and spoke well; but the disciple of Paphnutius who surpassed all the others in holiness was a young peasant named Paul, and surnamed the Fool, because of his extreme simplicity.  Men laughed at his childishness, but God favoured him with visions, and by bestowing upon him the gift of prophecy.

Paphnutius passed his life in teaching his disciples, and in ascetic practices.  Often did he meditate upon the Holy Scriptures in order to find allegories in them.  Therefore he abounded in good works, though still young.  The devils, who so rudely assailed the good hermits, did not dare to approach him.  At night, seven little jackals sat in the moonlight in front of his cell, silent and motionless, and with their ears pricked up.  It was believed that they were seven devils, who, owing to his sanctity, could not cross his threshold.

Paphnutius was born at Alexandria of noble parents, who had instructed him in all profane learning.  He had even been allured by the falsehoods of the poets, and in his early youth had been misguided enough to believe that the human race had all been drowned by a deluge in the days of Deucalion, and had argued with his fellow-scholars concerning the nature, the attributes, and even the existence of God.  He then led a life of dissipation, after the manner of the Gentiles, and he recalled the memory of those days with shame and horror.

“At that time,” he used to say to the brethren, “I seethed in the cauldron of false delights.”

He meant by that that he had eaten food properly dressed, and frequented the public baths.  In fact, until his twentieth year he had continued to lead the ordinary existence of those times, which now seemed to him rather death than life; but, owing to the lessons of the priest Macrinus, he then became a new man.

The truth penetrated him through and through, and—­as he used to say—­entered his soul like a sword.  He embraced the faith of Calvary, and worshipped Christ crucified.  After his baptism he remained yet a year amongst the Gentiles, unable to cast off the bonds of old habits.  But one day he entered a church, and heard a deacon read from the Bible, the verse, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.”  Thereupon he sold all that he had, gave away the money in alms, and embraced the monastic life.

During the ten years that he had lived remote from men, he no longer seethed in the cauldron of false delights, but more profitably macerated his flesh in the balms of penitence.