Abba Pitirim of Porphyry or Pitirim of Egypt was an Egyptian Christian monastic and saint of the fourth century, and a disciple of Anthony the Great.[1] His feast day is November 29 in the Orthodox Church.[2] [3]
Pitirim was an abbot of many monks, was the third successor of Anthony the Great in his hermitage, and was said to have received Anthony's virtues.[4] He lived on Mount Porphyry in the Thebaid,[5] which was probably named after its proximity to the Roman quarry of Mons Porphyrites that mined a rare stone by the same name.[6]
Pitirim continued the work of Anthony by instructing Christian monks along the Nile in the Thebaid, and lived with his followers in austere asceticism.[7] It was said of Pitirim that he only ate water mixed with a little bit of flour twice a week, and that sometimes he would fast from food entirely.
Pitirim died in the late fourth or early fifth century.
See main article: articles and Saint Isidora. A story of Pitirim is related in chapter 34 of Palladius' Lausaic History (written 419-420).[8] According to Palladius, Pitirim one day received a vision from an angel while praying in the mountains.
Now an angel appeared to the holy Pitirim, an anchorite of high reputation who dwelt in Porphyrites, and said to him: "Why are you proud of yourself for being religious and dwelling in a place like this? Do you want to see a woman who is more religious than you?"The angel told him to visit the monastery at Tabennisi (founded by Pachomius the Great[9]), and there to find a woman who was more holy than himself. Pitirim did so and met Isidora, a woman of extreme humility among her fellow nuns. Pitirim admonished the other nuns for treating Isidora unkindly.
They were all amazed and said to him: "Father, do not let her insult you, she is dumb." Said Pitirim to them all: "You are dumb. For she is am Amma both of me and you."
From the Prologue of Ohrid by Saint Nikolaj Velimirović.