Our Holy Father Pambo.

Commemorated July 18 in the Orthodox Christian Menaion

From the Prologue

An Egyptian ascetic on the Nitrian mountain, he was a contemporary of St Antony the Great and himself great in monastic asceticism. He had two characteristics by which he was especially known: by long training, he sealed his lips, so that no unnecessary word passed them, and he never ate any bread other than that which he gained by his own labour, plaiting rushes. He was like an angel of God and, in old age, his face shone as did the face of Moses in ancient times, so that the monks could not look on it. He did not give a quick answer even to a simple question, without prior prayer and pondering in his heart. At one time, Theophilus, Patriarch of Alexandria, was visiting the Nitrian monks. The monks begged Pambo to 'give a word' to the Patriarch. The silent Pambo replied: 'If my silence is of no help to him, neither will my words be.' St Pambo was once travelling around Egypt with some monks. When they came to a group of people who remained seated as the monks passed them, St Pambo said to them: 'Get up and greet the monks, and ask their blessing, for they converse unceasingly with God and their lips are holy.' This wonderful saint had clear discernment into the destiny of the living and the dead. He entered into rest in the Lord in the year 374.

From The Prologue From Ochrid by Bishop Nikolai Velimirovich
©1985 Lazarica Press, Birmingham UK