September 9 / August 27
Saint Poemen the Great was born about the year 340 in Egypt. He went to one of the Egyptian monasteries with his two brothers, Anoub and Paisius, and all three received monastic tonsure. The brothers were such strict ascetics that when their mother came to the monastery to see her children, they did not come out to her from their cells. The mother stood there for a long time and wept. Then Saint Poemen said to her through the closed door of the cell, “Do you wish to see us now, or in the future life?” Saint Poemen promised that if she would endure the sorrow of not seeing her children in this life, then surely she would see them in the next. The mother was humbled and returned home.
Fame of Saint Poemen’s deeds and virtues spread throughout the land. Once, the governor of the district wanted to see him. Saint Poemen, shunning fame, thought to himself, “If dignitaries start coming to me and show me respect, then many other people will also start coming to me and disturb my quiet, and I shall be deprived of the grace of humility, which I have acquired only with the help of God.” So he refused to see the governor, asking him not to come.
For many of the monks, Saint Poemen was a spiritual guide and instructor. They wrote down his answers to serve for the edification of others besides themselves. A certain monk asked, “If I see my brother sinning, should I conceal his fault?” The Elder answered, “If we reproach the sins of brothers, then God will reproach our sins. If you see a brother sinning, do not believe your eyes. Know that your own sin is like a beam of wood, but the sin of your brother is like a splinter (Mt. 7:3-5), and then you will not enter into distress or temptation.”
Another monk said to the saint, “I have sinned grievously and I want to spend three years at repentance. Is that enough time?” The Elder replied, “That is a long time.” The monk continued to ask how long the saint wished him to repent. Perhaps only a year? Saint Poemen said, “That is a long time.” The other brethren asked, “Should he repent for forty days?” The Elder answered, “I think that if a man repents from the depths of his heart and has a firm intention not to return to the sin, then God will accept three days of repentance.”
When asked how to get rid of persistent evil thoughts, the saint replied, “This is like a man who has fire on his left side, and a vessel full of water on his right side. If he starts burning from the fire, he takes water from the vessel and extinguishes the fire. The fire represents the evil thoughts placed in the heart of man by the Enemy of our salvation, which can enkindle sinful desires within man like a spark in a hut. The water is the force of prayer which impels a man toward God.”
Saint Poemen was strict in his fasting and sometimes would not partake of food for a week or more. He advised others to eat every day, but without eating their fill. Abba Poemen heard of a certain monk who went for a week without eating, but had lost his temper. The saint lamented that the monk was able to fast for an entire week, but was unable to abstain from anger for even a single day.
To the question of whether it is better to speak or be silent, the Elder said, “Whoever speaks on account of God, does well, and whoever is silent on account of God, that one also does well.”
He also said, “If man seems to be silent, but his heart condemns others, then he is always speaking. There may be a man who talks all day long, but he is actually silent, because he says nothing unprofitable.”
The saint said, “It is useful to observe three things: to fear God, to pray often, and to do good for one’s neighbor.”
“Wickedness never eradicates wickedness. If someone does evil to you, do good to them, and your goodness will conquer their wickedness.”
Once, after Saint Poemen and his disciples arrived at the monastery of Scetis, he learned that the Elder living there was annoyed at his arrival and was also jealous of him, because monks were leaving the Elder to see Abba Poemen.
In order to console the hermit, the saint went to him with his brethren, taking food with them as a present. The Elder refused to receive them, however. Then Saint Poemen said, “We shall not depart from here until we are permitted to see the holy Elder.” He remained standing at the door of the cell in the heat. Seeing Saint Poemen’s humility and patience, the Elder received him graciously and said, “Not only is what I have heard about you true, but I see that your works are a hundred times greater.”
He possessed such great humility that he often sighed and said, “I shall be cast down to that place where Satan was cast down!”
Once, a monk from another country came to the saint to receive his guidance. He began to speak about sublime matters difficult to grasp. The saint turned away from him and was silent. They explained to the bewildered monk that the saint did not like to speak of lofty matters. Then the monk began to ask him about the struggle with passions of soul. The saint turned to him with a joyful face, “Now you have spoken well, and I will answer.” For a long while he provided instruction on how one ought to struggle with the passions and conquer them.
Saint Poemen died at age 110, about the year 450. Soon after his death, he was acknowledged as a saint pleasing to God. He was called “the Great” as a sign of his great humility, uprightness, ascetic struggles, and self-denying service to God.
Source: https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2022/08/27/102404-venerable-pimen-the-great
The Canon to St Poemen the Great, the composition of Theophanes, in Tone VIII
Ode I, Irmos: Let us chant unto the Lord, Who led His people through the Red Sea, for He alone hath gloriously been glorified.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Warmed by the fervor of the Comforter, O father, thy heart hath melted the ice of the demons and the winter of the passions.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Setting the tinder of the passions afire with the burning coal of God, thou becamest a beacon of discernment and fiery dispassion, O blessed one.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Bearing thy cross upon thy shoulders, O father, thou didst follow after Him Who calleth with love, and didst become a beacon for monks.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The all-divine Word, Who in His goodness desired to become incarnate of thy womb, O pure Virgin Mother, saveth the whole of me.
Ode III, Irmos: Thou art the confirmation of those who have recourse to Thee, O Lord; Thou art the light of the benighted; and my spirit doth hymn Thee.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
The angels marvelled at thy standing all night; for thou didst have them as fellow laborers in thy prayers to God.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Thou didst strip the blindness of the passions from the eyes of thy mind; wherefore, in pure manner thou hast beheld the Invisible One.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Nurtured on abstinence as with milk, O venerable Pœmen, thou didst mount the heights of the virtues to perfect dispassion.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Having thee as my helper, O pure one, I fear not the assaults of the enemy; yea, having thee as mine intercessor, I vanquish their hosts.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Sessional Hymn, Tone III, Spec. Mel. “Of the divine Faith…”: Tended by the Lord, thou wast shown to be His meek sheep, overcoming the adverse wolves, O blessed one; and having completed thy divine contest, thou madest thine abode in the fold of heaven, O venerable one. Earnestly entreat Christ God, that He grant us great mercy.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Theotokion: The one Lord, Who preserved thee, His Mother, a Virgin undefiled after thy birthgiving, as thou wast before giving birth, remained God without separating Himself from His divine nature while He took flesh in thy womb, becoming man. Him do thou earnestly entreat, that He grant us great mercy.
Stavrotheotokion (replaces the Theotokion on Wednesday and Friday): The unblemished ewe-lamb of the Word, the incorrupt Virgin Mother, beholding Him Who sprang forth from her without pain suspended on the Cross, cried out, maternally lamenting: “Woe is me, O my Child! How is it that Thou sufferest of Thine own will, desiring to deliver man from the infamy of the passions?”
Ode IV, Irmos: I have heard, O Lord, the mystery of Thy dispensation; I have understood Thy works, and have glorified Thy divinity.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Thou wast an unflawed mirror receiving the brilliance of the Spirit, and the receptacle of the divine ascents, O God-bearer.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Thou wast shown to be a lofty tree watered with tears, adorned with abstinence and laden with divine fruits, O father.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
With the pangs of abstinence thou didst work the field of thy mind, and didst raise as thy crop the grain-laden wheat of the virtues and the grace of miracles.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O Bride of God, vessel of virginity and habitation of the infinite Essence: enlighten my darkened soul.
Ode V, Irmos: Waking at dawn, we cry to Thee: Save us, O Lord! For Thou art our God, and we know none other than Thee.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Having borne the heat of the day, O glorious and venerable one, thou wast accounted worthy of the joy of thy Lord.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Thou didst bud forth the sweet smelling lily of the valley of abstinence, rendering the ends of the earth fragrant with exhalations of the knowledge of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Fortifying with humility, O father, thou didst cast down to the ground the serpent who greatly boasted in the beginning.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
We hymn thee, O Theotokos, as a Virgin after giving birth; for thou gavest birth for the world unto the Word in the flesh.
Ode VI, Irmos: Grant me a robe of light, O Thou Who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, O most merciful Christ our God.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Having mortified the assaults of the body with many struggles, thou didst depart for immortal life, O right wondrous Pœmen.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Ever acquiring abstinence, prayer and love unfeigned, O venerable one, thou wast shown to be an unflawed mirror of God.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Living in impassable deserts, thou didst strip thyself bare of vain passions and becamest a citizen of heaven.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O thou who alone gavest birth in the flesh unto the Word at the word of the Archangel, deliver our souls, we pray thee, from the snares of the enemy.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Kontakion, Tone IV, Spec. Mel. “Thou hast appeared…”: Today the holy memory of thy splendid struggles hath dawned, O father, gladdening the souls of the pious, O divinely wise Pœmen, our venerable father.
Ikos: Hating soul-corrupting pleasures and the tumult of the world with all thy soul, and desiring Christ, taking His Cross on thy shoulders, thou didst follow after Him with steadfast desire; and having struggled in abstinence, fasting, tears and unceasing prayer, thou didst acquire an immaterial life. Wherefore, the Savior hath given thee the kingdom of heaven, counting thee worthy of the never-waning light and unapproachable radiance, O divinely wise Pœmen, our venerable father.
Ode VII, Irmos: In the furnace the Hebrew children boldly trod the flame underfoot and transformed the fire into dew, crying out: Blessed art Thou, O Lord God, forever!
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Passing thy time in divine visions and illumining thyself with immaterial splendors, thou hast truly been shown to be forever a child of the day and the light of those who are in darkness, O God-bearer.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Taken up to the heights of dispassion in the flesh, emulating the angels, thou becamest an heir to paradise, O blessed one, crying out: Blessed art Thou, O God!
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Shining with the splendor of dispassion, thou didst cast the temptations of the demons into darkness. From their many afflictions deliver those who cry out, O venerable one: Blessed art Thou, O God!
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
Behold, in the Spirit the great Isaiah said of the Virgin that she would conceive God in her womb and give birth unto Him. Chanting, let us say unto Him: Blessed art Thou, O God!
Ode VIII, Irmos: The unoriginate King of glory, before Whom the hosts of heaven tremble, hymn, ye priests, and exalt supremely for all ages!
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Having kept the lamp of thy soul lit with the oil of thy struggles without slumbering, thou didst enter into the incorrupt bridal chamber with joy, and livest forever.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
The pillars of thy soul were not shaken by the winds of unclean spirits; for thou wast established upon the rock of the Faith, O most blessed God-bearer.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Thou didst shed the abominable robe of the passions and didst clothe thyself in the comely raiment of divine dispassion, reigning with Christ.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O ye people, let us hymn her who alone hath been preserved a Virgin after giving birth, in that she is the honored and all-exalted throne of God Most High.
Ode IX, Irmos: Every ear trembleth to hear of the ineffable condescension of God, for the Most High willingly came down even to the flesh, becoming man through the Virgin’s womb. Wherefore we, the faithful, magnify the all-pure Theotokos.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Thou didst set like a star, away from the world, yet hast shone forth in Christ, the truly noetic Sun of righteousness, O blessed one; and thy brilliant virtues, which remove the darkness from souls, thou hast left to the faithful as radiance.
Venerable Father Poemen, pray to God for us.
Precious in the sight of God was thy death, O glorious one; for thou didst live venerably on earth, keeping His commandments and precepts inviolate, O Pœmen. Wherefore, the never-waning Light hath shone forth upon thee, in that thou art a righteous man.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Delighting in divine beauty, deified by partaking thereof, and standing now, illumined, before the great Light, O father, with extreme desire thou didst most clearly draw nigh thereto. O Pœmen, remember those who honor thee and keep thy memory.
Now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
O Bride of God, thou alone among women didst abolish the curse of the first-created, having given birth unto the Uncircumscribed One circumscribed in the flesh; and thou, O undefiled one, hast renewed the laws of nature which were set aside in the beginning, and hast brought them together by thine all-glorious mediation.
Troparion, Tone VIII: With the streams of thy tears thou didst irrigate the barren desert, and with sighs from the depths of thy soul thou didst render thy labors fruitful an hundredfold, and becamest a beacon for the whole world, resplendent with miracles. O Pœmen our father, entreat Christ God, that our souls be saved.