Venerable Pior of Nitria

Venerable Pior of Nitria labored in the Egyptian desert in the fourth century and was among the first disciples of St. Anthony the Great. As a young man he came to Anthony and, receiving his blessing, withdrew to a solitary cell between the Nitrian mountain and Scetis, spending more than thirty years there in seclusion. His asceticism was extreme: he ate nothing until after sunset, and on the rare occasions he shared a meal with fellow monks he took no more than a small loaf and five olives, eating while walking so as to take no pleasure in food. A well he dug produced bitter water, which he accepted as God's provision rather than seek another site. When, after fifty years apart, his aged sister came seeking him, he went out at St. Anthony's command but kept his eyes closed throughout to preserve his vow. He was a close friend of St. Pambo of Nitria. His life is recorded in Palladius's Lausiac History, Rufinus's History of the Monks, and the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.