Venerable Poemen (Pimen) the Great

Saint Poemen (Pimen) the Great was born around 340 in Egypt. As a young man he withdrew, with his two younger brothers, first to a cenobitic monastery and later to the desert of Scetis, where he was tonsured. Living a life of fasting, silence, and unceasing prayer for more than seventy years, he became one of the most revered fathers of Egyptian monasticism. Monks from across Egypt sought his counsel, and his brief but profound sayings were recorded in the Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the Desert Fathers), forming a large part of the Ancient Patericon. Abba Poemen taught humility, discernment, and mercy toward the fallen above outward asceticism, teaching that it was better to sin and repent than to take pride in false righteousness. He reposed around 450 in extreme old age, remembered as one of the greatest abbas of Scetis.