St. Paphnutius

St. Paphnutius was an Egyptian bishop of the Thebaid who lived through the last great persecution of the Church in the early fourth century. A disciple of the desert monks, he was seized during the persecution of the Emperor Maximinus and cruelly tortured for the faith, losing his right eye and being hamstrung in one leg; he survived to become a revered confessor, one who had suffered for Christ without dying, and a bishop honored for his holiness.

He is best remembered for his part in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, where the emperor Constantine is said to have honored him by kissing the socket of his lost eye. According to the ancient historians, when some at the council wished to forbid marriage to all clergy, Paphnutius — himself a lifelong celibate and ascetic — rose to defend the received tradition, and his counsel prevailed. A firm defender of the Nicene faith against Arianism, he is commemorated on 11 September.