Paul of Benhadab, Saint

              (CE:1922b)
PAUL OF BENHADAB, SAINT, a monk and abbot who was a visionary (feast day: 17 Hatur). He is commemorated in the Copto-Arabic SYNAXARION of Upper Egypt (Basset, p. 301; Forget, text, p. 299; trans., p. 30).

Paul was a native of a village called Danfiq, which still exists. His parents were peasants, and he learned the trade of carpenter. He became a monk on the mountain of Benhadab (west bank of the Nile, opposite Qus), making himself the disciple of the elders who dwelled there. Later he was chosen as superior and ordained priest. He lived in the cave of Anba Peter the Elder, a person known to us only from a number of allusions, in particular in the notice about Saint HADRA OF BENHADAB. Paul was stricken by a disease of the leg bones and became lame. He appears to have been a visionary: The angels showed him the trees of Paradise adorned with good fruits. He died after exhorting the brethren to keep the canons of the monastic life. He was buried in the presence of the bishop and the people at Qift, in the church of Anba Peter the Elder.
RENÉ-GEORGES COQUIN