SAINT PUBLIUS

Publius of Zeugma, Abbot

Feast day: January 25
 Died c. 380.
 Saint Publius, son of a senator, sold his entire estate, including household goods in order to provide for the poor and then became a hermit at Zeugma on the Euphrates in Syria. He later gathered his disciples into a large community, which he housed in two separate buildings, one for Greeks and the other for Syrians. Each celebrated the liturgies and divine office in his native tongue. He led them in severe asceticism and intense devotion. For food they were permitted only herbs, pulse, dry bread, and water, except during the Octave of Easter. Each day he added something new to his exercises of perance and devotion in order to use his time well. He considered the longing of the souls in purgatory to relive in devotion some of the time they frittered away. His cultus is chiefly in Greece