Serapion of Arsinoe,
Feast day: March 21
Probably 4th century
Saint Serapion, one of the most famous of the desert fathers, ruled over 10,000 monks scattered throughout the desert and monastery near Arsinoe in Upper Egypt. These monks hired themselves as laborers to the farmers in order to join prayer and labor. Palladius says that each man received a wage of twelve artabes, or about forty Roman bushels or modii--all which they handed over to their abbot. These men of great austerity were given enough to subsist throughout the rest of the year and the rest was distributed among the poor, which met the needs of all the indigent nearby as well as many in Alexandria, to which several barges of grain were shipped each year. Serapion, although a priest in active ministry, joined his monks in their penitential labor, so that he could partake in their charity. His name is inserted by Saint Peter Canisius in his Germanic Martyrology on this day
Feast day: March 21
Probably 4th century
Saint Serapion, one of the most famous of the desert fathers, ruled over 10,000 monks scattered throughout the desert and monastery near Arsinoe in Upper Egypt. These monks hired themselves as laborers to the farmers in order to join prayer and labor. Palladius says that each man received a wage of twelve artabes, or about forty Roman bushels or modii--all which they handed over to their abbot. These men of great austerity were given enough to subsist throughout the rest of the year and the rest was distributed among the poor, which met the needs of all the indigent nearby as well as many in Alexandria, to which several barges of grain were shipped each year. Serapion, although a priest in active ministry, joined his monks in their penitential labor, so that he could partake in their charity. His name is inserted by Saint Peter Canisius in his Germanic Martyrology on this day
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