About the Order
Paul of Thebes, also known as Paul of Egypt, Paul the Hermit or Paul the First Hermit (born 229 in Thebes, Egypt; died 342 in the Thebaid Desert, Egypt), was the first Christian hermit monk. He fled into the Egyptian desert, the Thebaid, settled beside a stream beneath a palm tree and lived for many years in complete solitude.
St Paul of Thebes was born in 229 in Thebes, the ancient capital of the Egyptian pharaohs. In 252, he fled into the desert and settled in a cave. Having come to love solitude and the prayerful life of a hermit, he resolved never to return to the sinful world. Paul’s life was extraordinary and mysterious. No one but God can fully comprehend how he spent those decades in the Thebaid Desert, but one thing is certain: through prayer, fasting and penance, he pleased the Heavenly Father. His ascetic life offered a rare example of profound self-denial and detachment from the world. After Paul had spent twenty years in the remote desert, God began feeding his faithful servant miraculously: every day, a raven brought the hermit half a loaf of bread. Paul of Thebes, known as the first hermit, died in 342, having spent ninety years alone in the desert. Miraculously, two lions dug his grave with their paws, and he was buried there. Veneration after his death. In the twelfth century, by order of Emperor Manuel (1143–1180), St Paul’s body was transferred to Constantinople and placed in the Monastery of the Most Holy Mother of God Peribleptos. It was later moved to Venice and finally to Ofa in Hungary. Part of St Paul’s relics, a portion of his head, is kept in Rome.
In the thirteenth century, the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit, also known as the Pauline Fathers, was founded in his honour in Hungary within the Roman Catholic Church.
Today, the Order of St Paul of Thebes is present in many countries throughout the world.
A Pauline monastery can also be found in central Warsaw. Among the best-known Pauline monasteries is the historic Polish monastery of Our Lady at Jasna Góra in Częstochowa, home to the miraculous icon of the Black Madonna of Częstochowa.
St Paul of Thebes is usually depicted with a palm tree and two lions. His feast day is 15 January.
The Beginnings of Pauline Ministry on Ukrainian Lands
The Paulines served on Ukrainian lands as early as the eighteenth century. Historical documents mention a church in the picturesque village of Nyzhniv, overlooking the Dniester in the Ivano-Frankivsk region. Dedicated to St Stanislaus, it functioned from 1740 to 1786. Another Pauline centre was the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Lviv. Built in 1668, it was entrusted to the Paulines in 1750, and they rebuilt it in the Baroque style. In 1786, the church was handed over to the Greek Catholic community. Since the late 1980s, it has belonged to the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. It can now be found at 82a Lychakivska Street. Years and even centuries passed before the Paulines, who had been forced to leave Ukrainian territory, were able to return to ministry in Ukraine, this time in different places.
In 1977 and 1979, Fr Tadeusz Bednarski and Fr Stanisław Knapek travelled to the Soviet Union and visited parishes in Vilnius, Maišiagala and Sudervė, in present-day Lithuania. They established correspondence with Polish people and regularly sent them religious literature. Naturally, this was only a drop in the ocean of need. Priests, seminarians, religious sisters and lay people received these parcels. One recipient was a seminarian from Ukraine, now Fr Mykola Hutsal, who was ordained in Riga in 1987 and invited Fr T. Bednarski to his first Mass in Zhmerynka. Fr Bednarski’s second encounter with Ukraine took place a year later in Horodok, Podillia. He took part in the dedication of a church, the first built in that area since the war. From then on, his visits to Ukraine became more frequent. Frs Efrem Osiadły, Zachariasz Jabłoński, Rufin Abramek, Stanisław Hoduń, Wojciech Tarka and others also travelled “beyond the Bug” for pastoral work. Some went deep into the vast Soviet Union. Among the parishes they visited were Bar, Kyiv, Murafa, Odesa and Sharhorod. Fr Vladislavs Vanags, the parish priest in Horodok, Podillia, wished to express his gratitude for their help and supported the Paulines’ ministry in Sataniv, Horodok District, Khmelnytskyi Region. In mid-September 1991, Fr Tadeusz began his “mission” in Horodok. On 21 November that year, he was joined by Fr Cyprian Kubik. Construction of the church in Sataniv, begun in 1989, continued. The new church was completed in 1994. That year, Bishop Jan Olszański, the diocesan bishop of Kamianets-Podilskyi, consecrated it in honour of Our Lady of Częstochowa.
The Pauline Fathers moved from Horodok to Sataniv, where they were joined by the newly ordained Fr Jan Stankiewicz. In addition to sacramental ministry, the priests catechised children and young people, held Oasis meetings and organised trips to Poland for children. In time, the fruits of their work on Ukrainian soil became evident. Many candidates were admitted to the Order.
The first candidate, Alojzy Kosobudzki, entered in 1989. On 8 July 1995, he was ordained a priest in Sataniv by Bishop Jan Olszański. From 1992 onwards, Viktor Holub, Yan Zhezitskyi, Roman Sobchynskyi, Pavlo Tkachyk, Benedykt Maiorov, Roman Laba, Yosyf Honcharuk and Serhii Shureshkin were admitted to the Order.
In May 1999, the Ukrainian authorities forcibly expelled Fr Tadeusz Bednarski to Poland. Fr Bartłomiej Gołub took his place.
In 1995, the Pauline Fathers Alojzy Kosobudzki, Grzegorz Ciesielski, Franciszek Meus, now a missionary in Cameroon, and Jan Bednarz arrived in Kamianets-Podilskyi. They initially lived in Bishop Jan Olszański’s house before moving into the monastery. They assist with pastoral ministry at the cathedral and in neighbouring parishes.
Material from Jasna Góra, no. 1, 2000, pp. 16–18; article by Fr Roman Laba OSPPE.
Translation: Sr Anastasiia
THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY OF CZĘSTOCHOWA
Władysław, Duke of Opole, built a monastery for the Paulines at Jasna Góra and entrusted to them an image of the Mother of God that had been venerated in his castle. The image soon became renowned for its miracles. Devotion to it spread even further after the successful defence of Jasna Góra during the Swedish invasion in the seventeenth century. In 1717, the image was solemnly crowned. Today, the icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa is among the most venerated icons and draws numerous pilgrimages.