ARSENIUS, called the GREAT ('Αρσένιος ὁ Μέγας'), saint. — One of the most famous "Desert Fathers." Born in Rome to a senatorial family around 354. He was probably ordained a deacon by St. Damasus (cf. Zonaras, Annals, 13, 19; PG 134, 1177 and the Roman Martyrology). Called to the imperial court by Theodosius, he went to Constantinople around 383, where for 11 years he served as tutor to the emperor’s sons, the future emperors Arcadius and Honorius. Later abandoning the honors of the court, he withdrew into the eremitical life in the desert of Scete (Egypt). However, due to barbarian incursions from Libya (the Mazices), he was forced to leave his solitude, exclaiming: “Perditi mundus Romam, et monachi Scytim” (Vita Patr., 5, 2, 6; Apophthegmata Patrum, Arsen., 21). He took refuge in Troe, near Memphis, where he remained for about ten years. He then moved to the islet of Canopus, but after three years returned to Troe, where he died at more than ninety years of age, “virtutibus omnibus consummatis et iugi lacrimarum imbre persus” (Roman Martyrology), around 445. He left disciples: Alexander and Zoilus, who educated Daniel at Arsenius’ school. The latter preserved the chronology of his life, his sayings, and his portrait: “tall, thin, and of angelic appearance” (Apophthegmata, 42 sq.). The Greek Church celebrates him on May 8, the Syro-Maronite and Roman Churches on July 19.
Under his name are two short writings on ascetic life (PG 66, 1617–26): *Doctrina et exhortatio*, Διδασκαλία καὶ παραλυτικῆς; *In nominum tentatorem*, Εἰς τὸν περαστήν νομικὸν (cf. Lk. 10:25), in which he affirms the necessity of purifying the inner man. Some of his sayings are preserved among the *Apophthegmata Patrum* (Basil, 1–44; PG 65, 87–108); Nicephorus Callistus may refer to these when he writes that Arsenius left works worthy of remembrance and many sayings (Hist. eccl., 12, 23; PG 146, 816).
Cassiodorus speaks of Arsenius as the superior of a monastery (Hist. Trip., 8, 1); the Bollandists and Baronius (Ann. eccl., an. 383, n. 23) believe that St. Jerome also refers to him in the letter to Eustochium (Ep. 108, 14), but critical reading suggests another name. According to J. David (s.V. in DHG, IV, cols. 745–47), Arsenius would have died before 412 and his teaching at the imperial court would be legendary; St. Theodore the Studite, however, affirms the opposite.