Arsenius the Great (Ἀρσένιος ὁ Μέγας), Saint

ARSENIUS THE GREAT (Ἀρσένιος ὁ Μέγας), Saint. - One of the most famous "desert fathers." Born in Rome of a senatorial family around 354. He was probably ordained deacon by St. Damasus (cf. Zonaras, Annal., 13, 19: PG 134, 1177 and the Roman Martyrology). Summoned to the imperial court by Theodosius, he went to Constantinople around 383, where for 11 years he was tutor to his sons, the future emperors Arcadius and Honorius. Having then abandoned the honors of the court, he withdrew to the eremitic life in the desert of Scetis (Egypt); but because of incursions of barbarians from Libya (Mazices), he had to leave his solitude, exclaiming: "Perdidit mundus Romam, et monachi Scytim" (Vitae Patr., 5, 2, 6; Apophthegmata Patrum, Arsen., 21). He took refuge at Troe, near Memphis, remaining there some ten years. He then moved to the small island of Canopus, but after three years returned to Troe, where he died at more than ninety years of age, "virtutibus omnibus consummatus et iugi lacrimarum imbre perfusus" (Roman Martyrology), around 445. He left disciples: Alexander and Zoilus, who educated Daniel in the school of A. The latter has handed down to us the chronology of his life, his sayings, his portrait: "tall, thin and of angelic appearance" (Apophthegmata, 42 ff.). The Greek Church celebrates him on 8 May, the Syro-Maronite and the Roman on 19 July.

Under his name go two brief writings on the ascetic life (PG 66, 1617-26): Doctrina et exhortatio, Διδασκαλία καὶ παραίνεσις; In nomicum tentatorem, Εἰς τὸν πειραστὴν νομικόν (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 (§ De Abbate Arsenio, nos. 1-44: PG 65, 87-108); perhaps Nicephorus Callistus refers to these when he writes that A. left works worthy of memory and many maxims (Hist. eccl., 12, 25: PG 146, 816).

Cassiodorus speaks of A. as superior of a monastery (Hist. Trip., 8, 11): the Bollandists and Baronius (Ann. eccl., nos. 383, n. 23) hold that St. Jerome also alludes to him in the letter to Eustochium (Ep. 108, 14): but the critical reading carries another name. According to J. David (s. v. in DHG, IV, coll. 745-47), A. would have died before 412 and his teaching at the imperial court would be legendary; St. Theodore Studite, however, affirms the contrary.

Igino Cecchetti