died c. 955
A monk orphaned young who pursued the ascetic life on Mount Latros near Miletus, known for solitude, prayer, and spiritual gifts.
Our Venerable Father Paul of Latros
Paul of Latros was a tenth-century monastic ascetic and hermit of Asia Minor, commemorated on December 15. By tradition he was born at Pergamum and was orphaned in childhood, losing his father early; sources relate that his father had been an officer in the imperial army. After receiving his early formation in a monastery, he devoted himself fully to the monastic life and settled on Mount Latros (also called Latmos), the mountain near Miletus from which his name derives.
On Mount Latros Paul withdrew into deeper solitude, secluding himself in a cave to pursue a more austere ascetic discipline. The synaxarion relates that through his labors he was granted gifts of spiritual insight and wonderworking, and that disciples gathered around him so that a monastic community formed under his guidance. He became known as a spiritual director to monks while maintaining his own eremitic regimen.
Paul's reputation reached the imperial court, and the sources record that the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (reigned 912–959) corresponded with him, seeking his prayers and counsel. He is also associated with monastic foundation on the island of Samos, where, according to the tradition, he established a monastery and restored monasteries that had been ruined in earlier Arab raids. Having foretold his death, he reposed in the mid-tenth century, by most accounts around the year 955.
The accounts of Paul's origins place his birth at Pergamum in Asia Minor. He lost his father early; the tradition identifies his father as an officer of the imperial army. Bereft of his parents, Paul turned to the monastic life, receiving his formation in a monastery before seeking a more solitary path on Mount Latros near Miletus.
Mount Latros (Latmos) was an established center of Byzantine monasticism, and it was here that Paul made his principal labors. Seeking a stricter discipline than the common monastic life, he secluded himself in a cave. The tradition credits him with severe asceticism and with the gifts of clairvoyance and wonderworking, and reports that a community of disciples gathered around him under his direction.
Paul's fame as an ascetic drew the attention of the emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, who is said to have written to him frequently for his prayers and advice. Paul is further associated with the island of Samos, where the tradition holds that he established a monastery and restored houses that had been devastated in earlier raids by the Arabs. He is said to have foretold the time of his death, which is generally placed around 955.