Venerable Pœmen the Great

Poemen, called the Great, was an Egyptian monk of Scetis and one of the most quoted fathers of the desert; more sayings are recorded under his name in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers than under any other. He became a monk with his brothers. St Dimitry's account tells that when their mother came to see them, they shut the cell door, and Poemen asked her through it whether she would rather see them here or in the life to come. After the barbarian raids on Scetis in the early 5th century he and his brothers moved to Terenuthis. He taught above all humility, silence about other people's faults and discretion. He died c. 450.