Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Poemen, anchorite of Egypt

Poemen (1), (Ποιμήν, Pastor), a famous anchorite of Egypt. He retired very young into the monasteries of Scete c. 390, and continued there 70 years, dying c. 460. His Life occupies much space in Rosweyd's Vitae Patrum, v. 15, in Patr. Lat. t. lxxiii. and in Cotelerii Monum. Eccl. Graec. t. i. pp. 585–637. The anecdotes in the last-mentioned authority give the best idea of the man. He treated his aged mother with neglect, refusing to see her when she sought him. His solitary life destroyed all feelings of human nature. His story is concisely told in Ceillier, viii. 468–470, and Tillemont, Mém. xv. 147.

[G.T.S.]