Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Publius, a solitary

Publius (3), a solitary, commemorated by Theodoret in his Religiosa Historia, c. v., born at Zeugma, on the Hellespont, of a family of senatorial rank. His person and mental endowments were equally remarkable. On his father's death he sold all he inherited from him, and distributing it to those in need, built for himself a small hut on high ground about 7 miles from his native town, where he passed the remainder of his days. He devoted his whole time to psalmody, reading the Scriptures, and prayer, together with the labour necessary for his maintenance and the entertainment of strangers, and latterly for the government of his brotherhood. His reputation for sanctity attracted many, whom he lodged in small huts near his own. He exercised a very strict oversight, imposing on them a very severe rule of abstinence and nightly prayer. After a while, on the advice of one of these fellow-ascetics, he erected a common house, or coenobium, that they might derive profit from their companions' virtues, and all be more immediately under his eye. At first all his fellow-coenobites were Greeks; but the native Syrians having expressed a desire to join the society, he built another house for them, and between the two erected a church common to both, where each might attend matins and evensong, singing alternately in their own language. This double coenobite establishment remained to Theodoret's time, who gives a record of its successive provosts.

[E.V.]