OK: let’s get today’s saint out of the way: Paul found the enterprises of the world empty. He decided to become a hermit. He struggled but finally found his path. Every time he set up living in a cave or a lean-to, people would discover him and seek his wise teachings. He’d comply for a while then secretly leave at night to go to another mountain fastness or island or cave. And then he’d be found again and even more people would seek his wisdom. He ate very little, gave everything he could to poor people, and exercised wretched-to-no self-care. Emperors, popes, bishops, and common folk all found him truly wise and made pilgrimages (or at least sent missives) to Paul the Hermit. In the end, he died in a holy state, uttering prayers to God until he breathed his last.
Now… about Leo Allatius. I had never heard of him until I saw one of Butler’s footnotes about how a man named Leo Allatius had written up the life of Paul the Hermit, and that Butler drew in part from Allatius’s material. So I decided to look Leo Allatius up and see what I could find. Although I actively discourage this when dealing with students, I am drawing heavily in this post on the Wikipedia article about Allatius. My primary reason for doing so is because all other articles on the internet that I found (without doing any significantly deep dive) ended up quoting Wikipedia, anyhow!
So… this guy Allatius. He was born around 1586, in a part of Greece that was then under Ottoman control. He was raised Greek Orthodox and then converted to Roman Catholicism, allowing him to study in Rome—where he taught Greek! No less a personage than Pope Gregory XV became a patron of this academically-minded man.
It was Allatius’ dearest hope to become the Vatican Librarian! It took the death of several popes (Gregory XV, Urban VIII, and Innocent X) until Pope Alexander VII finally elevated Allatius to that prized position. Leo ascended to the Librarian-to-Beat-All-Librarians position at age 75 (!), and remained the Head Librarian for almost 8 more years, until his death in 1669.
During Allatius’ life, he was a prolific researcher and author. He felt most strongly about healing the rift between the Eastern Orthodox communion (in which he had been reared) and the Roman communion (to which he had converted). His own cultural and educational pedigrees uniquely positioned him to seek and celebrate common ground.
What is more, Allatius introduced a crucial analysis that is so often missing in Church history, almost surprisingly so: Things are different for any religion if you are not the dominant or majority faith. Allatius wrote eloquently that Christianity under Islamic rule of course looked different than Christianity that is essentially the State Religion.
Leo Allatius regarded the starting point for healing what has been called the Great Schism between Rome and the Eastern Orthodox lay in each learning about the other’s history, struggles, cultures, and aspirations. “More passionately than any other 17th century theologian, he believed that familiarity with these traditions would enable the two churches to bridge their theological and ecclesiastical divide.”