Epiphanius. Yes. I like him, simply on the strength of these words of Butler about this saint:

He sometimes relaxed his austerities in favour of hospitality, preferring charity to abstinence.

So many of the saints are like living rooms that are so so very clean, with furniture that is so polished and spotless, that one can appreciate them but would not ever feel comfortable plopping down and hanging out there. Many of them, in fact, regarded what we would call “hanging out” as an occasion for sin, evil, and all the ways in which the world can lead a person away from divine devotion.

Now, Epiphanius is like the living room with comfy sofas and loveseats that don’t match, maybe a dog and a cat or two roaming about, places to put your feet up and your drinks down that are not custom-made ottomans or ring-free coffee tables (often with no coasters in sight), and afghans for when it’s just too cold. Epiphanius understood that enjoying other people and making them comfortable around you is actually far more important than signaling to them what an excellent personal example of spirituality you are.

His name comes from the same Greek word as “epiphany”–a word meaning revelation and referring to that AHA! moment that blessedly comes to us every now and then. I mention this because the Divine is truly revealed and experienced through another’s warmth and hospitality, through another’s kindness and enjoyment of our presence, rather than through another’s almost superhuman example of leading a “godly” life.

This was the paradox of Jesus that upset so many–he preferred hanging out and chatting with just anyone (prostitutes, children, tax collectors, sick people, Romans) more than being seen by one and all as a scrupulous practitioner of the most rigorous form of his religious tradition (Judaism in his case). Sure, he went to Temple, but he was just as likely to disrupt the service as not, caring more about helping out a person with leprosy than about shushing and observing the proper rules and rituals.

Thank goodness that among all the hermits, virgins, and martyrs, among all those who dedicated themselves to the most severe fastings, self-mortifications and uncomfortable bedding, there is numbered among the saints someone that could reveal God’s presence on earth to others by having a good time with them!