Poemen the Great
Approx. 340 AD — Approx. 450 AD · Feast day: August 27
Poemen the Great is the most-quoted voice in the Apophthegmata Patrum — the collected sayings of the Desert Fathers — with nearly a quarter of all its wisdom traced to him. Renowned not for harsh asceticism but for mercy, he once reduced a penitent monk's three-year penance to three days, advising those who guide others: 'Be their example, not their legislator.'