St. Nilus the Elder

Butler presents Nilus as a Christian who left a life of public responsibility for retirement and prayer. The older biographical account connects him with Constantinople, St. John Chrysostom and the desert of Sinai. Its family narrative includes a son named Theodulus, whose capture and release brought the father deep anxiety.

The principal concern of the reading is spiritual formation. In the writings Butler attributes to Nilus, he finds counsel on voluntary poverty, obedience, concord and humility. The treatment of prayer asks that the heart be formed by the Holy Ghost and that the will of God guide what is sought.

Retirement did not end his concern for others. Butler recalls letters addressed to people in different states of life, with exhortations to temperance, almsgiving and perseverance. This is the early ascetic commonly called Nilus the Elder, distinct from Nilus of Rossano, the later abbot remembered in September. The precise death year and the authorship of every work in the older collection are left unasserted.