I, your brother Paphnutius, was thinking one day that I would go into the further desert so I could see whether there were any brother monks in the farthest reaches of the desert. So I walked four days and four nights without eating bread or drinking water. I continued walking on into the farther desert when finally after a number of days I came upon a cave. When I approached it, I knocked at the mouth of the cave at midday, but no one answered me. Now I thought to myself, ‘There’s no brother here’, but then I saw a brother sitting silently inside. I took hold of his arm and it came off in my hands and disintegrated into dust. I felt his body all over and found that he was clearly dead and had been dead a long time. I looked up and saw a short-sleeved tunic hanging up. When I touched it, it fell apart and turned into dust. I stood up and I prayed, and I took off my robe and wrapped the body in it. I dug with my hands in the earth; I buried him, and I left that place.
Wow! Now that’s a Hermit for ya!