Paulos 25 was a native of the Boukellarion theme, where from boyhood he lived in the monastery of Mantineion; there he entered on the life of a monk and distinguished himself by his assiduous service to the community (χώρας μὲν ἦν τῶν Βουκελλαρίων, ἐν μονῇ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐκεῖσε καλουμένῃ Μαντίνειον ἐκ παιδόθεν ἀποταξάμενος καὶ τῷ μοναχικῷ ὑπεισελθὼν βίῳ καὶ μέχρι χρόνου τῇ κοινοβιακῇ διαρκέσας παλαίστρᾳ διέλαμψεν ἐν αὐτῇ πᾶσαν διακονησάμενος διακονίαν); at the request of three holy men who lived nearby, Eustratios 5, Theodoros 124 and Georgios 95, Paulos 25 was released by the hegoumenos of the monastery to serve them; after some years they released him and sent him to become a contemplative himself; he went into the Phrygian mountains to a place called Krypta and followed the life of an ascetic hermit: Vita Petr. Atr. 5, pp. 77-81, and cf. Vita Petr. Atr. Retractata 8 (p. 84). As an elderly ascetic living in a cell at Krypta in the Dagoute hills in Phrygia, in 791/792 Paulos 25 was joined by Peter of Atroa (Petros 34), becoming his mentor and giving him the name Petros (in place of his baptismal name Theophylaktos): Vita Petr. Atr. 4, pp. 75-77, 5, p. 81, 6, p. 81. He sent Petros 34 to Constantinople with a letter to the patriarch Tarasios 1 asking for him to be ordained priest, and then sent him with a further letter of commendation to bishop Basilios 13 to perform the ceremony: Vita Petr. Atr. 6, pp. 81-83. A miracle is attributed to him, performed in the Church of the Theotokos, on Mt Philargyros, in the land of Dagoute: Vita Petr. Atr. 7, p. 85, and cf. Ioannes 95. Paulos 25 set off with Petros 34 on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but was recalled by the Holy Spirit and instead he founded the monastic community at the oratory of St Zacharias near Mt Olympos (in Bithynia), of which he was the first head: Vita Petr. Atr. 8-10, pp. 87-93. On his deathbed he named Petros 34 as his successor; he died in November/December 805 (year four of Nikephoros 8, thirty-two of Petros 34, and twelve of Petros 34's life as a religious; cf. Laurent, La Vie merveilleuse, intro., p. 27) and was buried in the oratory of St Zacharias: Vita Petr. Atr. 11, pp. 93- 95.

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