Abraham of Egypt | |
---|---|
saint (monk and hermit) | |
Born | Minuf, Egypt |
Venerated in | Coptic Orthodox Church |
Feast | May 21 |
Abraham of Egypt or Abraham of Minuf was a fourth-century monk and hermit of Egypt, is known only from the Synaxarion. [1]
He was a native of Minuf in the Delta, born of Christian parents who held an important position in the world. We do not know at what age he joined the monastic life. From the ancient text we know only that "when he grew up, he went off to the land of Akhmim, to join the great Pachomius, who gave him the religious habit." He remained there for twenty-three years.
Then he asked the permission to leave and live as a hermit in a cavern, where he stayed for sixteen years, leaving it only to receive communion every two or three years. He had at his service only a secular brother who was making fishing nets, and selling them to buy beans for him, giving alms with the rest of the money.
When Abraham felt his death coming, he sent for Abba Theodore, disciple of Pachomius, then he lay down facing the east. He was buried by the monks in the cemetery of the monastery. The mention of Theodore indicates that Abraham lived at the end of the fourth century. [2]
He is considered a saint in the Coptic Church, who hold his feast day on May 21.
Anthony the Great was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony, such as Anthony of Padua, by various epithets: Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Anthony the Hermit, and Anthony of Thebes. For his importance among the Desert Fathers and to all later Christian monasticism, he is also known as the Father of All Monks. His feast day is celebrated on 17 January among the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches and on Tobi 22 in the Coptic calendar.
Pachomius, also known as Saint Pachomius the Great, is generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism. Coptic churches celebrate his feast day on 9 May, and Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches mark his feast on 15 May or 28 May. In Lutheranism, he is remembered as a renewer of the church, along with his contemporary, Anthony of Egypt on 17 January.
Saint Macarius of Alexandria was a monk in the Nitrian Desert. He was a slightly younger contemporary of Macarius of Egypt, and is thus also known as Macarius the Younger.
Christian monasticism is a religious way of life of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament. It has come to be regulated by religious rules and, in modern times, the Canon law of the respective Christian denominations that have forms of monastic living. Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). The word monk originated from the Greek μοναχός, itself from μόνος meaning 'alone'.
Cenobiticmonasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts. The older style of monasticism, to live as a hermit, is called eremitic. A third form of monasticism, found primarily in Eastern Christianity, is the skete.
The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Scetes desert of the Roman province of Egypt, beginning around the third century AD. The Apophthegmata Patrum is a collection of the wisdom of some of the early desert monks and nuns, in print as Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The first Desert Father was Paul of Thebes, and the most well known was Anthony the Great, who moved to the desert in AD 270–271 and became known as both the father and founder of desert monasticism. By the time Anthony had died in AD 356, thousands of monks and nuns had been drawn to living in the desert following Anthony's example, leading his biographer, Athanasius of Alexandria, to write that "the desert had become a city." The Desert Fathers had a major influence on the development of Christianity.
Saint Agathon of Alexandria, was the 39th Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the See of St. Mark. St. Agathon was a disciple of Pope Benjamin I, the 38th Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church so when Pope Benjamin had to flee to avoid persecution by the Chalcedonians, Agathon remained and led the church.
Barsanuphius, also known as Barsanuphius of Palestine, Barsanuphius of Gaza or Barsanuphius the Great, was a Christian hermit and writer of the sixth century.
Eastern Christian monasticism is the life followed by monks and nuns of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East and some Eastern Catholic Churches.
Abraham of Farshut was an abbot and is a saint of the Coptic Church, and by extension all of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. His feast day in the calendar of saints of the Coptic Church is February 12.
Coptic monasticism was a movement in the Coptic Orthodox Church to create a holy, separate class of person from layman Christians.
Venerable Zachariah the Recluse of Egypt was an Egyptian Christian monk who lived during the 4th century in Scetis, Lower Egypt. He is the patron saint of society's outcasts. He served the homeless and poor, and is remembered as a monastic father.
The Sayings of the Desert Fathers is the name given to various textual collections consisting of stories and sayings attributed to the Desert Fathers from approximately the 5th century AD.
Theodorus of Tabennese, also known as Abba Theodorus and Theodore the Sanctified was the spiritual successor to Pachomius and played a crucial role in preventing the first Christian cenobitic monastic federation from collapsing after the death of its founder.
Monasticism is a way of life where a person lives outside of society, under religious vows.
The Monastery of Saint Paul the Anchorite in Egypt is a Coptic Orthodox monastery located in the Eastern Desert, near the Red Sea Mountains. It is about 155 km (96 mi) south east of Cairo. The monastery is also known as the Monastery of the Tigers.
Chariton the Confessor was an early Christian monk. He is venerated as a saint by both the Western and Eastern Churches. His remembrance day is September 28.
Tbew was an Egyptian Coptic Orthodox monastery that was established in the mid-4th century. It was one of the Pachomian monasteries.
Petronius, also spelled Petronios, was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian monk who served as a superior of the Pachomian monasteries.