Joseph of Panephysis | |
---|---|
Desert Father Venerable, Anchorite | |
Born | Thmuis, Egypt |
Residence | Scetes |
Died | Egypt |
Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church Coptic Orthodox Church |
Feast | 17 June |
Joseph of Panephysis, Joseph of Panepho, [1] or Joseph the Anchorite was an Egyptian Christian monk who lived around the 4th and 5th centuries in the desert of Lower Egypt. He was one of the Desert Fathers and was a contemporary for Abbas Poemen and Lot, who sometimes consulted him. [2]
Joseph was born in Thmuis, Egypt and lived as an anchorite in Panephysis in eastern Egypt. There, he was visited by John Cassian, who mentioned him in the Conferences. [3]
He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and in Coptic Orthodox tradition. His feast day is on 17 June. [4]
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.
A hermit, also known as an eremite or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
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.
Paul of Thebes, commonly known as Paul the First Hermit or Paul the Anchorite, was an Egyptian saint regarded as the first Christian hermit and grazer, who was claimed to have lived alone in the desert of Thebes, Roman Egypt from the age of sixteen to the age of one hundred and thirteen years old. He was canonized in 491 by Pope Gelasius I, and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Oriental Orthodox Churches.
John the Dwarf, also called John Colobus,John Kolobos or Abba John the Dwarf, was a Coptic Desert Father of the early Christian church.
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.
Abba Poemen the Great was a Christian monk and early Desert Father who is the most quoted Abba (Father) in the Apophthegmata Patrum. Abba Poemen was quoted most often for his gift as a spiritual guide, reflected in the name "Poemen" ("Shepherd"), rather than for his asceticism. He is considered a saint in Eastern Christianity. His feast day is August 27 in the Julian calendar.
Desert Mothers is a neologism, coined in feminist theology as an analogy to Desert Fathers, for the ammas or female Christian ascetics living in the desert of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. They typically lived in the monastic communities that began forming during that time, though sometimes they lived as hermits. Monastic communities acted collectively with limited outside relations with lay people. Some ascetics chose to venture into isolated locations to restrict relations with others, deepen spiritual connection, and other ascetic purposes. Other women from that era who influenced the early ascetic or monastic tradition while living outside the desert are also described as Desert Mothers.
The Asceticon by Abba Isaiah of Scetis is a diverse anthology of essays by an Egyptian Christian monk who left Scetis around 450 AD.
Saint Thomas the Hermit is a Saint of the Coptic Orthodox Church, he is also known as "Saint Thomas the Anchorite", "Saint Thomas of Shenshif" or simply as "Abba Thomas"[(Coptic word meaning Father) (Αw-ba)Sahidic (Αw-va)Bohairic]. Saint Thomas was born in Upper Egypt, in a small village known as "Shenshif". He is revered by the Coptic Orthodox Church, since he is one of the early Anchorites, or Desert Fathers. Little is commonly known about him.
Isaiah the Solitary, also known as Isaiah of Gaza, Isaias the Solitary, Abba Isaiah, or possibly also Isaiah of Scetis, was a Christian ascetic and monastic writer known from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and various Palestinian Miaphysite sources. He is canonized as a saint by the Coptic Orthodox Church, with his feast day on the 11th day of the month Abib (Epip) in the Coptic calendar.
AbbaAnoub, also known as Anoub of Scetis or Anoubius, was an Egyptian Eastern Orthodox Christian Saint, ascetic and anchorite who lived during the 4th and 5th centuries in Scetis, Lower Egypt. Abba Anoub is mentioned in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, also called the Apophthegmata or the Gerontikon. Saint Nikolaj Velimirović says, "Anoubius was one of the great Egyptian monks." Abba Anoub was one of the Desert Fathers.
Apollo the Shepherd was an Egyptian Christian monk who lived around the 4th century AD in the desert of Lower Egypt. He was one of the Desert Fathers.
Gelasius of Nilopolis was an Egyptian Christian abbot who lived during the 5th century. He was one of the Desert Fathers and served as an abbot in Nilopolis during the mid-5th century.
Daniel was an Egyptian Christian monk who lived around the 4th century in the desert of Lower Egypt. He was one of the Desert Fathers.
Theodore of Enaton was an Egyptian Christian monk who lived in the monastery of Enaton in Lower Egypt during the 4th century. He was one of the Desert Fathers. Theodore of Enaton was a disciple of Abba Amoun and was also a companion of Abba Or.
AbbaLot was an Egyptian Orthodox Christian monk and saint who lived around the 4th and 5th centuries in a monastery near Arsinoe (Al-Fayoum), lower Egypt, by a marshy lake. Abba Lot "...directed many brethren on the path to salvation." He was one of the Desert Fathers.
Chaeremon or Cherimon was an Egyptian Christian monk who lived around the 4th and 5th centuries AD in the Nitrian Desert of Lower Egypt. He was one of the Desert Fathers.
Or of Nitria was an Egyptian Orthodox Christian ascetic who lived around the 4th century AD in Egypt in Dalga, Nitria, the Thebaid, and in the deserts around Shaina. He is one of the lesser-known Desert Fathers, but is nevertheless regarded as one of the "chief among monks", being "a man who stood out among many of the fathers". He is associated with Theodore and Sisoes the Great. According to Jerome, at one point during his life, Or was the father of "one thousand [cenobitic] monks" in the Egyptian Desert. Or died c. 390.
Euprepius of Egypt was an Egyptian Orthodox Christian monk, ascetic, and saint who lived around the 4th century. All of his recorded sayings exist in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, and little else is known about him.