Abāmūn of Toukh is a
Coptic
Coptic may refer to:
Afro-Asia
* Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya
* Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century
* Coptic alphabet ...
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
known only from a mention of him in the ''
Synaxarion
Synaxarion or Synexarion (plurals Synaxaria, Synexaria; el, Συναξάριον, from συνάγειν, ''synagein'', "to bring together"; cf. etymology of ''synaxis'' and ''synagogue''; Latin: ''Synaxarium'', ''Synexarium''; cop, ⲥⲩⲛⲁ ...
'' of Mikhail of Atrib. His feast day is 20 July (13
Abib
Aviv ( he, אביב) means "barley ripening", and by extension "spring season" in Hebrew. It is also used as a given name, surname, and place name, as in Tel Aviv. The first month of the year is called the month of Aviv in the Pentateuch. The mo ...
).
Biography
He was from
Toukh
Toukh ( ar, طوخ, ) is a city located in Qalyubia Governorate, Egypt. it is located on the Cairo-Alexandria agricultural road. Toukh is also a county that consists of many small towns. These towns include Tant al Gazirah and Bershoum. Toukh C ...
in the diocese of
Banha
Banha ( arz, بنها ; , ) is the capital of the Qalyubiyya Governorate in north-eastern Egypt. Between the capital of Cairo and the city of Tanta, Banha is an important transport hub, as rail lines from Cairo to various cities in the Nile Delt ...
. He is said to have been visited by the archangel
Michael
Michael may refer to:
People
* Michael (given name), a given name
* Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael
Given name "Michael"
* Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...
, who told Abāmūn that he would be martyred at
Ansena. Abamun traveled to Ansena, There he was
torture
Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
d by the governor Eukhious by a variety of means, including the
rack
Rack or racks may refer to:
Storage and installation
* Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted
* Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use
* Bustle rack, a type of storage bin ...
, fire, red-hot irons, flogging, flaying, and the furnace before he was finally beheaded. He is also said to have worked a number of miracles.
After his execution, another Christian,
Julius of Aqfahs, wrapped the body in cloths and had it carried back to his homeland, Toukh. Vagaries of translation have led some to believe that Mikhail went on to imply that Abāmūn's body had been taken there immediately, although other translators have made it clear that the intended meaning was more likely that the body was moved from Toukh sometime in the thirteenth century.
Veneration
Abu al-Makarim Abu l-Makārim Saʿdullāh ibn Jirjis ibn Masʿūd ( ar, ابو المكارم سعد الله بن جرجس بن مسعود) (d.1208) was a priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria in the thirteenth century. Abu al-Makarim is best known a ...
records that in the thirteenth century there was a church dedicated to Abamūn (note the spelling difference) at
El-Bahnasa
Oxyrhynchus (; grc-gre, Ὀξύρρυγχος, Oxýrrhynchos, sharp-nosed; ancient Egyptian ''Pr-Medjed''; cop, or , ''Pemdje''; ar, البهنسا, ''Al-Bahnasa'') is a city in Middle Egypt located about 160 km south-southwest of Cairo ...
. He went on to say that he himself was not sure whether the church was dedicated to Abāmūn of Ṭoukh or his namesake
Abāmūn of Tarnūt.
The evidence available makes it seem more likely that it was named after Abāmūn of Ṭoukh, for several reasons. One is that Julius of Aqfahs personally took care of this martyr's body, but not the other's. Another is that Mikhail specifically mentions that this Abāmūn was at the time of his writing in the Said, which indicates that there was a
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
extant at the time
venerating this Abāmūn, but not the other. Lastly, there is the existing reference to this individual working a number of miracles, with no such reference made to any miracle by the other Abamun.
References
* Atiya, Aziz S. ''The Coptic Encyclopedia.'' New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1991.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abamun of Tukh
Christian saints
Saints from Roman Egypt
Angelic visionaries
Michael (archangel)
People executed by torture
Christian martyrs executed by decapitation