Ammonas of Egypt (also ''Amtnonas'', ''Ammon'', ''Ammonius'', ) was an

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

Christian anchorite,

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

, and

Desert Father The Desert Fathers or Desert Monks 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 is a collection of the wisdom of some of the ea ...

who was born around the early 4th century. He is a saint in the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

. Ammonas was a disciple of

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great ( grc-gre, Ἀντώνιος ''Antṓnios''; ar, القديس أنطونيوس الكبير; la, Antonius; ; c. 12 January 251 – 17 January 356), was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is d ...

and

Pambo Saint Pambo (also known as Pemwah and Bemwah - Όσιος Παμβώ in Greek) (died c. 375) is a Coptic Desert Father of the fourth century. Saint Pambo is venerated by the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roma ...

. Many of his known sayings and quotations exist in eleven sections of the ''

Sayings of the Desert Fathers The ''Sayings of the Desert Fathers'' ( la, Apophthegmata Patrum Aegyptiorum; el, ἀποφθέγματα τῶν πατέρων, translit=Apophthégmata tōn Patérōn) is the name given to various textual collections consisting of stories and ...

''. Ammonas is commemorated as "Ammon" on January 10 in ''The Prologue of Ohrid'', a synaxarium written by Saint Nikolaj Velimirović. It mentions his 14-year struggle in

Scetis Wadi El Natrun (Arabic: "Valley of Natron"; Coptic: , "measure of the hearts") is a depression in northern Egypt that is located below sea level and below the Nile River level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt ...

against anger.

Life

Monastic life

Ammonas moved into the Egyptian desert with his three brothers and two sisters so that they could draw nearer to God. At some point during his life, probably during this time, he spent 14 years in

. He was a trusted disciple of

and became his successor at the monastery on th
Outer Mountain
of Pispir (

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, east of the Nile river) after Anthony relocated in AD 305 (se
this
page).

As a bishop

Timothy, the

Bishop of Alexandria The Patriarch of Alexandria is the archbishop of Alexandria, Egypt. Historically, this office has included the designation "pope" (etymologically "Father", like "Abbot"). The Alexandrian episcopate was revered as one of the three major episco ...

at the time, heard of Ammonas and desired to ordain him. Initially, he did not want to become a bishop even purportedly mutilated his body so that he could escape ordination. Nevertheless, Ammonas was eventually ordained a Christian bishop, and at least two third or fourth-century epistles are attributed to him, translated in

Syriac Syriac may refer to: *Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic *Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region * Syriac alphabet ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Neo-Aramaic languages a ...

(regarded as the most reputable),

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, and

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

. They exist among the letters and exhortations of

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

. There were other epistles written by a certain Ammonas, but which scholars are unable to attribute with certainty to Ammonas of Egypt, as Dr. Johannes Tromp of Leiden University notes. The epistles of Ammonas of Egypt that are historically verified to be written by him provide important insight into

Christian monasticism in the early centuries of Christianity. Ammonas is said to have died at the beginning of the fifth century and, according to

Palladius of Galatia Palladius of Galatia ( el, Παλλάδιος Γαλατίας) was a Christian chronicler and the bishop of Helenopolis in Bithynia. He was a devoted disciple of Saint John Chrysostom. He is best remembered for his work, the '' Lausiac History ...

, was buried in a chapel called Rufinianæ.

Quotations

Selected from the ''Sayings of the Desert Fathers'' and from the Letters of Ammonas''.'' * "The 'narrow and hard way' (Mt 7:14) is this: to control your thoughts, and to strip yourself of your own will, for the sake of God. This is also the meaning of the sentence, 'Lo, we have left everything and followed you.' (Mt 19:27)" * "Sit in your cell and eat a little every day, keeping the world of the publican (the

Jesus Prayer The Jesus Prayer,; syr, ܨܠܘܬܐ ܕܝܫܘܥ, translit=slotho d-yeshu'; syr, label= Amharic, Geez and Tigrinya, እግዚኦ መሐረነ ክርስቶስ, translit=igizi'o meḥarene kirisitosi. "Note: We are still searching the Fathers for ...

) always in your heart, and you may be saved." * "If we follow our own will, God no longer sends His power which prospers and establishes all the ways of men." * "Unless a man denies himself and his own will, and obeys his spiritual parents ( elders), he will not be able to recognize God's will..."

References

{{reflist Egyptian Christian monks Saints from Roman Egypt Coptic Orthodox saints Desert Fathers Eastern Orthodox saints Christian ascetics

Life

Monastic life

As a bishop

Quotations

See also

References