Saint Sisoës the Great (also Sisoi the Great, Sisoy the Great, Sisoes of Sceté or Shishoy; †429 AD) was an early Christian

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 earl ...

, a

solitary Solitary is the state of being alone or in solitude. The term may refer to: * shortened form of solitary confinement * Solitary animal, an animal that does not live with others in its species * Solitary but social, a type of social organization in ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

pursuing

asceticism Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...

in the

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 Mediter ...

ian desert in a cave of his predecessor, St

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 ...

. St Sisoës is revered as a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

and

Eastern Orthodox churches 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 via ...

, who consider him a wonderworker. His feast day is observed on .In some Latin Calendars his feast day was held on July 4.Patristic scholar and Roman Catholic theologian

Jean-Baptiste Cotelier Jean-Baptiste Cotelier or Cotelerius (born December, 1629, Nîmes; died 19 August 1686, Paris) was a Patristic scholar and Catholic theologian. Life His early education was under the personal direction of his father, at one time a Protestant mi ...

bestowed much space on Sisoës in his ''Ecclesiæ Græcæ Monumenta,'' t. i. 662-678. Sisoës was a Copt by birth. Having withdrawn the world from his youth, he retired to the desert of Sceté, and lived some time under the direction of his teacher, Abba Or. The desire of finding a retreat yet more unfrequented induced him to cross the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

and hide himself in the mountain where St.

had died some time before.

Notes

Sources

This article contains quotations fro
Sisoes the Great
at the Orthodox Wiki, which is available under
Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 Generic
(CC BY-SA 2.5) licence and th
GNU Free Documentation License
(GFDL) license. *
Venerable Sisoes the Great
'' OCA - Feasts and Saints. * Great Synaxaristes :
Ὁ Ὅσιος Σισώης ὁ Μέγας
'' 6 Ιουλίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ. *

'' MYSTAGOGY: The Weblog of John Sanidopoulos. Monday, July 6, 2009. * (Many incidents from the life of St. Sisoës can be found in the ''Sayings of the Desert Fathers'' (''Apophthegmata to Pateron'')). * Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).
St. Sisoes or Sisoy, Anchoret in Egypt
'' The Lives of the Saints. Volume VII: July. 1866. (Bartleby.com). * Rev. G.T. Stokes (D.D.). ''SISOË.'' In: William Smith and Henry Wace. A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines. Volume IV: Naamanes—Zuntfredus. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street, 1887. p. 705. * Andrew Chugg.
The Quest for the Tomb of Alexander the Great
'' Lulu.com, 2007. {{Authority control Miracle workers Ascetics 5th-century Byzantine monks Egyptian hermits Saints from Roman Egypt 5th-century Christian saints Desert Fathers

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