Abāmūn of Toukh is a
Coptic 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'' 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 in the diocese of
Banha. He is said to have been visited by the archangel
Michael, 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, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
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 bi ...
, 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 ...
records that in the thirteenth century there was a church dedicated to Abamūn (note the spelling difference) at
El-Bahnasa. 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 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