Ammonas of Egypt

Ammonas of Egypt (also Amtnonas, Ammon, Ammonius, Greek: Αμμωνάς) was an eastern Christian anchorite, monastic, and Desert Father who was born around the early 4th century. He is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Ammonas was a disciple of Anthony the Great and Pambo.[1] Many of his known sayings and quotations exist in eleven sections of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.[2]

Not to be confused with Saint Amun.
Ammonas of Egypt
Amtnonas, Ammonius, Ammonios, Ammon of Nitria
Bornc. late third or earth fourth century
Egypt
Diedc. early fifth century
Egypt
Honored inEastern Orthodox Church
FeastJanuary 10
InfluencesSaint Anthony the Great
Major worksThe Letters of Bishop Ammonas

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 against anger.[3]

Life

Monastic life

Ammonas moved into the Egyptian desert with his three brothers and two sisters so that they could draw nearer to God.[1] At some point during his life, probably during this time, he spent 14 years in Scetis.[2][4] He was a trusted disciple of Anthony the Great and became his successor at the monastery on the Outer Mountain of Pispir (Egypt, east of the Nile river) after Anthony relocated in AD 305 (see this page).

As a bishop

Timothy, the Bishop of Alexandria 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.[1]

Nevertheless, Ammonas was eventually ordained a Christian bishop, and at least two third or fourth-century epistles are attributed to him, translated in Syriac (regarded as the most reputable[5]), Latin, and Greek. They exist among the letters and exhortations of Anthony.[2][6] 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.[7][8] The epistles of Ammonas of Egypt that are historically verified to be written by him provide important insight into eastern Christian monasticism in the early centuries of Christianity.[6]

Ammonas is said to have died at the beginning of the fifth century and, according to Palladius of Galatia, was buried in a chapel called Rufinianæ.[3]

Quotations

Selected from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and from the Letters of Ammonas.[2][6]

  • "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) 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..."

See also

References
  1. of Helenopolis, Palladius (1918). The Lausaic History of Palladius (PDF). Translated by Lowther Clarke, W. K. New York: Macmillian. pp. 64–65.
  2. Ward, Benedicta (2003). The Desert Fathers: Sayings of the Early Christian Monks. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-1-101-48848-5. OCLC 773693519.
  3. Velimirović, Nikolaj. The Prologue of Ohrid: Lives of Saints, Hymns, Reflections and Homilies for Every Day of the Year. OCLC 944525984.
  4. The Coptic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 of 7. Macmillan Press. January 1, 1991. pp. 1–316. ASIN B000VO57ZI.
  5. Studia Patristica. Vol. CXXIV - Papers presented at the Eighteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford 2019: Volume 21: Hagiographica; Ascetica; Martyria. Vol. 124. Peeters Publishers. 2021. doi:10.2307/j.ctv27vt5th. ISBN 978-90-429-4776-4. JSTOR j.ctv27vt5th. S2CID 246053879.
  6. Ammonas, Saint; Broch, Sebastian (2017). The Letters of Ammonas: Successor of Saint Anthony. Translated by Chitty, Derwas J. SLG Press (published 26 February 2017). ASIN B06XC8NSGT.
  7. Tromp, Johannes (1997). "Two References to a Levi Document in an Epistle of Ammonas". Novum Testamentum. 39 (3): 235–247. doi:10.1163/1568536974712330. hdl:1887/11211. ISSN 0048-1009. JSTOR 1561408.
  8. "Johannes Tromp". Leiden University. Retrieved 2022-06-08.
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