Onuphrius (also Onoufrios; ) lived as a
hermit
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
in the desert of
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...
in the 4th or 5th centuries. He is venerated as Saint Onuphrius in both the
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
and
Eastern Catholic churches, as Venerable Onuphrius in
Eastern Orthodoxy
Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...
, and as Saint Nofer the Anchorite in
Oriental Orthodoxy.
Life and legends

Onuphrius was one of the
Desert Fathers
The Desert Fathers were early Christian hermits and ascetics, who lived primarily in the Wadi El Natrun, then known as ''Skete'', in Roman Egypt, beginning around the Christianity in the ante-Nicene period, third century. The ''Sayings of the Dese ...
who made a great impression on Eastern spirituality in the third and fourth centuries, around the time that Christianity was emerging as the dominant faith of the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
. At this time many Christians were inspired to go out into the desert and live in prayer in the harsh environment of extreme heat and cold, with little to eat and drink, surrounded by all sorts of dangerous animals and robbers.
[
It is uncertain in which century Onuphrius lived; the account of Paphnutius the Ascetic, who encountered him in the Egyptian desert, forms the sole source for our knowledge of the life of Saint Onuphrius. Even the authorship is uncertain; "Paphnutius", a common name of Egyptian origin in the Upper Thebaid, may refer to Paphnutius of Scetis, a 4th-century abbot of ]Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt ( ') is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, the Nile River split into sev ...
, rather than Paphnutius the Ascetic. "But Paphnutius the Great .e. Paphnutius the Ascetic" Alban Butler writes, "also had a number of stories to tell of visions and miraculous happenings in the desert, some of them in much the same vein as the story of Onuphrius."
The name Onuphrius is thought to be a Hellenized form of a Coptic name ''Unnufer'', ultimately from the Egyptian '' wnn-nfr'' meaning "perfect one", or "he who is continually good", an epithet of the god Osiris
Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...
.
A tradition, not found in Paphnutius' account, states that Onuphrius had studied jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...
and philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
before becoming a monk near Thebes and then a hermit.
According to Paphnutius's account, Paphnutius undertook a pilgrimage to study the hermits' way of life and to determine whether it was for him. Wandering in the desert for 16 days, on the 17th day Paphnutius came across a wild figure covered in hair, wearing a loincloth of leaves. Frightened, Paphnutius ran away, up a mountain, but the figure called him back, shouting, "Come down to me, man of God, for I am a man also, dwelling in the desert for the love of God."
Turning back, Paphnutius talked to the wild figure, who introduced himself as Onuphrius and explained that he had once been a monk at a large monastery in the Thebaid but who had now lived as a hermit for 70 years, enduring extreme thirst, hunger, and discomforts. He said that it was his guardian angel who had brought him to this desolate place.[ Onuphrius took Paphnutius to his cell, and they spoke until sunset, when bread and water miraculously appeared outside of the hermit's cell.
They spent the night in the prayer, and in the morning Paphnutius discovered that Onuphrius was near death. Paphnutius, distressed, asked the hermit if he should occupy Onuphrius' cell after the hermit's death, but Onuphrius told him, "That may not be, thy work is in Egypt with thy brethren." Onuphrius asked Paphnutius for there to be a memorial with incense in Egypt in remembrance of the hermit. He then blessed the traveler and died.
Due to the hard and rocky ground, Paphnutius could not dig a hole for a grave, and therefore covered Onuphrius' body in a cloak, leaving the hermit's body in a cleft of the rocks. After the burial, Onuphrius' cell crumbled, which Paphnutius took to be a sign that he should not stay.
One scholar has written that Onuphrius' life "fits the mold of countless desert hermits or anchorites. ... oweverdespite its predictability, Paphnutius' ''Life of Onuphrius'' is marked by several unique details. ...The years of Onuphrius' youth were passed in a monastery that observed the rule of strict silence; a hind instructed him in Christian rites and liturgy. During his sixty years in the desert, Onuphrius' only visitor was an angel who delivered a Host every Sunday."
]
Veneration
Both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches traditionally mark his feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
on 12 June. A ''Life'' of Onuphrius of later Greek origin states that the saint died on June 11; however, his feast day was celebrated on June 12 in the Eastern Orthodox calendars from an early date.
The legend of Saint Onuphrius was depicted in Pisa's camposanto (monumental cemetery), and in Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
the church Sant'Onofrio was built in his honor on the Janiculan Hill in the fifteenth century.
Antony, the archbishop of Novgorod, writing around 1200 AD, stated that Onuphrius' head was conserved in the church of Saint Acindinus (Akindinos), Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
.
For several decades Orthodox seminarians in Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
have begun their spiritual training in the monastery of St. Onuphrius in Jablechna. It is said that the saint himself chose the place for it, appearing nearly four hundred years ago to fishermen and leaving them an icon of himself on the banks of the river Bug.
The St. Onuphrius Monastery in Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
is located at the far end of Gai Ben Hinnom, the Gehenna valley of hell, situated within the site of a Jewish cemetery from the Second Temple period
The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...
. The structure is built among and includes many typical burial niches common to that period. The monastery also marks the location of Hakeldama, the purported place where Judas Iscariot hanged himself.
Saint Onuphrius was venerated in Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
, Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
, and southern Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, and the Basel humanist
Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry.
The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...
Sebastian Brant (who named his own son Onuphrius[Peter W. Parshall; Rainer Schoch, National Gallery of Art (U.S.); ''Origins of European Printmaking'' (Yale University Press, 2005), 319.]) published a broadside named ''In Praise of the Divine Onuphrius and Other Desert Hermit Saints''. Onuphrius was depicted in a 1520 painting by Hans Schäufelein.
Art
Images of Saint Onuphrius were conflated with those of the medieval " wild man". In art, he is depicted as a wild man completely covered with hair, wearing a girdle of leaves.
He is depicted at Snake Church (''Yilanlı Kilise'') in the Göreme valley open-air museum in Cappadocia
Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...
, Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
."Yilanlı Kilise", Goreme.org
/ref>
He became the patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of weavers due to the fact that he was depicted "dressed only in his own abundant hair, and a loin-cloth of leaves".
He (S. Onofrio) was named co-patron of the city o
Palermo
in 1650.
]
Name variants
His name appears very variously as Onuphrius, Onouphrius, Onofrius and in different languages as Onofre (Portuguese, Spanish), Onofrei (Romanian), Onofrio (Italian), etc. In Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
, the saint was known as ''Abū Nufir'' () or as ''Nofer'' (), which, besides being a variant of the name Onuphrius, also means "herbivore". Onuphrius and Onofrio are sometimes Anglicized as Humphrey, an unrelated name that is usually given a Germanic etymology.
Folklore
Sicilians pray to Saint Onuphrius when they have lost something. The prayer has many variants but it generally mentions the miraculous properties of Saint Onuphrius' hair. It is widely accepted that repeating the prayer whilst looking for something like keys, a misplaced ring, or anything else, will greatly help in finding it sooner.
St Onophrius' remains (Reliquary) are held in a sanctuary at Sutera
Sutera is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Caltanissetta in the Italy, Italian region Sicily, located about southeast of Palermo and about west of Caltanissetta. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villa ...
(Sicily) where a feast is held in his honor every 1st Sunday of August and the saint's remains are carried around the town with a priest, marching band and pilgrims.
See also
* San Onofre
* Venerable
''The Venerable'' often shortened to Venerable is a style, title, or epithet used in some Christianity, Christian churches. The title is often accorded to holy persons for their spiritual perfection and wisdom.
Catholic
In the Catholic Churc ...
* Hermit
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
* St. Onuphrius Monastery
References
Sources
*
External links
Sant'Onofrio
San Onofre
San Onofre
* ttp://cdm16028.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/105863/rec/1 The Wild Man: Medieval Myth and Symbolism an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Onuphrius (no. 20)
{{Authority control
4th-century deaths
4th-century Christian saints
4th-century Egyptian people
Saints from Roman Egypt
Egyptian hermits
Angelic visionaries
Year of birth unknown
320s births
Wild men