Ammon, Amun (), Ammonas (), Amoun (), or Ammonius the Hermit (; ) was a 4th-century Christian

ascetic Asceticism is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from worldly pleasures through self-discipline, self-imposed poverty, and simple living, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their pra ...

and the founder of one of the most celebrated monastic communities in Egypt. He was subsequently declared a

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

. He was one of the most venerated ascetics of the Nitrian Desert, and

Athanasius of Alexandria Athanasius I of Alexandria ( – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th patriarch of Alexandria (as Athanasius ...

mentions him in his life of

Anthony the Great Anthony the Great (; ; ; ; – 17 January 356) was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony, such as , by various epithets: , , , , , and . For his importance among t ...

Life

Pushed into marriage by his family at the age of 20, he managed to persuade his bride to take a vow of

chastity Chastity, also known as purity, is a virtue related to temperance. Someone who is ''chaste'' refrains from sexual activity that is considered immoral or from any sexual activity, according to their state of life. In some contexts, for exampl ...

together with him by the authority of Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians.Socr. ''Hist. Eccl.'' iv. 23 They lived together this way for 18 years, when at her wish, they parted, and he retired to Scetis and Nitria, to the south of Lake Mareotis, where he lived 22 years, visiting his sister-wife twice a year. She had founded a

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

in her own house. He cooperated with Anthony and gathered his monks under his direct supervision, thus forming a monastery from sole hermits. Traditionally, he is supposed to have been the first hermit to have established a monastery, known as

Kellia Kellia ("the Cells"), referred to as "the innermost desert", was a 4th-century Egyptian Christian Christian monasticism, monastic community spread out over many square kilometers in the Nitrian Desert about south of Alexandria. It was one of t ...

, near Nitria. This is by no means verifiable, but it is more certain that Amun's piety and fame drew others to the region. He is considered to have died at the age of 62 years. 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 ...

is 4 October in the

Eastern Orthodox 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 ...

, Byzantine Catholic, and

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

es. His feast in the

Coptic Orthodox Church The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the See of Alexandria is the pope of Alexandria on the Holy Apo ...

is on 20 Pashons. He died before

from whom there is a surviving epistle written to him, that is, before the year 365, for the latter asserted that he "saw the soul of Amoun borne by angels to heaven." As Athanasius's history of Anthony preserves the order of time, he died perhaps about 320.

Works

There are generally seventeen or nineteen ''Rules of Asceticism'' () ascribed to him; the Greek original exists in manuscript; Lambecius, ''Commentariorum de augustissima bibliotheca Caesarea Vindobonensi'' lib. iv. cod. 156, No. 6 they were published in the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

version of Gerardus Vossius. ''Twenty-two Ascetic Institutions'' of the same Amoun, or one bearing the same name, exist also in manuscript. There is a collection of his letters in the '' Patrologia Orientalis'', volume 10/6. His work 'Instructions: Counsel to Novices' also survives, in Greek, Latin, and English.

References

Bibliography

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amun Saints from Roman Egypt Egyptian hermits Egyptian Christian monks 4th-century Christian saints 295 births 357 deaths 4th-century Egyptian people Desert Fathers Anglican saints