ON ST. AMMON, ABBOT IN THE THEBAID.
Around the year of Christ 400.
CommentaryAmmonas, Abbot in the Thebaid (St.)
From various sources.
[1] Feast of St. Ammonas. The Greeks venerate on the 26th of January St. Ammonas, or Amonas, or Ammon, as is clear from Maximus Cythereus and the Menaea. And indeed these state: "On the same day St. Amonas rests in peace."
Amonas, having completed the whole thread of life, Found a life that shall never be completed.
From these words it is not easy to determine who this Ammonas was. Our Raderus casts his eyes upon the Lives of the Fathers. Several of that name; We too agree; but in those works there are several men named Ammonas, celebrated for their reputation of holiness. We shall introduce a few, not yet assigned by us with certainty to this day.
[2] Palladius, in the Lausiac History, ch. 74, says: "We saw in the Thebaid a lofty mountain overhanging the river, Abbot of the monastery of St. Anthony; very terrible and precipitous, and monks living there in caves. Their Father was named Pytirion, who was one of the disciples of Anthony, and the third to inherit that place; who indeed worked many miracles and effectively expelled spirits. For having succeeded Anthony and his disciple Ammonas, he also merited to succeed to the inheritance of gifts." Nearly the same things are found in Rufinus, book 2 of the Lives of the Fathers, ch. 13, by whom he is called Ammon, who seems to be the same as Amatha, a disciple of St. Anthony, also called Amos by others -- as was said above in the Life of St. Anthony, section 5, in the Prolegomena, where we have given an account of his deeds, as far as we could ascertain.
[3] Another Ammonas, either a disciple or at least a close associate of St. Anthony, became a Bishop after being an Abbot. Concerning him, in the Appendix to the Lives of the Fathers in Rosweyde, ch. 20, no. 8, these words are added to the Lausiac History: "Abbot Anthony prophesied to Abbot Ammonas, saying: 'You are to advance in the fear of God.' And he led him out of the cell to a stone and said to him: 'Insult this stone; strike it.' And he did so. And Abbot Anthony said: another, a Bishop, 'In this way you also must attain this measure.' And when he had become Bishop, they brought to him a Virgin who was with child, and said to him: 'This man has done this evil; give him discipline.' He, signing her womb, a man of mercy; ordered that six pairs of linen cloths be given to her, saying: 'Lest perhaps when her delivery comes, either she or the infant should die, so that at least burial wrappings might be found.' Her accusers said to him: 'Why have you done this? Give him discipline.' The Bishop replied: 'You see, Brothers, that she is near to death, and what am I to do? The grief and confusion she has are sufficient.' And he dismissed her, and did not dare to condemn her."
[4] Another, a holy Priest. A third Ammonas is mentioned by Palladius, ch. 72, a Priest in the maritime desert of lower Egypt: "There is another desert in Egypt, maritime indeed but very difficult, in which many great anchorites dwell, which is near the city of Diolcos. We saw there a Priest, a holy and very humble man, who continually saw visions, named Ammonas. He, while once offering sacrifice to God, saw an Angel standing at the right side of the altar and noting the Brothers coming to receive grace, and writing their names in a book. When, however, some were absent from the synaxis, he saw their names erased, and they died within three days. Demons, often tormenting him, brought him to such weakness cured by an Angel, that he could not stand at the altar nor offer sacrifice; but an Angel came and, taking his hand, immediately strengthened him and set him, restored to health, at the altar. When the Brothers saw his torments, the same one called Piammon; they were astonished." In Rufinus, book 2 of the Lives of the Fathers, ch. 32, in Sozomen, book 6, ch. 28, and in Nicephorus, book 11, ch. 35, he is called Piammon.
[5] Another at the Red Sea in Arabia, an ascetic of the most famous monastery of Raithum, another, a Raithenian monk, was Ammonas, whose apophthegm is related by Pelagius, book 5 of the Lives of the Fathers, booklet 8, no. 16: "Abbot Ammonas from the place called Raithum asked Abbot Sisoes, saying: 'When I read the Scriptures, my mind wants to adorn its speech, so that I may be ready to answer questions.' And the old man said to him: 'That is not necessary; rather provide yourself with security of speaking from purity of mind.'"
[6] Another, in the same author, booklet 7, no. 3, Abbot Ammonas, an inhabitant of the desert of Scetis, another, of Scetis: is recorded: "Abbot Ammonas said that he spent fourteen years in Scetis, praying to God day and night that he might give him the power to overcome anger."
[7] The same, in booklet 10, ch. 16: "One of the Fathers related that there was a certain old man in his cell, laboring diligently, and he was clothed in a mat. And when he had gone to Abbot Ammonas, Abbot Ammonas saw him using a mat and said to him: 'This profits you nothing.' Another, skilled in ascetical matters; And the old man said to him: 'Three thoughts trouble me: one compels me to withdraw somewhere into the desert; another, to seek foreign lands where no one knows me; a third, to shut myself in a cell so that I see no one and eat every other day.' Abbot Ammonas says to him: 'None of these three things is expedient for you; but rather sit in your cell, eat a little daily, always having in your heart the words of that publican who is read about in the Gospel, and thus you can be saved.'" Luke 18. Whether this is one of those mentioned, or a different person, who shall determine?
[8] Another, who seems to be the one venerated on this day. Finally there was a distinguished Ammonas, Abbot of the Tabennesiots in Upper Egypt, whom Rosweyde and Raderus believe to be the one celebrated by the Greeks on this day. Of him Palladius writes in ch. 48: "We saw another man in the Thebaid, named Ammonas, Father of three thousand monks, whom he also called Tabennesiots, who had a great rule of life, Abbot of the Tabennesiots, so that they wore sheepskins and ate with faces covered, bowing themselves down so that no one might see his neighbor eating; and they maintained such silence that they seemed to be in a desert, whose remarkable silence; each one secretly following his own manner of life, but sitting at table only in appearance, trying to escape each other's notice. For some of them brought their hand to their mouth once or twice, touching bread or oil, various forms of abstinence, or something of what was set before them, and when they had tasted once of each dish, they were content with that nourishment; others, slowly chewing bread, took other things without pretense and so continued; others tasted the broth only three times and abstained from the rest. Which, as was fitting, I greatly admired and did not neglect the benefit to be derived from them."
[9] Rufinus, book 2 of the Lives of the Fathers, ch. 3, calls him Ammon and explains some of the above more clearly, writing thus: Their distinctive habit; "We saw in the Thebaid another man named Ammon, Father of about three thousand monks, who are called Tabennesiots -- men of great abstinence, who customarily wear tunics like linen sacks, and are covered by a skin descending from neck to back and side; they also cover their heads with hoods, especially when they come to eat, and even veil their faces with them, lest one detect another eating less food. There is also among them the greatest silence in taking food, so that one would not think any human being was present where they sit at table. And their entire manner of life in the multitude is as though they were in solitude, since the abstinence of each is so hidden that it cannot be detected by another. They sit therefore at table touching rather than consuming food, so that they seem neither to have been absent from the table nor yet to have satisfied their appetites. For the virtue of continence is greater when one abstains from things that are before one's eyes and in one's hands." This Ammon is mentioned by Sozomen, book 6, ch. 28: "In that Thebaid Ammon cultivated the monastic way of life. He presided over the Tabennesiots and had about three thousand disciples."
[10] Another, St. Ammon of Nitria; Different from these was St. Ammon of Nitria, whose soul St. Anthony saw being carried to heaven by Angels, of whom we shall treat on the 4th of October. Another Ammonius, numbered among the Origenists by St. Jerome, of whom Rufinus, book 2, of the Lives of the Fathers, and Palladius, ch. 12, whom nevertheless we find inscribed in more recent Martyrologies on the 9th of February and the 31st of March; another Ammonius, suspected of heresy; by what reason or right, we shall examine on those days and in the life of St. Chrysostom, in which frequent mention is made of him and his brothers.