ON ST. AMMON THE EGYPTIAN, OR AMMUN, IN NITRIA,
IN NITRIA.
ABOUT THE YEAR 350.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Ammon or Amos the Egyptian, in Nitria. (S.)
BY C. B.
§ I. An account of the Nitrian desert, the memory of Ammon in the sacred calendars, the Life to be published.
Among all the solitudes of Egypt which many holy men have ennobled by a life most laudably passed, and have sanctified by every exercise of the virtues, What Mount Nitria is, and where it is situated. by no means in the last place must there be recorded that which by a name received among most men is called the Mountain of Nitria. This mountain, which St. Jerome in the Epitaph of Paula to Eustochium calls the Town of the Lord on account of the sanctity of its inhabitants, is situated on the Southern side of Alexandria, and has between itself and that city a lake interposed which is called Mareotis, and which embraces in its breadth seventy thousand paces. This lake being crossed, one comes in a short time to the Mountain of Nitria. Departing thence — from Alexandria, that is — says Palladius in Rosweyde, Lausiac History, chapter 7, I came to the Mountain of Nitria. And between this mountain and Alexandria is situated a lake which is called Maria; and it extends to seventy thousand paces. And when I had crossed it in a day and a half, I came to the mountain (of Nitria, namely) on the Southern side. Further, to the mountain — which takes its name from a neighboring village formerly memorable for its abundance of natron, and which is placed by Ortelius in his Geographical map of Egypt between the river Nile and the marshes of Mareotis and Moeris — there lies adjacent a huge solitude, which stretches toward Ethiopia.
[2] In this solitude was to be seen the place of the Cells, so called from the little cells scattered here and there in great number. [Ammon, who first built monasteries on this mountain, is inscribed today in very many sacred calendars.] Rufinus in the Lives of the Fathers, book 2, chapter 22, places this spot ten thousand paces from Nitria; Cassian, in Conference 6, chapter 1, only five. Toward the end of the fourth century fifty monasteries existed on the mountain of Nitria, inhabited by five thousand hermits. The first founder of these was he of whom we must here treat, St. Ammon or, as he is written by others, Ammun or Amun or also Amos, commonly called the Egyptian. He is inscribed today in the printed Menaea of the Greeks, in the Basilian and Sirletian Menologies, and in other sacred calendars of the Greeks, both manuscript and printed. He was therefore put off hither from the 21st day of March, on which he is celebrated in the German Martyrology of Canisius, in our manuscript Florarium, and in the Additions of Grevenus; from the 17th day of April, on which he is celebrated in two Auctaria of Usuard; and finally from the second day of October, on which he is celebrated in the Universal Martyrology of Castellanus. Nor is Ammon celebrated today only in the Hagiologies of the Greeks, but also in the general Catalogue of the Saints of Ferrari and in other more recent sacred calendars of the Latins
he is recorded. But however that may be, the Saint nevertheless has nowhere a place in the Classical Martyrologies. Nay, he is marked neither today nor on any other day in the present-day Roman, which may perhaps seem strange to some — and indeed not undeservedly. For Ammon, inasmuch as St. Antony saw his soul even carried to heaven, on the testimony of Athanasius as will be said, was a man of outstanding sanctity, and is honored in the Greek church with the cult proper to Saints, as is clear enough from the almost unanimous consent with which he is celebrated today in all the sacred calendars of the Greeks.
[3] His elogium which the Sirletian supplies, and another, Why then did the most learned men who reformed the present-day Roman exclude Ammon from it? Was it perhaps because he is handed down by Palladius to have attained to ἀπαθεία or impassibility, a condemned error? But this is the fault of that biographer, not of the Saint. However it be, what is to be said will, as I think, sufficiently disclose the altogether outstanding and rare sanctity of Ammon, whom St. Athanasius too, in our work, vol. 3 of May, p. 357, calls a Saint. But that the reader may have ready at hand at the very threshold of this Commentary at least some knowledge of the Saint, I transcribe here beforehand the Elogium with which Ammon is adorned in the Sirletian Menology, together with his announcement. It runs thus: On the same day (the fourth, namely, of October), the commemoration of the holy father Ammon the Egyptian. He, being an Egyptian by race and bereft of his parents, was compelled by his uncle to take a wife under the emperor Maximian; but he lived with her eighteen years, holding her not as a wife but as a sister; nay, he even persuaded her to preserve her virginity. And so, having left both her and all his possessions, he withdrew to the mountain of Nitria near the desert of Egypt, covering his body night and day with one garment only. And he prolonged his life down to the times of the Great Antony, under Constantine the Great, the renowned and first Christian emperor. The blessed Antony admired this Man's sanctity, especially on account of the miracles which God's kindness worked in great number through him. The Greek elogium of the Saint also, which we have in manuscript from the Ambrosian Library, I here transfer, for the same cause and to the same end, in Greek and Latin together.
[4] which is here transcribed in Greek together with an added Here it is: Ὁ ὅσιος πατὴρ Ἀμοῦν ὁ θεοφόρος ἐν ἀσκηταῖς μέγας ἐγένετο, ὑπῆρχε δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου φιλομόναχος ὢν ἀπὸ νεότητος· κατὰ δὲ τοὺς καιροὺς Μαξιμιανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως λαβὼν γυναῖκα βίᾳ τοῦ πατρὸς ἔπεισε κἀκείνην παρθενεύειν καὶ καταλιπὼν ἃπαντα καὶ ἀυτην, ἀπελθὡν ἐν τῷ τῆς Νιτρίας ὄρει εἰς την συνέγγυς τῆς Ἀιγύπτου ἔρημον ἡσύχασεν ἐν μόνον ἱμάτιον φέρων νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας· παρέτεινε δὲ ἡ ζωὴ ἄυτου μεχρὶ τῶν ἀγώνων τοῦ μεγάλου Ἀντονίου ἐπί τῆς βασιλείας Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ μεγάλου καὶ ἀοιδίμου καὶ πρώτου Χριστιανῶν βασιλέυσαντος· ἐξ οὗ καὶ τῆς μακαρίας ψυχῆς τοῦ Ἀμοῦν τοῦ σωμάτος ἐξελθούσης καὶ πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἀναφερομένης, καθεζόμενος ὁ ἅγιος Ἀντώνιος καὶ διδάσκων τινὰς ἀδελφοὺς ψυχοφελῆ ρῆματα καὶ ἰδὼν τῆν ἁγίαν ψυχὴν τοῦ θεοφόρου Ἀμοῦν, ἐξαίφνης ἀναστὰς καὶ βλέπων πρὸς οὐρανὸν ἐδοξάσε τὸν Θεὸν· ἔβλεπε γὰρ ἀυτην ὑψιφερομένην ὑπὸ ἀγγέλων· τῶν δὲ παρόντων θαυμαζόντων ἐξαιφνῆ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἐγέρσιν, διηγήσατο ἀυτοῖς τὸ θέαμα ἐιπὼν, ὅτὶ ἡ ἅγία ψυχὴ τού Αμμοῦν είς οὐρανὸν ἀπέρχεται· παρῆσαν δὲ τινες τῶν ἔξ Ἀιγύπτου ἀδελφῶν καὶ ἀκριβώσαντες τὴν ὥραν καὶ τὴν ἡμέραν, ἀπήλθον είς Αἰγυπτον ὁδὸν ἡμερῶν δέκα διανύσαντες καὶ ὥρον οὕτως ὅτι κατ᾽ ἀυτὴν τήν ὥραν ὅτε ὂ πατὴρ διηγήσατο ἀυτοῖς τὸ ὄραμα, ἐκοίμηθη ὁ ἀνὴρ.
[5] Have now the Latin version: The holy father Amon the God-bearer was eminent among the ascetics; Latin translation, drawn from the Ambrosian library. and he was from Egypt, zealous for the monastic life from his youth. But when, while the emperor Maximian held power, he had been compelled by his father to take a wife, he persuaded her too to preserve chastity; and, having left all things and even her, he embraced the solitary life in the mountain which is situated near the solitude of Egypt, wearing one garment only by day and by night. And his life lasted down to the contests of the Great Antony under the rule of the great and renowned Constantine, who was the first of Christians to reign. And then, when the blessed soul of Ammon had passed from the body and was being carried to heaven, and at the same time St. Antony, who was sitting and teaching certain brethren words profitable for the soul, had seen the holy soul of the God-bearing Ammon, rising at once and looking toward heaven he glorified God; for he saw it borne on high by angels into heaven. And when those present wondered that the father had suddenly risen, he set forth the vision, saying that the holy soul of Ammon had passed into heaven. And there were present certain of the fathers of Egypt, and, having noted the hour and the day, they set out into Egypt by a ten days' journey (St. Athanasius below places the mountain of St. Antony at a thirteen days' journey from Nitria), and, the matter being examined, they understood that at the same hour at which the father had narrated the vision to them, the Man had fallen asleep. Such is the elogium of St. Ammon which we have in manuscript from the Ambrosian Library, not in every respect correct, as will be disclosed from what is to be said; which perhaps is to be said also of the Sirletian elogium recited above.
[6] As regards now the elogia of the Saint which the Basilian and the printed Menaea also supply, The Life of the Saint to be published from Palladius. it has not seemed good to transcribe these likewise here. But when it shall be opportune I shall bring forward the printed Menaea and the Basilian too, either to bring light from them to the matter in hand, or to apply correction where there is need. I proceed now to the older monuments from which the two elogia of St. Ammon which I have recited seem for the greater part at least to have been drawn. In Rosweyde's Lives of the Fathers there occur two Lives of St. Ammon, not very long, written when the fourth century was almost elapsed or the following one begun, of which the one has Rufinus as its author, the other either Heraclides or Palladius. For the latter exists not only in the Lausiac History, which seems to have been put together out of two books, one Palladius's, the other Heraclides's, but also in Heraclides's own Paradise in Rosweyde. Further, St. Athanasius, contemporary with Ammon, in the Life of St. Antony records some things also that concern St. Ammon. The Life written by Palladius or by Heraclides, however brief, is nevertheless longer than the other, woven together by Rufinus. That one alone, and indeed under the name of Palladius — that I may follow most of the learned, although from what has been said it may perhaps not be Palladius's — I subjoin to this Commentary, meaning to add also, either here or in the Annotations, whatever I shall judge conduces either to weakening or to strengthening or to illustrating Palladius's narrative, whether from Rufinus's shorter narrative, or from St. Athanasius's passage on Ammon in the Life of Antony, or from Sozomen and Socrates, who flourished in the fifth century, or finally from other monuments worthy of credit.
§ II. The Saint's birth, marriage, chastity in matrimony, and whether from the very beginning of it he withdrew into the solitude of Nitria.
Ammon, compelled to marriage, Ammon, says Rufinus in Rosweyde, was born of wealthy and noble parents — in Egypt, namely, to which region, though his name altogether contradicts it, he is assigned by all. The Saint, although now ripe for marriage, shrank from wedlock, and was nonetheless compelled to marry. Rufinus testifies to this, and Palladius testifies to it, and Socrates and Sozomen subscribe to it too, so that here there is excellent agreement among all who treat of this matter. But there is not equal agreement among all as to by whom the Saint was compelled to marry. Rufinus, whom the manuscript elogium of the Ambrosian Library already recited also supports, writes that it was done by his parents; but Palladius — or, if you prefer, Heraclides — affirms that St. Ammon was at the time when this happened already bereft of his parents, so that accordingly he could suffer no compulsion from them. Besides, he expressly hands down that the Saint was compelled to marriage by his uncle. Here are his own words concerning Ammon which he has at the beginning: When he was … bereft of his parents, a Youth about twenty-two years old, he was by force joined in marriage to a woman by his uncle. Here, therefore, Rufinus and Palladius plainly conflict with one another. But to which must one assent? Nothing is available for me to pronounce without hesitation either for Rufinus or for Palladius. Nevertheless Sozomen and Socrates too seem to favor Palladius, with whom the printed Menaea and the Sirletian agree. For the former writes this in book 1 of the Ecclesiastical History, chapter 14: About the same time Ammon the Egyptian too cultivated the monastic philosophy. Whom report has it that, at the compulsion of his near kindred, he took a wife … But the latter records thus in the Ecclesiastical History, book 4, chapter 23: When some of his kinsfolk urged him (St. Ammon) to take a wife, and not to treat marriage with contumely, he obeyed and celebrated the wedding.
[8] obtains from his wife that they preserve continence in marriage; So Socrates and Sozomen; who, since they say that Ammon was compelled to marriage either by his kinsfolk or by his near relations, certainly seem to favor Palladius, who records that this was done not by the Saint's parents but by his uncle. However it be, the Saint at any rate was compelled to marry. Ammon therefore took the girl to wife, crowned himself with a garland, as was then customary for those marrying, fulfilled all the other things which were then the custom, and accompanied his bride to the chamber and to the very marriage bed. But when all had now withdrawn, and he was left alone with his wife, he hurries out of the bed, shuts the door, and, taking a stool, calls his bride, and speaks to her of the dignity and excellence of the virtue of chastity, that she may be stirred up to preserve it. Besides, he takes the book of the New Testament, and reads out to his bride from it what both Christ Himself and Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians hand down concerning celibacy and marriage, adding also not a few things out of his own wit, as God's Spirit inspired him. All these things Palladius, Socrates, Sozomen, and Rufinus in the places cited either expressly hand down or at any rate plainly enough intimate. Nor did Ammon's effort lack the desired success. For his wife, having heard the reading of Sacred Scripture, was so kindled by divine grace that she both willingly complied with her Husband's wish, and brought a will quite ready both for preserving virginity and for the practice of a separate bed.
[9] Socrates in the place cited above also hands down that Ammon and his spouse, at the very beginning of their marriage, yet with her, contrary to what Socrates hands down. before they came together, bade farewell to the secular life and betook themselves together to the mountain which is called Nitria. These things, he says, and very many others of this kind having been spoken by (St. Ammon) to his virgin wife, he persuaded her that both together, before they came together, should cast off the secular life. When they had agreed on these things between themselves, they betake themselves to the Mountain which is called Nitria.
So he, adding also: Living there in a hut, for a short time they used a common dwelling without any distinction of male and female sex, since they were one in Christ, as the Apostle says. Not long afterwards the new and uncorrupted virgin addressed Ammon thus: "It does not become you, who follow after chastity, to look upon a woman in so narrow a dwelling. Wherefore, if it please you, let each of us perform our exercises separately." That agreement too pleased both equally. Separated therefore from one another, they passed the remaining time of their life thus. This too Socrates says, meaning of course besides that a short time after the marriage was contracted Ammon and his spouse no longer used even a common house or habitation. But both this and Ammon's going with his wife to the mountain of Nitria shortly after the marriage was contracted most plainly conflicts with Palladius, Rufinus, and Sozomen.
[10] For Rufinus writes thus: And when (Ammon, namely, and his wife) for a very long time, content with the testimony of God alone, he remained for a long time still joined in house and habitation, were joined rather in spirit than in flesh and blood, after the death of both their parents, he indeed withdraws to a place near the desert, while the virgin, remaining within the house, in a short time gathers multitudes of virgins, as he does multitudes of monks. Rufinus therefore indicates that for a very long time after the marriage was contracted one and the same house was occupied by Ammon and his spouse. And the same thing Sozomen does much more clearly still, writing thus in the place cited: Since the woman (Ammon's wife) approved indeed his discourse about virginity, but took it ill to be separated from him (Ammon, namely), he remained with her eighteen years, sleeping apart, not even so neglecting the laws of monastic abstinence. And as regards now Palladius, he hands down almost the same as Sozomen does in the words just recited, so that the latter probably drew his words from Palladius. His words, therefore, which besides the Life to be published at the end of the Commentary sets forth at n. 3, I do not transcribe here. Meanwhile I have no doubt that everyone will rather assent to these three later writers, who hand down that Ammon lived with his wife in one and the same house for a long time after the marriage was contracted, than to Socrates alone, who, being further removed from the event than Palladius and Rufinus, records the contrary.
[11] But although Ammon remained for so great a span of time joined to his wife in house and habitation, he nevertheless no less performed the exercises of the religious and ascetic life. He was continually occupied in cultivating balsam, which is cultivated in the manner of a vine and demands much labor. And by day indeed he gave himself to that difficult labor; nevertheless leading meanwhile a religious and ascetic life. but in the evening, having returned home, he gave himself to prayer; and having taken supper with his wife, he paid the task of nocturnal prayers which he had appointed himself, and again on the following day returned to the cultivation of his garden, and that very early in the morning. Further, since his wife too, both by her own inclination of mind and by her Husband's example, directed her life also by the laws of piety and virtue, both attained to that happy and blessed peace of soul which they are wont to experience who, in the way in which it can be done in this life, have subdued all the depraved affections of the mind. All these things again Palladius, Rufinus, Socrates, and Sozomen teach in the places cited. Further, although the Saint, though not yet separated in habitation from his spouse, led a very austere kind of life, most pleasing at once to God and to the angels, yet this did not so affect the Man, who with all zeal always strove after more perfect things, but that he thought from time to time of embracing a still holier kind of life. The desire of the monastic life with which he had burned in his youth had, now that he had become of more advanced age, not only not slackened in him but on the contrary had received greater strength. Hence he prayed God continually that virtue and piety might grow in his wife, so that at last, with her consent, it might be lawful for him to pass his life in complete retirement. Nor were the Saint's prayers in vain, but they produced the desired effect. How this came about the following § will disclose.
§ III. The Saint withdraws into the mountain of Nitria, is the first to build monasteries there, gains disciples, works miracles, and is on familiar terms with St. Antony.
Ammon, with his wife's consent, seeks the desert of the mountain of Nitria. His wife, fixed in admiration of the virtue which Ammon pursued, was unwilling thereafter that a Man of such perfection should lie hid unknown in her house, and therefore judged it necessary that they should also be separated from one another in habitation, so that they might live in solitude and serve the salvation and spiritual advancement of others. She herself is the first to address her Husband on this matter, and indeed earnestly asks him that, if he wishes it proved that God is loved by her with her whole heart, he should assent to this separation. Ammon with joy and thanksgiving receives his wife's proposal, and, having thus at last obtained his wish, glorifies God, to whom he credits the matter. Further, since neither of them had kinsfolk by whom they might be hindered, Ammon left to his wife the house which he had inhabited; but he himself withdrew into the neighboring solitude set upon the mountain of Nitria, and removed more than 30 leagues from the solitude of Scete. Having here obtained a free field for virtue, what progress did he not make in it? He used bread for food and water for drink, abstaining always most rigidly from wine and oil; sometimes he passed one day, sometimes two, and sometimes even more, altogether fasting. So great was the holy Man's severity in chastising and subduing his body. And these things indeed he performed that he might the more safely work out his own salvation; but what he did besides to take thought also for the salvation of others, I now set forth.
[13] On the mountain of Nitria, when St. Ammon came thither, not many monasteries as yet existed. So Palladius affirms in the Life to be published, n. 5. But certainly the beginning, Then, in Rufinus's opinion, to whom says Rufinus in Rosweyde's Lives of the Fathers, chapter 30, of the habitation of the monasteries which are in Nitria they handed down was taken from a certain Ammon (understand our Saint), whose soul, when it had gone forth from the body, St. Antony saw borne to heaven, as that writing relates which describes the Life of blessed Antony. According to Rufinus, therefore, our Saint was the first of all to inhabit the mountain of Nitria and to furnish it with monasteries. This latter writer accordingly — since according to him there were as yet no monasteries on the mountain of Nitria when St. Ammon came thither — conflicts with Palladius, who plainly enough indicates that some monasteries already existed there at that time. But to which must one assent, to Palladius or to Rufinus? Both these writers, being nearest to Ammon's age and having lived in Nitria, could have had exactly clear before them absolutely all the circumstances which pertain to the Saint's life and death. There is therefore no reason why either of them should on this head at least deserve greater credit. But Sozomen in the place cited above supports Rufinus, as also in our work, vol. III of May, p. 295, a monk of nearly the same age, who committed to writing the Acts of St. Pachomius, contemporary with our Saint. I set down the words of both these authors.
[14] Those of the former are these: Of this divine Man (he speaks of Ammon), [Sozomen and the author of the Life of St. Pachomius support him, nor did our Henschen] who was the chief and founder of the monasteries in those parts (the Mountain of Nitria), there were many and memorable disciples. But those of the latter are these: What the most holy archbishop Athanasius wished attested to the world concerning Antony after he had departed this life, when he excellently described his Acts; in which writings he also embraced the manner of life of our holy father Ammon (namely of him who was the first of the brethren living as solitaries on the Mountain of Nitria), as also of Theodore, whom Ammon had as a companion of his life. So Sozomen and the nearly contemporary writer of the Acts of St. Pachomius; by whose authority, joined with Rufinus's testimony, I am so affected as to suppose that on the Mountain of Nitria, when St. Ammon came thither, no monasteries had as yet been built — although meanwhile, as has been said, Palladius plainly enough teaches the opposite. But, you will say, St. Frontonius about the year of Christ 150 was abbot of seventy brethren on the Mountain of Nitria. So indeed Henschen supposes at the 17th of January, in the Commentary prefixed to the Life of St. Antony, n. 12, and at the 14th of April on St. Fronto or Frontonius, abbot of Nitria, moved by this little Appendix which is subjoined to the Life of St. Frontonius written by a contemporary author: These things were done under the emperor Antoninus (otherwise Antonius), in the thirteenth year of his reign.
[15] I admit it is so: Henschen was at one time of that opinion; as Papebroch teaches, but he never held it firmly, and at last altogether abandoned it. Hear Papebroch, vol. III of May, in the Annotations to the Life of St. Pachomius, p. 296. He has thus there: He admits … (Henschen, namely) that it (the little Appendix just transcribed here) was never read by him without a scruple, and that he doubted much in April whether, that being disregarded, Fronto ought not to be referred to the age of Ammon; but now, this passage (namely of the Life of St. Pachomius cited above) having been considered, which he does not wish to be twisted by a violent interpretation, he altogether passes over into the same opinion, and wishes the Life of St. Frontonius to be placed by those who are to revise April after the Passions of the martyrs occurring on the 14th day, before the Life of St. Abundius; and that in the preliminary disquisition on the age of the Saint (Fronto, namely) n. 2 be changed, and, two lines being struck out in which at the beginning he leaves it doubtful whether St. Fronto then died, or whether from that year (the thirteenth of the emperor Antoninus) food began to be brought to him (St. Fronto), which was done down to his death, he wishes these things to be substituted for the last two lines before n. 3: "These things being thus considered, St. Fronto would seem to have flourished in the second century of Christ; but who would believe that monks were already then so numerous in Egypt, reading the Lives of the holy Paul, Antony, and Pachomius — in the Life of the last of whom St. Ammon is honored with the title of Ἀρχιμονάζοντος τῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει τὴς Νιτρίας ἀδελφῶν?"
[16] ever oppose this — there were monasteries. I should say that either that little Appendix is a mere and unskilled gloss, or rather that it was not transcribed entire by the copyists and was wretchedly truncated, and is to be restored thus: These things were done under Ammonius, prefect and first founder of the monks of Nitria, and under the emperor Constantius, in the thirteenth year of his reign — which would be the year 350 of the Christian era — whether St. Fronto then died, or whether from that year food began to be brought to him, which was done down to his death; which might thus be permitted to be deferred even for several years. And to this postponement would be favorable all those collations from which our Rosweyde published the first book On the Lives of the Fathers, where St. Frontonius is reckoned among the last
and at any rate after Paul, Antony, Hilarion, Malchus. Thus far our Papebroch, all of whose words I have wished to transcribe here, not only because they teach that Henschen changed his opinion, by which he had at one time judged that monks existed on the mountain of Nitria already from the second century of the Christian era, but also because they will still be of use below, and because they utterly strike down the argument which might be sought, for admitting monks on the mountain of Nitria already from the second century, from the little Appendix to the Life of St. Fronto transcribed here above. And so, since thus there is nothing from this quarter either which favors Palladius, who holds that there were monasteries on the mountain of Nitria already when Ammon came thither, I adhere to Rufinus on account of what has been said before, and accordingly pass over into that opinion which holds that there were no monasteries on the mountain of Nitria when our Saint first arrived there.
[17] Further, Ammon built many, and little cells too. But now, someone will inquire, how many monasteries did St. Ammon build on the mountain of Nitria? That already toward the end of the fourth century there were fifty monasteries on the mountain of Nitria, Rufinus teaches in the Lives of the Fathers in Rosweyde, book 2, chapter 21; but how many of these St. Ammon built, no ancient monuments disclose. That not a few, however, were built by him, it is in some measure permissible to gather from the enormous multitude of disciples which the Saint, once he had entered the desert of Nitria, had joined to himself. In a short time, says Rufinus of Ammon, now come to the mountain of Nitria, he gathers multitudes of monks. Socrates does not differ much from Rufinus, writing thus in the place already cited above: Moreover many imitated the life of this Ammon, and the mountains of Nitria and of Scete were gradually filled with a multitude of monks. Nor did the Saint only build monasteries on the mountain of Nitria, but also many little cells, into which those who had already come to the highest summit of virtue and were more fitted for a solitary life might withdraw; these he either himself founded in the vast solitude adjoining the mountain, or at least permitted or even saw to their founding — and that indeed in a place (go above to n. 2 and below to n. 22) distant about three or four leagues from Nitria. Those cells, in each of which only a single monk was shut up, were separated from one another by so great a space that one could neither see nor hear another. Further, in the building of those cells, at least as regards the place in which they were built, St. Antony too had a part. How this came about, as also how great a familiarity passed between this Saint and Ammon, what is now to be said will disclose.
[18] Our Saint, although set in a place remote from the society of men, Ammon made his name more illustrious by miracles, obtained in a short time a great and illustrious name, the fame of his virtues being spread far and wide through all Egypt and the adjacent regions. And this was afterwards not a little increased by the enormous multitude of miracles which he worked. These, says Sozomen, were carefully noted by the monks of Egypt; for they esteem it a great thing accurately to record the virtues of the ancient monks handed down to them from their elders by a continuous succession. But since those monks were content to know the aforesaid miracles and to transmit them to posterity by tradition alone, only a few of them have come to our knowledge. St. Athanasius judged one worthy to be inserted into the Life of St. Antony which he wrote, and the authority of so great a Man made it most celebrated. Besides, it was the cause why it was reported with the greatest care by all the authors whom I have seen treating of St. Ammon. That one, therefore, lest I yield the palm to others in this matter, I too transcribe here in St. Athanasius's own words.
[19] It runs thus: When he (St. Ammon) had to cross the river Lycus, at the time when the waters were overflowing, he asked his companion Theodore to withdraw far off, lest they should look upon one another naked in swimming the water. Theodore having withdrawn, he was even then ashamed to see himself naked. While he was agitated by shame and anxiety, he is straightway carried across to the other bank. Theodore therefore, himself also a pious man, when on returning he saw that he had gone before him and was not at all wet with water, asked in what way he had crossed. And when he saw him refusing to tell, seizing his feet he declared that he would not let him go before he learned it from him. Amun, having observed Theodore's insistence, especially in what he was saying, asked in turn that he should disclose the matter to no one until his death; and then he narrated that he had been carried and set across the river, and had not walked even the least in the waters, and that this could not at all be done by men, nor save by the Lord and by those to whom He should grant it — as once to the great Apostle Peter. Theodore therefore narrated the matter after Amun's death. Two other miracles besides, which were wrought by Ammon's merits, are narrated by Rufinus. But they are narrated also in the Life to be published, and accordingly ought not to be transcribed here by me; for the same reason does not impel me to do so as impelled me to the narration of the miracle just recited from Athanasius.
[20] Further, the fame of the miracles which Ammon wrought in great number so increased he obtained greater esteem with St. Antony; that it was carried even to the mountain in which Antony dwelt, although it was, on Athanasius's testimony in the Life of St. Antony, thirteen days' journey removed from the mountain of Nitria. Hence that great Saint began to esteem Ammon still more highly — whom he had already before, on Rufinus's testimony, greatly esteemed and looked up to on account of his rare and outstanding virtues, which he had learned not only from the report of others but had himself observed in person, as it is permissible to gather from what Athanasius records concerning Ammon in the Life of St. Antony. Here are the words: For he (Ammon, namely) was known (to St. Antony's monks and therefore to Antony himself), because he frequently betook himself thither (to Mount Troicus, commonly called Antony's), and many signs were wrought through him. Nor had Antony only conceived a great esteem for St. Ammon, but had also, as it appears, contracted an intimate friendship and familiarity with him. I bring forward two arguments by which I may prove this. The first, on which however I do not think much stress is to be laid, is drawn from the Apophthegmata of the Fathers in Cotelier, Monuments of the Greeks, vol. 1, p. 392, where this is read: Abba Ammun the Nitriot came to abba Antony, and said to him: I have labored more than you; why then has your name been magnified among men above mine? Abba Antony replied: Because I love God more than you do. The same things occur almost word for word also in Rosweyde's Lives of the Fathers, book 5, chapter 17, and, if only they agree with the truth, argue a familiarity between Antony and Ammon. But both the question and the answer which they comprise have indeed reason to appear to anyone strange and difficult to believe. For who would easily reconcile a question or an answer of this kind with the flight from vainglory and the deep humility of mind of holy Men?
[21] with which Saint also he was on familiar terms. By the first argument, then, which is formed from the words already transcribed here, our Saint's familiarity with St. Antony is indeed in some measure proved, yet not solidly enough established. I therefore now bring forward the second, by which I may more firmly establish it. It is likewise drawn from the Apophthegmata of the Fathers; for in these, in Cotelier, Monuments of the Greeks, vol. 1, p. 351 and following, it is thus recorded: Abba Antony once came to abba Amun on the Mountain of Nitria; and when they had met, abba Amun says: Since through your prayers the brethren have been multiplied, and some of them desire to build cells at a distance, that they may live quietly there, at what interval do you bid the cells to be built be distant from this place? He said: Let us eat at the ninth hour (by our way of reckoning hours, the third hour after noon) and go out, and walk through the solitude and look at the place. And when they had gone about until the sun had come to its setting, abba Antony spoke thus: Let us pray, and let us set up a cross here, that those who wish to build may build there; so that those who shall remain there, when they wish to come to those who are to dwell here, having tasted their little morsel at the ninth hour, may so come; and that those who set out from here doing the same may persevere in mutual visitation without distraction of mind. And the interval is twelve stones. St. Antony therefore at some time visited Ammon too; which certainly is a by no means doubtful argument of a friendship cultivated by him with that man. Besides, Ammon (see the words from the Apophthegmata of the Fathers just transcribed here) wished the distance from the mountain of Nitria at which he should build in the desert the new cells he was planning for his monks, now increased in number, to be assigned to him by St. Antony; and the latter in fact assigned it — so that indeed the one seems to have been on very familiar terms with the other.
[22] Nor is this only what we learn from the words of the Apophthegmata just recited, but also that the history contained in them gave the origin and the naming — which I undertook above to investigate — to the place The origin of the place which was called Cellia. which, as was said at n. 2, was called, on account of the enormous multitude of little cells scattered here and there in it, the place of the Cells, or Cellia. But Tillemont, in vol. 7 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, p. 157, calls that history in doubt on account of the great distance of four leagues or twelve stones which Antony wished the cells, to be built in the solitude adjoining the mountain of Nitria, to have from that mountain. But deservedly? The reason why he does so can by no means, as it appears to me at least, prove the point. For there are those who make the distance which the place of the Cells or Cellulae had from the mountain of Nitria either entirely the same, or only a little less. Rufinus in Rosweyde, On the Lives of the Fathers, book 2, chapter 22, writes thus: But after this (namely the mountain of Nitria) there is another place in the inner desert, distant nearly ten thousand paces from it, which place, on account of the multitude of cells scattered in the desert, they have named Cellia. Sozomen sets seventy stades between Nitria and the place of the Cells; which interval embraces a distance a little less than ten thousand paces. Since, then, ten thousand paces make up about four hours' leagues, Rufinus and Sozomen place the place of the Cells at almost the same distance from the Mountain of Nitria at which Antony advised Ammon to build them from it. But although (see n. 2) Cassian places the place of the Cells only five thousand paces from the mountain of Nitria, this diversity of the distance which he assigns probably takes its origin from the different terminus from which he began to count the interval that lies between the two places. And so, for the reason which Tillemont brings forward, the history reported above from the Apophthegmata of the Fathers does not seem to me foreign to the truth; and accordingly neither does the origin of the Cells, which from
this is dug out, appear likely enough.
§ IV. The Saint departs from among the living; the time at which this happened, and certain other things pertaining to Ammon, are set forth.
Ammon closes his last day. St. Ammon passed twenty-two years in the solitude, within which he visited twice each year his most holy and most beloved wife, most savagely chastising his body and continually wearing it down with a very hard kind of life. This Palladius teaches in the Life to be published, and all others who have committed to writing the deeds of St. Ammon, by almost unanimous consent. But when that time was completed, the Saint by a happy departure from among the living passed to the Lord, as again Palladius and almost all others testify. But, you will ask, at what time did this happen? No one indeed could easily assign a determinate year. But however that be, to define the year before which the Saint exchanged this mortal life for the immortal makes no trouble at all. For in the year 356, as you will find proved in our work, vol. 2 of January, St. Antony ceased to live; and before him Ammon beyond all doubt met death. This is clear from what St. Athanasius left recorded in the Life of St. Antony. Again, he says, when he (St. Antony) was sitting on the mountain, lifting up his eyes he saw someone being borne in the air, and the great joy of those who went to meet him; and, marveling and proclaiming such a company blessed, he asked to learn what that was; and straightway a voice came to him, that it was the soul of Amun, a monk in Nitria. He had persevered in the state of an ascetic even to his death. And the mountain in which Antony was is distant from Nitria by an interval of thirteen days' journey. Those who were with Antony, seeing the old man marveling, asked what it was, and heard: Amun has just died. For he was known, because he frequently betook himself thither, and many signs were wrought through him. Thus far Athanasius, all of whose words I have wished to transcribe here, not only because they teach that Antony saw Ammon's soul borne to heaven, but also because they will still be of use afterwards. This being premised, I proceed to inquire into the year about which our Saint died.
[24] That it was before the year 356. We have certainly from Athanasius's words just recited that he died before St. Antony, and accordingly before the year in which that Saint died, the three hundred and fifty-sixth. But can an earlier year not also be assigned, before which Ammon died? In our work, vol. III of May, under SS. Pachomius and Theodore, abbots, there is extant a letter written by Ammonius the bishop, formerly a monk of Tabennisi, to Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, on the manner of life and the particular Life of SS. Pachomius and Theodore, abbots. Further, in it bishop Ammon narrates first who clothed him as a monk in the monastery of Tabennisi, and indicates at n. 4 that this was done toward the end of the year 352. But then at n. 21 he writes thus: Thence, when I was passing my third year among the monks, someone of my father's friends, when he had seen me at the gates of the monastery together with Bessarion, an excellent servant of God and at that time the porter, besought him with many words, announcing how my mother, from the day on which I had deserted my kinsfolk and household, had been overwhelmed with great grief; while my father, going to all the monasteries of Egypt and of Augustamnica, when he could nowhere find me, had bewailed me no otherwise than as one dead. Having heard this, I begged Theodore, the man of God, to join two monks to me, in whose company it might be granted me to see and console my mother, and then to return with them to the monastery.
[25] nay even before the year 355; Then he to me: Know that your mother is enrolled among the Christians; but you will not henceforth dwell in these parts. Wherefore I advise you to choose a dwelling on the Mountain of Nitria; for in that place there live Men conspicuous for sanctity and most pleasing to God. He meant to indicate Theodore, who lived with Ammon, or had been his disciple (for he was still alive), and Aelurion and Ammonius, who died not long after. Bishop Ammon was therefore compelled to withdraw from the monastery of Tabennisi when he was already passing his third year there, and accordingly probably in the year 355, since, as has been said, he had first entered that monastery toward the end of the year 352. And at that time (see the words just recited) Theodore, abbot of Tabennisi, advised him to betake himself to the mountain of Nitria, and therefore to Theodore, once the disciple of Ammon, of whom indeed we here treat. Further, since bishop Ammon expressly affirms in the words just recited that Theodore of Nitria was still surviving at that time when he received that counsel from Theodore, abbot of Tabennisi, and records nothing of the kind concerning Ammon, his master, whom nevertheless he also names, he indicates plainly enough that the latter was already then dead. Besides, that Ammon was already taken from among the living at the time when bishop Ammon at the advice of Theodore of Tabennisi sought the mountain of Nitria, appears also from the fact that bishop Ammon names, among the men conspicuous for sanctity on the mountain of Nitria, Theodore of Nitria, but not his master Ammon — who nevertheless would otherwise, as a most holy man and the supreme abbot of the mountain of Nitria, have had to be named in the first place. And so, since as has been said bishop Ammon was sent in the year 355 by Theodore of Tabennisi to the mountain of Nitria, our Saint will in that year no longer have been surviving among the living, and accordingly will probably not later than in the year 354 have exchanged this mortal life for the immortal. But did this not also happen earlier?
[27] The Saint, as the Basilian Menology and at the same time, as it appears, yet not before the year 345 or 346, the elogium transcribed here above from the Ambrosian Menaea report, withdrew into the desert or mountain of Nitria while the emperor Maximian held power. Wherefore, since Maximian abdicated the empire in the year 305 according to the reckoning now received among all the learned, St. Ammon — who, on the testimony of Palladius and Sozomen, admitted here by all, died when only twenty-two years in the ascetic life, or on the mountain of Nitria, had been completed — will not, if we are to stand by those two sacred calendars, have prolonged his life beyond the year 327 or 328. But both the Basilian Menology and the manuscript Menaea of the Ambrosian Library are monuments of very shaky credit, as is often indicated in our Work; and accordingly from these the time about which Ammon ceased to live cannot safely enough be defined. And this, even if greater credit be granted to those two Greek monuments, could nevertheless not be done, for this reason, that they follow the error of the historian Socrates refuted at n. 9 and the following, by which the Saint is held to have entered the desert immediately after he had contracted marriage. Recourse must therefore be had elsewhere, that we may here determine the year before which Ammon did not pass to the Lord. Sozomen, in the place cited above more than once, places the monastic or ascetic life of St. Ammon under Constantine the Great, a little before he treats of the synod of Nicaea gathered in the cause of Arius. According to this writer, then, our Saint seems to have withdrawn not long before the synod of Nicaea, celebrated against Arius in the year 325, into the desert of Nitria, to lead thenceforth a monastic or ascetic life. It will therefore, according to Sozomen's mind, have been done about the year 323 or 324. Wherefore, since according to Palladius and to Sozomen himself St. Ammon passed twenty-two years in the desert of Nitria after he entered it, according to this latter writer's mind our Saint will not have ended this mortal life before the year 345 or even before the year 346.
[28] But from the fact that Sozomen places our Saint's withdrawal into the desert of Nitria before the synod of Nicaea, nay perhaps not even before the year 349 is it altogether necessary that this happened before it, and accordingly in the year 323 or 324? Sozomen does not everywhere rigidly observe the order of time in which things were done, as has been noted by several; and accordingly nothing hinders Ammon's withdrawal to the Mountain of Nitria from being deferred even some years after the synod of Nicaea, if only a reason can be brought from elsewhere why this should be done. It must therefore be examined whether this holds good here. Our Papebroch (see his words transcribed here at n. 15 and the following) thinks the little Appendix subjoined in our work to the Life of St. Fronto or Frontonius at the fourteenth day of April altogether faulty, and declares that it is to be restored thus: These things were done under Ammonius, prefect and first founder of the monasteries of Nitria, and under the emperor Constantius, in the thirteenth year of his reign. This opinion of Papebroch pleases me. Now since the things of which there is mention in the little Appendix, thus restored according to Papebroch's mind, are said to have been done in the thirteenth year of the emperor Constantius and at the same time under Ammonius, the first founder of the monks of Nitria, this Ammonius — who is none other than our Saint — was in the thirteenth year of the emperor Constantius, which agrees partly with the year of Christ 349 and partly with the year 350, still surviving among the living. Hence, further, it now follows that our Saint's withdrawal to this mountain — inasmuch as he led an ascetic life on the mountain of Nitria for twenty-two years before his death — can, for a reason sought from elsewhere, be deferred even some years after the synod of Nicaea.
[29] or even 350, it happened; But lest anyone think the aforesaid little Appendix, as restored by Papebroch, is to be rejected, perhaps for the reason that it reckons Ammon still among the living in the year 349 or even in the year 350 contrary to Sozomen, I prove by a further argument that the Saint was still surviving among the living in the year 349 or even in the year 350. In vol. 1 of the Works of St. Athanasius of the more recent Benedictine edition, p. 959 and the two following, there is extant a letter written by this holy Father to Amun the monk, whom most of the learned make the same as our Saint. A certain question arisen among the monks gave occasion for the letter. For there were some among them who contended that the purity of mind and body was violated by nocturnal illusions. Being therefore questioned by letter on this matter by Amun, our Saint, St. Athanasius answers that there is in that matter, so long as intention is absent, no more sin than in voiding any excrements of the body — and that with an authority, says Tillemont in vol. 7 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, p. 673, which befits only a bishop already advanced in years; and St. Athanasius was, as it appears, when he did this, set either at Alexandria or in a place not much removed from that city. Wherefore, since before the year 341 that holy father — inasmuch as he was promoted to the see of Alexandria only in the year 326 —
was not yet an elderly bishop; and since from the year 341, in which he was driven from his see by Gregory the pseudo-bishop, down to the year 349 he was in exile far from Alexandria, he seems to have sent the aforesaid letter to Amun, our Saint, not before the year 349 or even 350; and accordingly the latter was still surviving among the living down to the year 349 or even 350. He will therefore not have met death earlier than in one of these two years. Now since, according to what has already been said, this also happened not later than in the year 354, the Saint will probably have been taken from among the living between the year 349 and 354, and accordingly about the year 350.
[30] and that indeed, contrary to what the Latin text of Palladius has, And thus indeed we have now defined the year about which the Saint's death happened; let us now strive to determine the place also. St. Antony, as the Latin text of Palladius in Rosweyde's Lives of the Fathers, to be published by us here, reports, having learned by divine revelation that Ammon's death was at hand, summons the holy Man to himself, that he may both enjoy his converse and that each may pray to the Lord for the other; and when he came, informs him of his impending death, which he had learned by divine revelation; and, having set him in a separate place, exhorts him not to go out of it before his own translation to the heavenly ones. So, as regards the substance, the Latin text of Palladius in Rosweyde; according to which accordingly St. Ammon would have closed his last day not on the mountain of Nitria, but on Mount Troicus, which is commonly called the Mountain of St. Antony. But that narrative of Palladius's Latin text which requires this, and which has now been given here in summary, neither occurs in the Greek text of Palladius, nor in Heraclides's Paradise in Rosweyde's Lives of the Fathers, which nevertheless also embraces the history of St. Ammon.
[31] Cotelier, in vol. 3 of the Monuments of the Greeks, p. 159, does indeed exhibit a Greek text in which the very thing which I have shown to be reported in Palladius's Latin text is also narrated; in the mountain or desert of Nitria. but, says Tillemont in vol. 7 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, p. 672, that Greek text is so barbarous that it by no means seems to be Palladius's. I do not know whether everyone will detect the same barbarism of style in the Greek text brought forward by Cotelier which Tillemont here detects; but however that be, that Ammon died on the Mountain of Nitria becomes certain and beyond doubt from Athanasius's words transcribed here at n. 23; to which add also this, which that holy father immediately subjoins to the miracle of the river Lycus prodigiously crossed by St. Ammon: Further, the monks to whom Antony had announced Amun's death, having noted the day, when after thirty days brethren arrived from Nitria, questioned them, and found that Amun had died on that very day and hour in which the old man had seen his soul borne upward. And both parties greatly marveled at the purity of Antony's soul, who at an interval of thirty (nay thirteen, as it stands in Greek) days' journey had straightway learned the matter and had beheld the soul borne upward. So Athanasius, indicating plainly enough both by these words and by those recited at n. 23 that Ammon died not on the mountain of St. Antony but in the solitude of Nitria.
[32] But let this suffice concerning the place in which the Saint died. Synesius in the Dion, concerning our Ammon, I pass on to another matter which still remains concerning the Saint. Synesius in the Dion, or on the plan of his own Life, treating of an inborn power in the minds of certain men whereby they can handle any matter without the aid of letters or sciences, says: Ὁποιος Ἀμοῦς ὁ Αἰγύπτιος οὐκ ἐξεῦρεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔκρινε χρείαν γραμμάτων· τοσοῦτον ἀυτῷ τοῦ νοῦ περιῆν. Such as Amus the Egyptian did not discover (I should prefer here with Rosweyde to render acquire) the use of letters, but judged of it. So great was the force of mind in him. So Petau and Cotelier interpret those Greek words of Synesius. But since they form a quite obscure sense, opportunely, as Rosweyde teaches in the Lives of the Fathers, p. 69, this is appended by a Scholiast in the margin of the manuscript Medicean Codex: Ἐρομένου τινὸς άυτὸν, εί ἀναγκαῖα τὰ γράμματα, ἔφη. Εἲ ὁ νοῦς ἔῤῥωται, τίς χρεία γραμμάτων; Τὸ δὲ οὐκ ἐξεῦρεν, ἀλλ᾽ ἕκρινε χρείαν γραμμάτων, ἀντὶ τοῦ, οὐκ ἐχρήσατο ἀυτὸς γράμμασιν, ἀλλ᾽ ἀπεφήνατο τούτους δεῖσθαι γραμμάτων, οἵτινες οὑ μέγεθος ἐυτύχησαν νοῦ, ἵνα τὴν ἔνδειαν ἐντεῦθεν ἐπανορθῶνται. When someone asked him (Ammon, namely) whether letters were necessary, he said: If the mind is sound, what use is there of letters? And this which is here said, he did not acquire the use of letters, but judged of it, is said for this reason: that he himself did not use letters, but declared that those need letters or sciences to whom little mind has fallen, that they may thence supply and correct the defect of mind. Further, Petau thinks that those words of Synesius and of his Scholiast are to be understood of Ammon the Egyptian, or of our Saint. But almost the same answer as is conceived in them is attributed by St. Athanasius to St. Antony.
[33] not of the Ammon whom Plutarch mentions, is he more probably to be understood: Hence some believe that Synesius slipped in memory, and wrongly attributed to Ammon the Egyptian what ought to have been attributed to Antony the Egyptian. But this opinion of theirs is not approved by me. For why could not the same or a like answer have been twice given to the same question — once indeed by Antony, and once by Ammon the Egyptian? Cotelier in vol. 3 of the Monuments of the Greeks, col. 564, writes thus in the Notes: But to me … the suspicion arises that Synesius had in mind that ancient Amun the Egyptian of whom mention is made in Plutarch's book On Isis and Osiris and in Iamblichus On the Mysteries, sect. 8, chapter 3, as of mind and of the hidden, and the declarer of hidden things, and also president of truth. For not long after Synesius again writes: Ἐυμοιρήσαντος ἐκείνην τής ψυχῆς τὴν ἀξίαν, ἣν Ἀμοῦς, ἢ Ζωροάστρης, ἤ Ἑρμῆς, ἢ Ἀντόνιος. Having happily attained that excellent condition of soul which Amus, or Zoroaster, or Hermes, or Antonius had. Do you see that Amun is set before Zoroaster and Hermes, and is separated from Antonius? Although I should not wish to contend about an obscure matter. Thus far Cotelier in the place cited. But, says Tillemont in vol. 7 of the Ecclesiastical Monuments, p. 673, since Synesius, afterwards repeating what he had pronounced concerning Amun, joins Antonius to him, and since Cotelier finds no heathen Antonius of whom it may be understood — nay rather, since he seems to refer Synesius's words to Antony, the father of the anchorites — I do not see for what cause the Ammon or Amun whom Synesius so greatly praises cannot be believed to be Ammon of Nitria, as Petau believed. Nitria was not much removed from Libya, where Synesius lived. But that Synesius places Amon before Zoroaster and Hermes, and Antonius after them, is too weak a ground for it to be believed that he makes Amon older than all these. So, as regards the substance, Tillemont, embracing the opinion of Petau and others who hold that Synesius's Ammon is not different from ours.
[34] yet this can be called in doubt even from the Saint's having namesakes. To this opinion I too not unwillingly go over as the more probable, and accordingly I understand Synesius as speaking of our Saint also when elsewhere, comparing Amon and Antony with those whom he esteemed the greatest lights of antiquity, he speaks of them in more or less this fashion: that men of this kind do not need the support of the sciences, as being strong in a natural power to which both willing and executing are equally easy; and that, if he met anyone of this kind, he would pay him every veneration and all but adoration. Further, although Synesius must probably in the Work in question be understood of our Ammon, yet this can deservedly be called in doubt even from the Saint's having namesakes, as you will easily gather from what has been said. With equal right it can also be doubted whether absolutely everything which is recorded here and there in books concerning Ammon the Nitriot really pertains to our Saint; and namely, whether there is rightly attributed to him the counsel by which a monk, as is reported in the Monuments of the Greeks in Cotelier, vol. 1, p. 392 and following, was prodigiously freed from a dangerous temptation. For besides bishop Ammon, already mentioned above, formerly a monk of Tabennisi, many other monks, namesakes of our Saint, to whom those things might fit, lived in the deserts of Egypt. And several indeed are recounted in our work, vol. 2 of January, p. 722 and following, from the Lives of the Fathers, all illustrious either for the fame of sanctity and miracles, or at any rate for a life passed most piously and most rigidly in the deserts. To these, moreover, there is added in the same place another, who had as brothers Dioscorus, Eusebius, and Euthymius, and who, although Jerome in his letter to Ctesiphon affirms that he was condemned by the bishops as a heretic, yet himself too passed his life amid the severest works of penitence in the desert.
THE LIFE
By Palladius,
From the Lausiac History in Rosweyde, chapter 8.
Ammon or Amos the Egyptian, in Nitria. (S.)
By Palladius.
Ammon, compelled to marriage by his uncle, Now Amon used to say that he had lived in this manner a. When, he says, being bereft of his parents, a Youth about twenty-two years old, he was by force joined in marriage to a woman by his uncle b; and since he could not resist the constraint which his uncle put upon him, it seemed good to him both to be crowned with a garland [c] and to sit in the bridal chamber and to endure all the things that are done at a marriage. But after all had gone out who had placed them in the chamber and on the bed to sleep, blessed Amon rises and shuts the doors; and sitting down he calls his blessed and true-born spouse, and says to her: Come now, lady sister. Then I shall tell you a thing: this marriage by which we have been joined has nothing excellent in it.
[2] We shall therefore do rightly if from now on each of us sleeps apart, he persuades his wife to chastity; that we may please God, rendering our virginity untouched. And when he had brought forth from his bosom a little book d, he read to the girl, who was unlearned in letters, as though in the person of the Apostle and of the Savior, adding to a great part of the reading out of his own divinely inspired teaching, and instructing her in a life to be passed in virginity and chastity. Whereby it came about that she, filled with the grace of Christ, said: I too, my Lord, am persuaded that I shall gladly lead a chaste life; and if you command anything, this henceforth I shall do. But he said: I command and ask that each of us remain apart.
[3] But she did not bear this, saying: Let us remain in the same house, [yet to her, who wished only a separation of beds and not of house, he lives with her for 18 years;] but in different beds. Living therefore with her eighteen years in the same dwelling, he devoted the whole day to the garden and the balsam-grove e. For he cultivated balsam,
which balsam is planted after the manner of a vine, as one on whose cultivating and pruning much labor is laid out. In the evening, therefore, entering the house and making his prayers, he ate with her. And again, pouring out his nocturnal prayers and performing the synaxis, he went at earliest morning into the garden. When these things were so done, and both had come to impassibility f, the prayers of Ammon had force and efficacy.
[4] But at last that blessed woman says to him: There is something which I would say to you, my Lord, so that, after which, she at last consenting to be separated in house too, if you hear me, it will be plainly established for me that you truly love me from God. And he says to her: Say what you will. And she says to him: It is fitting that you, who are a pious and religious man and practice justice, and likewise I, who have followed [*] the same way of life, should remain apart, and that many should take profit thereby. For it is not right that on my account so great and such a virtue of your philosophy should be hidden — you who dwell with me for Christ's sake in chastity. And he, when he had given her thanks and had given glory to God, says to her: You have judged rightly, lady sister; and if this pleases you, do you keep this house; but I shall go away and make another house for myself.
[5] [he withdraws to the mountain of Nitria, and there, after a most holy life and various miracles wrought,] And when he had gone out from her, he entered the inner parts of the mountain of Nitria. For monasteries were not yet frequent there at that time g; and he made for himself two domed cells. And when he had lived another twenty-two years, and had rightly practiced the highest virtue of ascetic discipline, he died — or rather was translated — in the monastic life, holy Amon, aged sixty-two years, seeing twice in the year the blessed partner of his life. When therefore he was alone in Nitria, they bring to him a boy tormented by madness, bound with chains. For a mad dog had by biting given him the madness. He was therefore tearing himself utterly, as one who could not bear an intolerable disease.
[6] one of which When, therefore, he saw his parents coming forward to make supplication, he said: Why, O men, do you cause me labors, seeking things that surpass my merits, when help is ready at hand in your own hands? For give back to the widow the ox which you secretly killed, and the boy will be given back to you sound. They therefore, being convicted, gladly did what had been commanded; and at his prayer the boy came out sound. And others came for the sake of visiting him, to whom the holy Man said, for the sake of testing their mind:
[7] and another, Bring me one cask, that I may have water enough for receiving those who come. And they promised that they would bring it themselves. But when one of them had repented, as soon as they had come into the village, he says to the other: I do not wish to kill my camel, nor to load the cask upon it, lest it die. Hearing this, the other, having yoked his asses, carried the cask up with great labor. And Amon, anticipating him, said to him: Why is it that your companion's camel has died while you were coming hither? And he, on returning, found that it had been devoured by wolves h. This Man did many other things also.
[8] and a third too, are here reported, But blessed Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, narrated this miracle, writing in the Life of Antony i, that once, when monks had been sent to him by Antony — for Antony was in the inner solitude — when they had come to him, the old man rose and walked with them; and when he was about to cross the river Lycus k with his disciple Theodore, he feared to strip, lest he should at any time see himself naked; and meanwhile, while he was discoursing on that matter, he was found across the river, as one who without a boat had crossed in an ecstasy, carried over by an angel. But the brethren crossed by swimming.
[9] he dies in the presence of St. Antony, who sees his soul borne to heaven. But after he had come to Antony, Antony first said to him: Since God had revealed many things to me about you, and had signified to me your translation, I have summoned you to me of necessity, that, when it had been permitted us to enjoy one another, we might intercede for one another. And when he had placed him in a certain place far separated, he exhorted him not to withdraw before his translation. And when he himself had been consummated apart, Antony saw his soul taken up into heaven by angels l. This, then, is Amon, who so lived and so died. This river Lycus I myself once crossed with fear on a ferry. For it is a canal of the Great Nile.
ANNOTATIONS.
It was, namely, formerly the custom that on the wedding day both the bridegroom and the bride should be crowned with a garland. Claudian sings thus in On the Marriage of Honorius:
Do thou, Hymen, choose the festal torches; do thou, Grace, the flowers; Do thou, Concord, weave the twin garlands.
You may see more on this subject in Rosweyde's Onomasticon under the heading To be crowned with a garland.
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