My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 4th of October, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
our Venerable Father AMMOUN, the Egyptian.
Ammoun, our righteous father, was an Egyptian by race. Living in the Delta region, he was left a rich orphan upon the death of both his parents. At the age of twenty-two, his uncle compelled him to enter into matrimony. On account of the young man being unable to defy his uncle’s advice, he was forced into having the marriage crowns placed on his head and to sit through the wedding festivities, and, in a word, to fulfill everything according to what incumbent upon the bridegroom to conduct at his marriage feast. The year was about 313 A.D. when Ammoun submitted to outward appearances, but when he was led to the bridal-chamber on his wedding night, he rose up and shut the door. Seating himself, he then began speaking to the bride, saying, "Henceforth, thou shalt be my lady and my sister. Come, therefore, and I will tell thee something that is more excellent than marriage. The marriage contract is a perishable thing, so let us choose the marriage which perishes not, and the marriage feast that never ends. We shall keep separate chambers, for in this way we shall please the Christ. Let us guard our virginity unsullied, so that we may enter the incorruptible marriage feast."
Ammoun then took up a book and began reading to his bride passages from the Holy Apostles and Jesus Himself. Since she had no knowledge of the Sacred Texts, he added his own explanation, speaking to her on virginity and purity. By the grace of God, she consented in the arrangement tha they should not consummate their marriage, and answered, "Milord, I know well that a rule of life of such purity is more excellent than marriage. Therefore, whatever pleaseth thee, that I do." Thus, they dwelt in a holy manner for eighteen years. As Ammoun and his bride were conducting their lives in this manner, they attained to dispassion.
At length, Ammoun’s prayers were answered when, one day, his blessed bride said to her bridegroom, "Milord, I have something to say to thee. If thou wilt hearken to me, then I shall be convinced that thou truly loves me for God’s sake." The holy man urged her to speak: "Say that which thou dost wish." She then said, "Thou art a God-fearing man. It is not right that one who lives a life of righteousness, such as thyself, and who has brought to me to love this path also, that such a one, for my sake, even if he be dwelling with me in purity for the Lord’s sake, should hide the spiritual excellence and virtue of his life and the grace of the Most Holy Spirit. It is not seemly that thy good deeds remain hidden and obscure. Dwell apart from me, and thus thou shalt benefit many men." Ammoun praised her, and said, "Mylady, thy judgment is beautiful. Well hast thou spoken. If it be acceptable to thee, do thou abide in this house, and I shall go forth and make another one elsewhere." She agreed to this, and so he departed. He went on to build himself two domed cells in the mountain of Nitria. This cannot have been later than 330 A.D, as Ammoun lived on for twenty-two years in his desert. At that time, there were not many monasteries.
Those who came to join the monastic life with him received their own cells and whatever they needed within their dwellings. Ammoun converted the wilderness of Nitria into a city of cells. Saint Athanasius commented that "they came forth from their own people and enrolled themselves for citizenship in heaven."
Now Ammoun’s wife, in the meantime, had called all the members of her household to a life of chastity. She then turned her house into a nunnery; and thus other women seeking the ascetical life joined her. She was their Egoumenisa (Abbess), and Ammoun would come and visit his spouse twice yearly.
Saint Athanasios, Bishop of Alexandria, recounts, in his book on the deeds and life of Saint Anthony the Great, how Ammoun and Theodore, his disciple, wished to visit with the great man. Ammoun and Theodore went and found themselves before the river called the Lykos ("Wolf"). Ammoun was abashed to remove his clothes in order to swim across unhampered. Hence, boht men agreed that each should go away a short space from the other, lest they should see each other’s nakedness as they swam across. While he was engaged in such a quandry, suddenly, an Angel of the Lord came and bore him aloft over the river and safely set him down upon the other side. Theodore, in the meantime, had already stripped and swam across. He was startled to find his Elder had overtaken him, since he entered the river well before the Elder; yet now he observed his Elder’s hair, beard, feet, and clothing were utterly dry. His Elder has passed over the river by the might of the Holy Spirit. The righteous ascetic Theodore repeatedly asked, "How didst thou cross over, my father? Ammoun kept making excuses, but Theodore was convinced that Divine grace was at work here. Theodore then fell down before the holy man’s feet and took hold of them, saying, "Yes, or no, holy father; was it Divine grace? I will not desist until thou has shown me how this came to pass." Ammoun seeing his persistence said, "I shall disclose it to thee, but do thou promise not to reveal it until I shall have departed from this world." Theodore agreed, and Saint Ammoun revealed to him how he had been carried over by an Angel, and that his feet never at all touched the water.
When the holy Ammounand Theodore arrived at Saint Anthony’s retreat, the latter remarked, "The Lord has revealed to me thy many wondrous works, brother. But God has also revealed to me that thou wilt soon repose. Abba (Father) Ammoun, which is why I have invited thee, that I might receive consolation from thy visit before thy departure. Let us then pray for one another." Those geat old men then conversed for a long while. Father Ammoun, in no wise troubled or distressed at the report of his pending repose, then received Saint Anthony’s blessing and awaited his much sought after translation to his Lord,
The blessed and virginal Ammoun had attained the age of sixty-two when his departure from this life was at hand. The year was 356 A,D. Saint___ Anthony the Great, in the meantime, was sitting when suddenly he beheld in the Spirit the departure of Ammoun’s joyous soul ascending and being escorted by the Angels, asked why he was rejoicing; for the vision was not seen by them. The sublime Anthony then made the announcement in the presence of the brethren gathered there of the ascent of the holy Ammoun’s soul. Those who were present made a note of that day and the hour in which the God-bearing Anthony advised them of Saint Ammoun’s repose. As for the virgin wife of the Blessed Ammoun, she too reposed soon thereafter. [Resources: The Great Synaxaristes of the Orthodox Church]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 