The History of the Blessed Ammonius
Now this man Ammonius and his three
brothers (Dioscorus, Eusebius, and
Euthymius, referred to as the “Tall
Brothers” by Sozomen) and his two sisters were
disciples of Rabba Pambo; and when they had attained
unto the perfection of divine life and conversation
they departed from the desert, and founded two
monasteries, one for men and one for women, but
they situated the monastery of the women at a
sufficient distance from that of the men, for
Ammonius did not greatly love the intercourse of
speech. It was for this reason that a certain city desired
that he should be its bishop, and the people thereof
drew nigh unto the blessed man Timothy, Bishop of
Alexandria, and entreated him to make the blessed
Ammonius their bishop; and Timothy (381-385 AD)
told them to bring Ammonius unto him and that he
would make him their bishop. Then they took with
them much people, and they went to Ammonius to
bring him, and when he saw them he tried to find
means to take to flight. But when he saw that he
would be unable to escape from them, he tried to
persuade them, with many oaths, which he would not
accept it, but he was unable to make them put away
their intentions. And when they would not be
persuaded by him, he seized a razor and cut off his
left ear at the root and said to them, “Now I am indeed
persuaded that I cannot be that which you are urging
me to be, for the Law commandeth the man whose ear hath been cut off shall not draw nigh unto the
altar (Leviticus 26:17). So they departed from him
and went and informed the Bishop who said unto
them, “This law is observed among the Jews, but even
if nose was split and he had fine qualities I would
make him Bishop.” Then the people went to
Ammonius again and entreated him to come and when
the pious man would not be persuaded by them, they
wanted to take him and to make him come by force;
but he said unto them, “If ye do not leave me I will
also slit my tongue.” And when they heard this they
left him and departed.
Concerning this man Ammonius so wonderful a thing
as the following is said. Whenever a carnal thought
entered his mind he never spared his body, but he
would make a piece of iron hot on the fire and lay it
upon his members, so that they might always be in a
state of wounds. From his youth up his rule was as
follows: whatsoever had been cooked by fire he
would never eat. He could repeat the Holy Books of
the Old and New Testament by heart, and he would
read also the books written by excellent men such as
Origen, Didymus, and by Pierius, and by Stephen
containing about ten thousand six hundred sayings;
concerning this the great fathers of the desert will
bear witness. It is also said that this man possessed
the power of foretelling events and living in his cell
he was so great a comforter to the brethren who lived in the desert that no other man could be compared to
him. Now the blessed Evagrius, who was clothed
with the Holy Spirit, and was skilled in examining
thoughts, used to say, “I never saw any man who had
attained more closely unto impassibility than
Ammonius.”
Once a certain need of those who were dwelling in
the desert call the blessed man Ammonius, and
Rufinus who was at that time the prefect also greatly
persuaded him, and he went up to Constantinople.
And with him there were also the holy bishops and
other monks who had come from various provinces
to attend the service of restoration of a certain
martyrium which Rufinus had built. And Rufinus
wished him to receive him after holy baptism at the service of restoration of the temple which he had built,
and so the blessed man received him from the bishops
who had baptized him. Thus, honor which is due to a
life of asceticism, and he used to listen to him in
everything; and after a short while he died and was
buried in martyrium which is referred to as the
“martyrium of Rufinus” and many helpful acts took
place at his grave on behalf of those who were worthy
of assistance.
(Excerpts: Budge, E.A., l994, The Paradise of the
Holy Fathers, p.105, 106.)
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