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Amun (Saint)
c. 320
Coptic Church
Egypt

Around the year 320, Amun became the first monk to settle in the desert of NITRIA. Orphaned early, he had been obliged to marry by an uncle, but lived with his wife in total continence for eighteen years. After becoming a monk, he was in touch with Saint ANTONY, who advised him about the establishment of a new monastic center in the desert of KELLIA (PG 65, col. 85). Amun died some time before Antony, who, from a distance, saw his soul carried up to heaven. The collections of apothegms that come especially from the communities of SCETIS have only a few items relating to Amun.

Lucien Regnault

Note: The DACB uses the transliteration system of the Encyclopedia of Islam (2nd ed.), dropping the diacritical marks on the kha, dtaa, saad, and daad.

Bibliography:

Athanasius. Vita S. Antonii 60. PG 26, col. 929. Paris, 1857.
Chitty, D. J. The Desert a City, pp. 11, 29, 32. Oxford, 1966.
Cotelier, J. B., ed. Apophthegmata Patrum. PG 65, p. 128. Paris, 1864.
Evelyn-White, H. G. The Monasteries of the Wadi'n Natrūn, Pt. 2, The History of the Monasteries of Nitria and Scetis. New York, 1932. Festugière, A.-J., ed. Historia monachorum in Aegypto, pp. 128-30. Brussels, 1971.

This article was reprinted, with permission from The Coptic Encyclopedia, vol. 1, copyright © 1991 by Macmillan, New York, U.S.A., edited by Aziz S. Atiya. All rights reserved.