Ababius was a monk of Scetis. The Copto-Arabic SYNAXARION by MĪKHĀ'ĪL, bishop of Atrīb and Malīj (about 1240), makes no mention of Saint Ababius. However, a fourteenth-century Arabic manuscript, copied in Syria, gives a long life of this saint. The manuscript attributes this life to JOHN COLOBOS (National Library, Paris, Arabe 259, fols. 57r-104v; Graf, 1947, p. 504).
This text is unique and as yet not translated. A translation of the incipit may be instructive: "O my brothers and you who love the living God, I now commence describing the virtues and the life of our father. The parents of this saint, Father Abābiyūs, were just and pious."
Khalil Samir, S.J.
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:
Troupeau, G. Catalogue des manuscrits arabes [National Library], Manuscrits chrétiens, Vol. 1, no. 259, pp. 222-23. Paris, 1972.
