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.
The aforementioned article does not represent the official view of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria. An official version is forthcoming from the Monastery of Saint Demiana on behalf of His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Pope and Patriarch of the See of Saint Mark.
