Abraham of Minūf (Saint)
4th Century
Coptic Church
Egypt
A monk and hermit (feast day: 30 Bābab) who is known only from the SYNAXARION (Basset, 1904, p. 377; Forget, csco 47 -49, p. 85 [text]; 78, p. 93 [trans.]). He was a native of Minūf in the Delta, born of Christian parents who held an important position in the world.
We do not know at what age he embraced the monastic life. The text says simply that "when he grew up, he went off to the land of Akhmīm, to join the great PACHOMIUS, who gave him the religipus habit." He remained there twenty-three years. Then he asked to go and live as a hermit in a cavern, where he remained for sixteen years, leaving it only to receive communion every two or three years. He had at his service a secular brother who took the work of his hands, fishing nets, and sold them to buy beans for him, giving alms with the rest of the money.
When Abraham felt his death near, he sent for Apa Theodore, disciple of Pachomius; then he lay down facing the east. He was buried by the monks in the cemetery of the monastery. The mention of Theodore indicates that Abraham lived at the end of the fourth century.
Without the Synaxarion, we would not know that a Pachomian monk could become a hermit after spending some time in the cenobitic life.
René-Georges Coquin
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.
