Venerable Ammon

Life

An Egyptian by birth and a vine-dresser by trade. His relatives married him off against his will, but he did not wish to live with his wife; rather, from the very first day he called her sister and counseled her to preserve her virginity together with him for the sake of a higher good in heaven. And so he lived with his wife for a full eighteen years. Afterward, by mutual agreement, his wife established a women's monastery in their home, while Ammon departed for the Nitrian desert, where he gave himself over to the hermit's ascetic struggle. He received great gifts of clairvoyance and wonder-working from God because of the purity of his heart. A certain man and woman brought their maddened son to him to be healed by prayer. But Ammon was very reluctant. After much insistence by the parents, Ammon said: "In your hands lie both the illness and the health of your child. Return the stolen ox to that widow" — and he named her by name — "and your son will be healed." The parents, horrified by such clairvoyance on the part of the saint, confessed their sin and promised that as soon as they returned home they would give back the stolen ox. Then holy Ammon prayed to God, and the child was healed. Ammon was an intimate friend of Saint Anthony the Great. When Ammon reposed in Nitria around the year 350, Saint Anthony saw from his cell the soul of Ammon on high, and said to the brethren: "Today Abba Ammon has departed this life; behold, I see his holy soul, how the angels carry it to heaven."