Pishoy

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Saint Pishoy
Coptic icon of Saint Pishoy, Star of the Desert and Beloved of our Good Savior
Born	320 in Shansa, Egypt
Died	417 in Mountain of Ansena, Egypt
Venerated in	Oriental Orthodox Churches
Major shrine	Monastery of Saint Pishoy, Egypt
Feast	July 15 = Epip 22
Attributes	Monk carrying Jesus, Monk washing the feet of Jesus
Saints Portal

Saint Pishoy (320-417 A.D.), known in the Coptic Orthodox Church as the Star of the Desert and the Beloved of our Good Savior, is an Egyptian desert father. He is said to have seen Jesus and that his body is preserved to the present day in incorruption at the monastery of Saint Pishoy at Wadi El-Natroun, Egypt. He is venerated only by the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and mainly by the Coptic Orthodox Church.

[edit] Life

Pishoy was born in 320 A.D. in the village of Shansa (Shensha or Shesna), currently in the Egyptian governorate of Al Minufiyah. Younger to six other brothers, he was weak and frail. His mother saw an angel in a vision asking her to give God one of her children, and pointed at Pishoy. When the mother tried to offer one of her stronger children, the angel insisted that Pishoy was the chosen one.

At the age of twenty, Pishoy went to the wilderness of Shiheet (Scetes, today known as Wadi-El-Natroun) and became a monk by the hand of Saint Pambo (Bemwah or Bamouyah), who also ordained Saint John the Dwarf a monk. When Saint Pambo died, Pishoy was guided by an angel to the site of the present monastery of Saint Pishoy, where he lived the life of a hermit. At this time, he became the spiritual father of many monks who gathered around him. He was famous for his love, wisdom, simplicity and kindness, as well as for his extremely ascetic life. He was also known to love seclusion and quietness. Pishoy's ascetism was harsh to the extent of tying his hair and hands with a rope to the ceiling of his cell, in order to resist sleeping during his night prayers. This ascetism made him so famous that he was visited by Saint Ephrem the Syrian.

The Copts believe that Pishoy saw Jesus a number of times. Once, an old monk asked him to help him climb a mountain, so Pishoy carried him on his shoulders and climbed, only to discover that the old monk was no one but Jesus. The latter told him that, for the extent of his love, his body will not see corruption. The Copts also believe that Pishoy washed the feet of Jesus who visited him as a poor stranger.

Pishoy is known as a defender of Orthodoxy against heresies. Having heard of an ascetic in the mountain of Ansena who taught that there was no Holy Spirit, Pishoy went to him carrying a weaved basket with three ears. When the old man asked him about the reason for making three ears for a basket, Pishoy replied "I have a Trinity, and everything I do is like the Trinity". After much debate from the Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, the old ascetic reverted to Orthodoxy.

In 407/408 A.D., as the Berbers invaded the wilderness of Scetes, Pishoy left and dwelt in the mountain of Ansena. At this time he met Saint Paul of Tammah in Antinopolis and the two became very close friends.

On 15 July or 8 Epip 417 A.D., Pishoy departed at the mountain of Ansena. His body, as well as that of Saint Paul of Tammah, were brought to the monastery of Saint Pishoy in the wilderness of Scetes. Today, the two bodies lie in the main church of the Coptic Orthodox Monastery of Saint Pishoyin Wadi-El-Natroun.