abraham of minūf, saint, a fourth-century monk and hermit (feast day: 30 Bābah), is known only from the synaxarion (basset, po 1 (1904), p. 377; Forget, csco 47– 49 (1905), p. 85 [text]; and csco 78 (1922), 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 religious habit.” Abraham remained there twenty-three years, then he asked to go and live as a hermit (see anchorite) in a cavern (see cell), 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 was 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