Abamun

Holy Martyr Abamun of Tarnut is a martyr of the Coptic Church of the fourth century, known only from the mention of his name in the Synaxarion of Mikhail of Atrib (around 1240).

He was from the city of Tarnut. He came to Upper Egypt and witnessed the persecution of the Christians of that time. He presented himself as a Christian to Arianus, the governor of Ansena. The governor tortured him in many ways: blows, nails in the body, iron combs, hanging. Then he sent him to Alexandria, where his example moved other Christians to accept martyrdom. Among them was a girl, Theophila, who rebuked the governor and his servants for their worship of idols; she was thrown into the fire, but the fire did not harm her, and so she was beheaded. Abamun himself had his limbs cut off and was beheaded.

His commemoration is kept on 3 August (27 Epip in the Coptic calendar). The church of Saint Abamun cannot be linked with certainty to him, since there was another martyr of the same name. He is a saint of the undivided Church, honoured in the Coptic Church.