Ammonaphas the Hermit of Egypt

Venerable Ammonaphas the Hermit of Egypt laboured in the fourth century at Pelusium, in present-⁠day Egypt. In the collection Apophthegmata Patrum a miracle of the venerable one is told. Once, from the monks of the monastery in which the venerable one lived, the poll tax was demanded, contrary to the law. The brothers took counsel and decided to send several men to the emperor with a petition, but the saint forbade it and called on them all to keep silence in their cells for two weeks and to fast strictly. Ammonaphas promised that he himself would arrange the matter. For two weeks the venerable one stayed in silence, without leaving the monastery, and the monks began to murmur, saying that he had made light of their cause. On the fifteenth day the venerable one brought to the monastery's assembly an imperial charter that exempted the monastery from taxes. According to the saint's explanation, in the night before the assembly he had gone to the emperor, received the charter, come to Alexandria, shown the charter to the rulers of the region and returned to the monastery. He is commemorated on 13 March, in the Synaxis of All the Venerable Fathers Who Shone in Ascetic Labours.