Daniel of Scetis

Venerable Daniel of Scetis was an Egyptian monk in the Scetis desert, disciple and biographer of Saint Arsenius the Great. He is commemorated on 7 June (new style).

As a boy he was taken prisoner when barbarians attacked Scetis and held for two years. Bought by a devout Christian, he was recaptured. After six months, trying to escape, he struck one of his captors with a stone and killed him. The sin tormented him. Because of this he went to Patriarch Timothy of Alexandria, to the Pope, then to the other patriarchs, at Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem, but found no peace. He returned to Alexandria and gave himself up to the authorities as a murderer. He was thrown into prison and at the trial told the governor all that had happened, asking to be put to death so that his soul might escape the eternal fire. The governor was astonished and told him to go in peace and pray for him. Still not reconciled, Daniel resolved to take a leper into his cell and care for him until his death. So he gained peace of conscience.

He became so renowned for his virtues that he was named abbot of Scetis and was honoured throughout Egypt as “a new Abraham and host of Christ”. His sayings are preserved in the Egyptian Paterikon. Once, as he walked with Abba Ammon, Ammon asked: “When shall we sit in our cell, Father?” Daniel replied: “Who can separate us from God? God is in the cell, and also outside it.” He visited Saint Anastasia the Patrician on the day of her death and discovered, when he prepared her body for burial, that she was a woman, dressed as a eunuch in a men's monastery.