Saint Fana, also known as Abu Fana, Abu Fanah, or Apa Bane (Coptic: ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ ⲃⲁⲛⲉ; c. 354–395) was a Coptic hermit. The Monastery of Saint Fana in the diocese of Mallawi, Upper Egypt, is named after him.
Saint Fana was born to a Christian family in Memphis, Egypt. He became an anchorite due to the inspiration of the Western Desert hermits he visited as a young man.[1]
Ancient sources such as Sozomen's Church Hisotory (Historia Ecclesiastica) make reference to a hermit called Benus or Banus who can be identified as Saint Fana, and who lived in the area where the monastery of Saint Fana was later built.
Fana also became noted for his knowledge of the Psalms and would ultimately be linked to miracles.[2]
He is noted for his asceticism and concern for the poor. He also reportedly predicted the date of Theodosius I's death.[3] The Monastery of Saint Fana is one of the oldest in Egypt.[4]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Otto F.A. Meinardus (1999). Two thousand years of Coptic Christianity. American University in Cairo Press. p. 215. ISBN 9789774247576.
- ^ Jill Kamil, Jill Kamil (2002). Christianity in the land of the pharaohs: the Coptic Orthodox Church. Psychology Press. pp. 265–266. ISBN 9780415242530., Sīrat al-Qidīs Abū Fānā al-Mutawahid (Biography of Saint Abū Fānā the Hermit), Bishopric of Mallawī, 1998, reprinted in 2008.
- ^ Otto Friedrich August Meinardus (1999). Two thousand years of Coptic Christianity. American University in Cairo Press. p. 215. ISBN 9789774247576.
- ^ Roger S. Bagnall (16 August 2007). Egypt in the Byzantine world, 300–700. Cambridge University Press. p. 166. ISBN 9780521871372., Rene-Georges Coquin and Maurice Martin in the Coptic Encyclopedia, Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991, Vol. 3, p.698-700