Saint Onuphrius flourished in the fourth century, first in the cenobium near Hermopolis of Thebes in Egypt, and later as a solitary in the desert, where he was discovered by Saint Paphnutius. When Paphnutius first encountered him deep in the desert, he was affrighted at the Saint’s appearance, seeing him covered with hair like a wild beast and naked except for a garment sewn of leaves covering his loins. After relating his life and the bitter conflicts he had endured as a hermit, Onuphrius told Paphnutius that he was about to die, and that Paphnutius had been sent to bury him, which soon came to pass. Although Paphnutius desired afterwards to remain in the Saint’s cave, as soon as he had buried him, the cave fell in and the palm tree, which had furnished the Saint with dates withered up, indicating that it was the will of God that Paphnutius return to his monastery and make Saint Onuphrius known to all.
The problem with over 2,000 years of Christian history is that sometimes a particular event is passed on, but the details are lost in the centuries of history. Of today’s saint, and of many a saint from another day, the details are lost. We only have a small summary. He is known as the Venerable Onuprhris by the Roman Catholics and as Saint Nofer the Anchorite in Oriental Orthodoxy. He is one of the Desert Fathers, although the dating of his life has also been somewhat lost. We know that he lived around the fourth or fifth century. There was a church built in his honor in Rome, and there is a monastery dedicated to him in Jerusalem. His memory is most strongly held among the Copts of Egypt, particularly because he is an Ethiopian monastic, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Church was under Coptic control until the modern era.
While his honor has been barely retained within Eastern Orthodoxy, he is a highly honored saint in Coptic Orthodoxy. We have lost almost all of his history. Tales have grown up around him that have now been discarded. But, there is a small memory that there once was a saint who gave up everything in order to follow God. If 1600 years from now, I could be remembered in such a fashion, then I would say that I had lived a good life. May we all live such a life that in the far future we are barely remembered, but yet remembered as one of those who followed Christ in an exemplary way.
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