Saint Onuphrius
The hermit Onuphrius, also known as Onuphrius the Great, who spent almost his entire life in the Desert of Thebaid, probably during the 4th. or 5th. century, is an example of ascetic life being considered one of the Desert Fathers.
According to his hagiographic legend, to which the venerable Paphnutius, bishop of Upper Thebaid, greatly contributed by writing about the visit he paid to the hermit in his last days and how he interred him, St. Onuphrius
was dedicated to monastic life immediately after he had been baptized. As a child, while worshipping an icon of the Virgin with Child, he experienced a series of miracles reflecting the development of the Eucharistic doctrine in the first centuries of Christianity. After arriving in the desert, Onuphrius is initiated in the ascetic life by Jeremiah, an old hermit. There, he lived in a remote cave where no human being had been passing by for 70 years until the Venerable Paphnutius arrived to spend with him his last hours and to witness his death.
Iconographically, St. Onuphrius is, in most of cases, represented as an anchorite - his naked emaciated body covered, usually, only by a girdle of leaves around his hips. Proving his old age is the whiteness of his hair and long beard. The forehead maybe wrinkled.
The hermit Onuphrius, also known as Onuphrius the Great, who spent almost his entire life in the Desert of Thebaid, probably during the 4th. or 5th. century, is an example of ascetic life being considered one of the Desert Fathers.
According to his hagiographic legend, to which the venerable Paphnutius, bishop of Upper Thebaid, greatly contributed by writing about the visit he paid to the hermit in his last days and how he interred him, St. Onuphrius
was dedicated to monastic life immediately after he had been baptized. As a child, while worshipping an icon of the Virgin with Child, he experienced a series of miracles reflecting the development of the Eucharistic doctrine in the first centuries of Christianity. After arriving in the desert, Onuphrius is initiated in the ascetic life by Jeremiah, an old hermit. There, he lived in a remote cave where no human being had been passing by for 70 years until the Venerable Paphnutius arrived to spend with him his last hours and to witness his death.
Iconographically, St. Onuphrius is, in most of cases, represented as an anchorite - his naked emaciated body covered, usually, only by a girdle of leaves around his hips. Proving his old age is the whiteness of his hair and long beard. The forehead maybe wrinkled.
