From the Events of History
The Writers of the Lives of the Anchorites
The holy anchorite Fathers lived in solitude in the deserts, and no one knew anything about them.
Some of them spent fifty or sixty years—or even more—without seeing the face of another human being.
It would have been possible for these anchorites to depart from this world without our ever knowing them…
But God willed to send some of the holy Fathers to these anchorites, or to some of them, at the time of their departure, so that they might bury them and also learn their life stories from them, write them down, and make them known to the Church.
Thus, God sent Anba Antony to Anba Paul the Anchorite, and he buried him and wrote his Life.
Likewise, Anba Paphnutius was sent to bury Abba Onuphrius the Anchorite and wrote his Life. He also made known to us the Life of Anba Timothy the Anchorite and others.
Anba Samuel was sent to Anba Moses the Anchorite, Anba Shenouda to Anba Biji the Anchorite, and Anba Serapion to Anba Mark of Tamraq.
The Lord also sent Anba Zosimas, who buried the body of Saint Mary the Copt, the female anchorite, and wrote her Life.
Anba Pmoua wrote the Life of Anba Karas.
Among the most well-known Fathers who wrote many of the Lives of the anchorites were Anba Isaac, Abbot of the Monastery of El-Qalamun, Anba Victor, Abbot of the Monastery of Al-Zujaj, and Anba Macarius the Scribe, who later became a bishop.
These Fathers who wrote the Lives of the anchorites were not themselves anchorites, although they wandered through the mountains until they met them. They did not live the same life as the anchorites, even though they longed for it.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in El-Keraza Magazine, Year Eight, Issue Fifty-Two, December 30, 1977.
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