Anba Abram, Bishop of Fayoum
June 10 was the feast of the departure of Saint Anba Abram, who reposed in the Lord in the year 1914 (63 years ago). He was 85 years old.
He was born in the city of Delga in Deirout, and became a monk in the Monastery of Al-Muharraq under the name Monk (Paulos) at the age of seventeen.
Soon, the fragrant aroma of his holiness spread throughout the monastery, so he was chosen as abbot of the monastery during the time of Pope Demetrius II. The number of those coming to monasticism increased under his leadership, and forty pious young men became monks, among them Anba Markos, Metropolitan of Esna, Anba Mattaos, Metropolitan of Ethiopia, and the blessed saintly Hegumen Mikhail Al-Beheiri.
He became well known for his love for the poor and his generosity in giving. Therefore, the monks removed him from the abbacy of the monastery, accusing him of squandering the monastery’s funds.
When they expelled him from the monastery, he stayed at the Monastery of Al-Baramous, whose abbot at that time was the Hegumen Yohanna the Scribe. When Hegumen Yohanna became Patriarch under the name Pope Kyrillos V, he ordained him as bishop over Fayoum and Giza in the year 1881, with the name Anba Abram.
His life as a bishop was full of wondrous virtues and miracles. He was an ascetic, all manifestations of desire and luxury, and he gave to the poor everything that reached him of clothes and furnishings. He was a man of prayer.
God granted him the working of signs even after his departure.
He was buried in Deir Al-Azab in Fayoum, where His Grace Anba Abram, the current Bishop of Fayoum, restored that area and cared for it.
The holy Anba Abram excused himself from accepting the rank of Metropolitan and remained a bishop, taking pride in the title of bishop.
He was against divorce, adhering to the teachings of the Holy Bible concerning it, and was concerned with preserving the unity of the Christian family.
The Holy Synod decided in a session in 1963 to consider Anba Abram, Bishop of Fayoum, among the saints of the Church.
An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Al-Keraza Magazine – Year Eight (Issue Twenty-Four), 17-6-1977.
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