Ammon the Egyptian and Eutychian of Olympus

It was about this time that Ammon the Egyptian took up philosophy. It is said that his family forced him to marry, but that his wife never had relations with him. For on their wedding day, when they were alone and he, as the bridegroom, was leading his bride to bed, he said to her: “Woman, our marriage has indeed taken place, but it has not been consummated.” Then he showed her from the Holy Scriptures that it was her highest good to remain a virgin, and he begged that they might live apart. She was convinced by his arguments about virginity, but the thought of being separated from him distressed her greatly. So he lived with her for eighteen years, though in a separate bed, and all that time he did not neglect the disciplines of the monks. At the end of that time the woman, whose own zeal had been strongly stirred by her husband’s virtue, became convinced that it was not right for such a man to live a household life on her account. She judged that each of them ought to live apart from the other for the sake of philosophy, and she begged this of her husband. So he took his leave, after thanking God for his wife’s counsel, and said to her: “You keep this house, and I will make another for myself.” [a]

He withdrew to a desert place south of Lake Mareotis, between Scetis and the mountain called Nitria. There for twenty-two years he gave himself to philosophy, and he visited his wife twice every year. This holy man founded the monasteries there and gathered many disciples of note around him, as the lists of succession show. Many extraordinary things happened to him, and they have been carefully recorded by the Egyptian monks, who took great pains to keep alive the memory of the virtues of the older ascetics, handed down in an unbroken tradition that was never written. I will tell those that have come to my knowledge.

Once Ammon and his disciple Theodore had to make a journey, and on the road they needed to cross a canal called the Lycus. Ammon told Theodore to cross over facing away from him, so that they would not see each other naked. And since he was ashamed even to see himself naked, he was suddenly seized by a divine power, carried across, and set down on the far bank. When Theodore had crossed the water, he saw that the old man’s clothes and feet were not wet, and he asked the reason. He got no answer, so he pressed him hard about it, and at last Ammon admitted what had happened, on condition that it should not be told while he lived.

Here is another miracle of the same kind. Some wicked parents brought him their son, who had been bitten by a mad dog and was near death, and with loud weeping they begged him to heal the boy. He said to them: “Your son does not need my healing. But if you are willing to return to its owners the ox you stole, he will be healed at once.” And it turned out just as he had foretold, for the ox was returned and the child’s illness left him. It is said that when Ammon died, Antony saw his spirit rising into heaven, escorted by the heavenly powers singing psalms. He was seen gazing intently at the sky, amazed at the marvelous sight, and when his companions asked why he was so plainly astonished, he did not hide the matter from them. A short time later some people came from Scetis and reported the hour of Ammon’s death, and so the truth of what Antony had said was made plain. So, as all good people testify, each of these holy men was blessed in a special way: the one by being released from this life, the other by being counted worthy to see so miraculous a sight as the one God showed him. For Antony and Ammon lived many days’ journey from each other, and the story is confirmed by people who knew them both personally. [c]

I am convinced that it was also in this reign that Eutychian took up philosophy. He settled in Bithynia, near Mount Olympus. He belonged to the sect of the Novatians, and he shared in divine grace: he healed diseases and worked miracles, and the fame of his virtuous life led Constantine to keep him as a close friend. It happened about this time that one of the emperor’s bodyguards, who was suspected of plotting against the ruler, ran away, and after a search he was caught near Olympus. The man’s relatives begged Eutychian to plead for him with the emperor, and in the meantime to have the prisoner’s chains loosened, so that he would not die under their weight. It is said that Eutychian accordingly sent to the officers who held the man in custody and asked them to loosen the chains. When they refused, he went to the prison himself, and the doors, though they were fastened, opened of their own accord, and the prisoner’s chains fell off. Afterward Eutychian went to the emperor, who was then staying at Byzantium, and easily obtained a pardon, for Constantine was not in the habit of refusing his requests, since he held the man in very great honor. [d]

I have now told in a few words the story of the most famous followers of the monastic philosophy. Anyone who wants more exact information about these men will find it in the lives that have been written of a great many of them.