Samuel the Confessor

Infobox Saint
name=Saint Samuel the Confessor
birth_date=597
death_date=693
feast_day=December 18 = Koiak 8
venerated_in=Oriental Orthodox Churches


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birth_place=Daklube, Egypt
death_place=Mount Qalamoun, Egypt
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attributes= Monk with one Eye
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major_shrine=Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor, Egypt
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Saint Samuel the Confessor is a Coptic Orthodox saint, venerated in all Oriental Orthodox Churches. He is most famous for his torture on the hands of the Chalcedonian but Monothelite Byzantines, for his witness of the Arab invasion of Egypt, and for having built the monastery that carries his name in Mount Qalamoun, currently in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Al Minya. He carries the label confessor because he endured torture for his Christian faith, but was not a martyr.

Samuel was born in 597 AD in the city of Daklube, Egypt, to a non-Chalcedonian priest called Arselaos. He spent most of his early years as a disciple of Saint Agathon at the Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great in Scetes, Egypt, where he was ordained a priest. Samuel became known for his great ascetism, and for abstaining from food and drink a week at a time. While at the Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great, a Byzantine imperial envoy attempted to convince the desert monks to confess the Chalcedonian faith. Samuel became jealous and seized the imperial letter and rent it into pieces saying "Excommunicated is this tome and everyone who believes in it and cursed is everyone who might change the Orthodox faith of our Holy Fathers." Seized with anger, the envoy ordered Samuel to be beaten with pins and to be hanged up by his arms, and that his face be smitten. One of the strikes enucleated one of his eyes. Samuel was also beaten by Cyrus, the Chalcedonian patriarch of Alexandria. The latter also ordered Samuel to be driven away from the Nitrian Desert.

After leaving Scetes, Samuel dwelt in Mount Qalamoun, currently in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Al Minya. At Mount Qalamoun, Samuel founded a monastery that carries his name and that still exists to this day.

Samuel also suffered at the hands of sun-worshiping Berbers who took him captive for some time. In his captivity, he met and befriended Youannis the Archpriest of Scetes, who was also captured by the Berbers. When the Berbers failed to convince Samuel to worship the sun, they tied his leg with an iron chain to that of a maiden, and sent them to attend the camels, hoping that the maiden would seduce Samuel and win him as a sun-worshipper. Yet, Samuel did not deny his faith and remained strong in his Christian faith. Eventually, after healing his master's son who was on the verge of death, he was released and permitted to return to Mount Qalamoun. After his return, he prophesized about and witnessed the Arab invasion of Egypt in 641 AD.

Samuel the Confessor departed in 8 Koiak (18 December) 693 AD.

ee also

*Seeing Islam as Others Saw It
*Berber mythology

External links

* [http://www.copticchurch.net/synaxarium/4_8.html#4 Samuel the Confessor] in "Coptic Orthodox Synaxarium"