ONUPHRIUS

'Onuphrius' (Greek: Ονούφριος, from Egyptian: ''Wnn-nfr'' meaning "he-who-is-continuingly-good"^[1]), venerated as 'Saint Onuphrius' in both the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Catholic Churches of Byzantine Rite; 'Venerable Onuphrius' in Eastern Orthodoxy and 'Saint Nofer the Anchorite' in Oriental Orthodoxy, lived as a hermit in the desert of Upper Egypt in the late 4th century, according to tradition.
Both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches traditionally mark his feast day on 12 June.
The account of Paphnutius the Ascetic, who encountered him in the Egyptian desert, forms the sole source for our knowledge of the life of Saint Onuphrius, who became a monk at a cenobitic monastery near Thebes, which he left to lead an eremitic life. For 60 to 70 years, Onuphrius lived alone in the desert and wore only his hair and a loincloth of leaves - this led to his becoming patron saint of weavers.

Contents

In Eastern Orthodoxy

In art

Name variants

Notes

See also

In Eastern Orthodoxy

In Eastern Orthodoxy, Onuphrius is supposed to have been a virtuous young girl who, in order not to lose her virginity to a persistent suitor, had her wish to become a man granted by divine intervention. Then he went on to become a hermit. He/she is usually depicted as a half-man with a long beard and half-woman with a fig leaf. Such depiction can be found in the Snake Church in the Göreme valley open-air museum in Cappadocia, Turkey.
According to Eastern Orthodox tradition, Onuphrius was educated in law and philosophy before choosing an ascetic life, and he is the patron saint of lawyers.

In art

Onuphrius became a popular subject in Medieval art: the period traditions of the "wild man" may partially account for this.

Name variants

His name appears very variously as 'Onuphrius', 'Onouphrius', 'Onofrius'; and in different languages as 'Humphrey' (English), 'Onofre' (Portuguese, Spanish), 'Onofrio' (Italian), etc. However, these European names may derive from the name Godfrey rather than the Egyptian^[2].

Notes

1. See article: Gardiner, A. H. ''The Origin of Some English Personal Names'', Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 56, No. 2. (Jun., 1936), pp. 189-197. (JSTOR or Athens login required)
2. See ''ibid''.

See also

★ San Onofre

★ Venerable

★ Hermit

★ Book of the First Monks

★ Byzantine Discalced Carmelites