Mar Awgin
Mar Awgin | |
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Nisibis, Turkey | |
Venerated in | Oriental Orthodox Churches Assyrian Church of the East Ancient Church of the East Maronite Church |
Part of Oriental Orthodoxy |
Oriental Orthodox churches |
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Mar Awgin or Awgen (died 363 AD),[a] also known as Awgin of Clysma or Saint Eugenios, was an Egyptian monk who, according to traditional accounts, introduced Christian monasticism to Syriac Christianity. These accounts, however, are all of late origin and often contain anachronisms. The historicity of Awgin is not certain.[3]
The earliest source to mention him dates to the 7th century, about three hundred years after his death. The claim that Awgin introduced monasticism to the Syriac tradition is roundly rejected by modern scholars, who regard it as an indigenous development. The story of Mar Awgin, whether having a factual basis or not, was embellished in order to associate Syriac monasticism with the more illustrious Egyptian tradition of the Desert Fathers.[3][4]
Biography
In Egypt
Originally, Saint Eugenios was a pearl-fisher from the island Clysma or
In Mesopotamia
About 70 monks accompanied him when he left Egypt for
The location was well chosen, for Nisibis lay on the eastern edge of the
The community on Mt. Izla grew rapidly, and from here other monasteries were founded throughout Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Georgia, and even India and China.
A crisis occurred during the 6th century: to please the
See also
- Abraham the Great of Kashkar (father of the Assyrian monastic revival in the 6th century)
Notes
- ^ Christine Chaillot states that Mar Awgin died in A.D. 370.[1] However based on the Syriac text, according to E. A. Wallis Budge, it states that Mar Awgin died on the 21st of Nisan in A.D. 363, as an old man (while noting that there is some doubt about the accuracy of this date).[2]
References
- ^ Christine Chaillot, "The Ancient Oriental Churches", in Geoffrey Wainwright and Karen B. Westerfield Tucker (eds.), The Oxford History of Christian Worship (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 165.
- ^ E. A. Wallis Budge (ed.), The Book of Governors: The Historia Monastica of Thomas, Bishop of Margâ, A.D. 840 (London, 1893), Vol. 1, pp. cxxv–cxxxi.
- ^ George A. Kirazand Lucas Van Rompay (eds.), Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage: Electronic Edition (Gorgias Press, 2011; online ed. Beth Mardutho, 2018).
- ^ D. J. Wilmshurst, The Martyred Church: A History of the Church of the East (London, 2011), p. 41.
Further reading
- Bedjan. Acta Martyrum, Paris, 1892, tome iii, pp. 376–480