Patriarchate of Jerusalem: The Feast of Saint Onouphrios the Egyptian
On Wednesday, the 12th/25th of June 2025, the Patriarchate solemnly celebrated the feast of our Righteous Father Onouphrios the Egyptian at his Holy Monastery, which lies in the region of Siloam, opposite the Pool of Siloam and on the Field of the Potter — also known as the “Field of Blood” or “Akeldama” — which was bought by the scribes and Pharisees with the thirty pieces of silver returned in remorse by Judas, and which was afterwards used as a burial place for strangers, “to bury strangers in” (cf. Matthew 27:7).
Concerning Saint Onouphrios, the Church has received that he lived in Egypt in extreme asceticism, poverty, and simplicity, to such a degree that he was clothed only with his hair and beard, which covered his nakedness.
The monk Kyrillos established the Holy Monastery in the Field of the Potter area in recent centuries. From 1970 onwards, the Patriarchate undertook the care and carried out excavations on this area—which had served as a cemetery until the 14th century—under the direction of the late Metropolitan Germanos of Petra, the late Archimandrite Savvas, and the late Hegumen of the Monastery Archimandrite Kallistos Dourvas, along with the blessed monk Seraphim and the blessed nun Nectaria.
At the festal Divine Liturgy in this venerable Monastery, His Beatitude, our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilos III, presided, concelebrating with His Eminence Metropolitan Makarios of Ptolemais, His Eminence Archbishop Aristarchos of Constantine, and Hieromonks of the Holy Sepulchre Brotherhood, including the Elder Dragoman, Archimandrite Matthaios, Archimandrite Klaudios, and Archimandrite Christodoulos, along with the Head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Vassianos, among others. Also serving were Archdeacon Mark and Hierodeacon Prodromos. The chanting was led by the chief cantor, Deacon Eustathios.
Participating in the feast were monks of the Patriarchate together with faithful pilgrims from Jerusalem — Arabic-speaking, Greek-speaking, and Russian-speaking.
His Beatitude delivered the Sermon to those present as follows:
“By divine inclination thou becamest deified, a heavenly angel upon earth; for thou didst emulate the manner of life of John the Forerunner and of Elias, O all-blessed Onouphrios,” the sacred hymnographer exclaims.
Beloved brethren in Christ,
God-fearing Christians and pilgrims,
The grace of our Venerable Father Onouphrios has gathered us all here today in his Holy Monastery, named after him, and known as the “Field of the Potter,” which is also called the “Field of Blood” (cf. Matthew 27:7–8), that we may solemnly celebrate his all-holy memory.
The divine Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, making remembrance of all the saints, makes particular mention of the venerable and ascetic ones, “of whom the world was not worthy: they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Hebrews 11:38). Such a wanderer was our God-bearing Father Onouphrios, who, for sixty years, dwelt in the innermost parts of the desert, without beholding the face of any man.
According to the Synaxarion, the Venerable Onouphrios first lived the monastic life in a coenobium in Hermopolis of Thebes in Egypt.
Both the Prophet Elias the Thesbite and Saint John the Forerunner served as archetypes for all desert ascetics, and especially for the blessed Onouphrios, as the hymnographer clearly proclaims, saying: “By divine inclination thou becamest deified, a heavenly angel upon earth; for thou didst emulate the life of John and Elias, O all-blessed Onouphrios.”
Our Father Onouphrios emulated the way of life of Elias and John — that is, their eremitic and ascetic path — for the ultimate aim of the ascetic and monastic life is union with God, in total renunciation of the earthly life of this present age. This same truth is also taught by Saint Seraphim of Sarov, who saith: “The true goal of the Christian life is the acquisition of the Holy Spirit through life in Christ.” And the Lord saith: “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).
Commenting on this divine saying, Zigavenos writes: “Let him deny his own will — that is, the love of pleasure and the love of life — or let him not spare his own body, though it be afflicted and tormented, but rather expose it to perils.” And more simply put: “Let him deny his own will—meaning, the will of pleasure and of carnal attachment—and let him disregard the care and concern for his own afflicted and tormented body, as one given over to dangers.”
Precisely this exhortation of our Lord Jesus Christ — which presupposes free will, readiness, and firm resolve in this choice — was fully lived out in both deed and contemplation by the faithful disciple and follower of Christ, the God-bearing Onouphrios.
Let us also hear his hymnographer, who declares: “Thou didst renounce all sensual pleasure, subduing thy body, O divinely wise one, mortifying the senses by labours of self-restraint and hardship, with patience amid temptations and endurance of circumstances; and for these things thou hast received endless delight, unfading joy, and ineffable gladness.”
Noteworthy indeed is the fact that Onouphrios, the companion of angels, bore with full awareness and spiritual sensitivity both the renunciation of fleshly desires and the struggles — that is, the assaults of demons — which brought him much affliction. He did so, ever mindful of the words of the wise Solomon: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). Moreover, the wondrous Onouphrios gave heed to the words of the Psalmist: “O love the Lord, all ye His saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer” (Psalm 31:23); and elsewhere: “For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved forever” (Psalm 37:28).
This testimony of the Psalmist is confirmed most vividly by the hymnographer, who saith: “Thou wast wholly united unto God, O thrice-blessed one, by love divine; thou didst partake of His Kingdom, of the delight of His glory, of the stream of life, of the festal dance of the righteous, and of everlasting joy, O Onouphrios.”
Truly, the thrice-blessed Onouphrios did pass into the Kingdom of God, through the keeping of the divine commandments — that is, through his love toward God “out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned” (1 Timothy 1:5).
And his union with God, the ever-memorable Onouphrios attained in Christ, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, as Saint Cyril of Alexandria teaches: “We approach unto Him [i.e., God] through the Son and the ordinances established by Him — namely, the Evangelical commandments — which themselves bear the character of spiritual union. For we are united to God in the Holy Spirit and become partakers of His divine nature in abundance.”
To this very participation in the divine nature — that is, to this union with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit — we too, beloved brethren, who now celebrate the sacred memory of our Venerable Father Onouphrios, are called. For our Holy Church sets him forth as a model for imitation.
Thus, as we have said, our God-bearing Father Onouphrios had as his examples the God-seeing and righteous saints Elias the Thesbite and John the Forerunner; and he also had as his protection and intercessor the Most Holy Theotokos Mary, who intercedes with her Son and God, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Wherefore, let us also cry aloud with the hymnographer, saying: “As a luminous cloud, thou bearest in thine arms the Christ, the Sun beyond all being, O Mother; by Him do thou illumine the darkness of passions in my soul, shining forth the radiance of dispassion, O God-bearer.”
Amen. Many blessed and peaceful years!
After the Dismissal, a memorial service was held in the cemetery for the repose of the nun Seraphima, who fell asleep in the Lord twelve years ago. A procession then took place to the tomb of the founder of the Monastery, monk Kyrillos, and to that of Patriarch Iouvenalios, where the Prayer for the First Fruits was also read.
Following the Dismissal, the reverend nun Paisia, who has diligently maintained the Monastery in a state of beauty and continues to restore it, offered generous refreshments of hospitality to His Beatitude, his entourage, and the gathered faithful.
From the Chief Secretariat
Source: Patriarchate of Jerusalem
