Venerable Psoi of Egypt

Monastic Life

The Eastern Orthodox synaxarion presents Psoi as a disciple of Saint Pachomius the Great, the founder of cenobitic monasticism, and places his ascetic labours in the desert of Sketis during the fourth century. After settling in the Nitrian desert near the cell of Saint Macarius the Great, he drew visitors from various places who came seeking his instruction.

The parallel Coptic tradition, which venerates the same desert father, records additional details of his early formation and extreme asceticism and names a different teacher; the Eastern Orthodox account followed here names Pachomius the Great.

Traditional Accounts

The synaxarion relates that when his mother was concerned about his frailty, an angel answered with the words of Scripture, 'The power of God is made perfect in weakness.' By tradition Psoi is said to have beheld Christ on several occasions, including encounters in which he washed Christ's feet and carried Him, in the guise of a cripple, upon his shoulders.

A further tradition holds that a tamarisk tree grew at the monastery from the staff of Saint Ephraim the Syrian; whether the two saints actually met is debated.

Relics & Shrines

Psoi's relics are venerated incorrupt in the monasteries of the desert of Sketis. The synaxarion places them in the monastery of Al-Sirian (Deir al-Surian), within a fifth-century church on the left side of the iconostasis.