# Saint Ammoe

Source: https://coptic-lore-forge.lovable.app/wiki/saint-ammoe — Coptic Orthodox Wiki (updated 2026-10-02)

Saint Ammoe was a fourth-century spiritual father at Scete who guided Saint John the Short and Saint Bishoi, and was remembered for his strict discipline.[^1]

## Life at Scete

Saint Ammoe was a spiritual father at Scete and the guide of both Saint John the Short and Saint Bishoi. The account in *Coptic Church Review* places John's arrival at Scete and the beginning of his discipleship under Ammoe around AD 357.[^1]

## Spiritual guidance

The account describes Ammoe as a stern teacher and states that most incidents concerning him in the *Apophthegmata Patrum* reflect his strict treatment of disciples. He did not permit them to walk beside him on the way to church, seeking to prevent idle conversation from displacing meditation. For the same reason, he required them to leave after he had answered their questions about their thoughts.[^2]

On one occasion, Ammoe dismissed John and advised him to go elsewhere. John remained outside the door of his cell for seven days, after which, according to the narrative, Ammoe recognized his disciple's sanctity.[^2]

## Illness and death

Five years after John's arrival in the desert, Ammoe developed a severe lung disease and became bedridden for twelve years. During this period he entrusted John with the care of his cell and sometimes directed visitors to him for answers to their questions.[^3]

John attended his teacher through prolonged bouts of coughing, patiently enduring the difficult conditions without receiving a kind word from him. Near death, Ammoe took John's hand and commended him to the other elders, saying, “This is an angel, and not a man.”[^3]

The account dates Ammoe's death to approximately AD 374. Before dying, he instructed John to settle where John had planted a tree, describing it as a sign of the souls who would be saved through his disciple in that place.[^4]

After Ammoe's death, John followed this instruction and made a small cave beside the tree, where he devoted himself to strict asceticism and ceaseless prayer.[^5]

## Sources
[^1]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)
[^2]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)
[^3]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)
[^4]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)
[^5]: Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 23)