Skip to main content
There's a Saint for That! Search

St. Shenoute

Feast varies

Patron of

About

Shenoute of Atripe, also called Shenoute the Great or Shenoute the Archimandrite, was an Egyptian saint and the abbot of the White Monastery in Upper Egypt. He is considered a saint by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and is one of the most renowned saints of the Coptic Orthodox Church, a towering figure of Coptic monasticism whose influence shaped Egyptian Christianity for centuries.

As abbot, Shenoute governed thousands of monks and nuns, organizing the White Monastery into a vast community of prayer, labor, and worship. He was a fierce defender of the poor and of the orthodox faith, accompanying his monks to the Council of Ephesus in 431 and speaking boldly against pagan survivals and injustice. He wrote extensively in Coptic, and his sermons, letters, and rules preserve some of the richest Christian literature of Egypt. He is honored as a patron of monks, abbots, and contemplatives.

monks, monk, monastic, monasticism, monastic life, monasteries, religious brothers, cloistered monks, monastic orders, monks life, brothers, hermits, hermit, hermitage, solitary religious, hermitic life, anchorites, anchoresses, desert fathers, solitary life, religious hermits, eremitic life, contemplatives, contemplative life, contemplative, contemplative prayer, contemplative orders, meditation, prayerful life, religious life, contemplative religious, contemplative spirituality, inner life, the poor, poor, the poor people, poverty, poor people, the impoverished, the needy, the destitute, the less fortunate, the underprivileged, the poor and needy, church reform, reforming the church, church renewal, ecclesiastical reform, renewing the church, church changes, church improvement, church revitalization

Suggested prayer

O God, who made your abbot Shenoute a shepherd of monks and a fearless voice for the poor, grant through his intercession that contemplatives may persevere in prayer and that your Church may be renewed in holiness. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sources

Other saints to pray to

For monks

For hermits