Zeno the Prophet
{{Short description|5th century Palestinian abbot}}
{{Infobox saint
| honorific_prefix= Saint
| name = Zeno the Prophet
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| image =
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| titles = Desert Father
Venerable Wonderworker
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Egypt
| residence = Gaza
| death_date = ca. 451 AD
| death_place = Gaza
| venerated_in = Eastern Orthodox Church
| canonized_date =
| major_shrine =
| feast_day = 19 June
| attributes =
| patronage =
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| influences = Silvanus of Gaza
| influenced = Peter the Iberian
| tradition =
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}}
Zeno the Prophet (died ca. 451 AD), also known as Zeno the Wonderworker was an Egyptian monk and a Desert Father. He was disciple of the hermit Silvanus of Gaza, became the spiritual guide of the famous Georgian Peter the Iberian and is venerated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church on 19 June.{{Cite web |title=Life and Sayings of Holy Abba Zeno the Wonderworker |url=https://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2018/06/life-and-sayings-of-holy-abba-zeno.html |access-date=2024-08-14 |language=en}}
Biography
Zeno first appears as a disciple in the community of Silvanus of Gaza who moved from Egypt via the Sinai to Gaza. Not much is known from his early period of life in Scetis and most relations relate to his later life in Palestine though he remained in connection with Egypt as monks from there sought him out for advice.{{harvnb|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky |2006 |pp=18–19}}.
Many saw him as a spiritual teacher and among his disciples were Peter the Iberian and his companion John the Prophet whom he met in Jerusalem. Zeno, who roamed frequently to various monastic centres, stayed many times in Jerusalem where he worked miracles and gave spiritual direction.
Around 440, he settled in Kefar Shearta, today identified with Horvat Se'orah (Arabic: Khirbet Se'arta), north of Nahal Besor.{{harvnb|Kofsky|Bitton-Ashkelony |2004 |p=72}}. Towards the end of his life, he lived for a year in utter seclusion as a hermit before dying as seems to have been customary for Palestinian monasticism (see Abba Isaiah and Barsanuphius).{{harvnb|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky |2006 |p=20}}. Zeno's death seems to have occurred around the year 451.{{harvnb|Chryssavgis|2017|p=160}}.
Legacy
Most of Zeno's life is known from what John Rufus' eighth chapter of Plerophoriae which he dedicated to him as well as from Rufus' Life of Peter the Iberian. Further information about him is found in the Apophthegmata where he is mentioned as an outstanding example of the eremitic ideal and someone who never settled down; as well as in the apologetic work Theophrastus by Aeneas of Gaza.{{harvnb|Bitton-Ashkelony|Kofsky |2006 |p=19}}.
Zeno is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church on June 19.Great Synaxaristes: {{in lang|el}} [http://www.synaxarion.gr/gr/sid/3897/sxsaintinfo.aspx Ὁ Ὅσιος Ζήνων]. 19 ΙΟΥΝΙΟΥ. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.[http://orthochristian.com/calendar/20170619.html June 19/July 2]. Orthodox Calendar (PRAVOSLAVIE.RU).[http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/index.php?year=2017&today=2&month=7&trp=0&tzo=-4 July 2 / June 19]. HOLY TRINITY RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (A parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow).
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book |last1=Bitton-Ashkelony |first1=Brouria |last2=Kofsky |first2=Aryeh |title=The Monastic School of Gaza |date=February 2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789047408444 |pages=36–42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOx5DwAAQBAJ |access-date=12 November 2023}}
- {{cite book |last1=Chryssavgis |first1=John |title=John Climacus From the Egyptian Desert to the Sinaite Mountain |date=March 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781351925211 |page=160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=amhBDgAAQBAJ |access-date=12 November 2023}}
- {{cite book |last1=Kofsky |first1=Arieh |last2=Bitton-Ashkelony |first2=Bruria |title=Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity |date=2004 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004138681 |pages=76–77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lA9VwVwoyiAC |access-date=12 November 2023}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeno the Prophet}}
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death uncertain
Category:5th-century Christian monks