Born 11 November 1892 in Abou Shehata, Matai district, El‑Menya governorate, Abdel Messih repeatedly sought monastic life against familial resistance and spent time at the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor on el‑Qalamun mountain before joining the Monastery of Saint Macarius in Scetes (Wadi El‑Natrun). Later he moved to El‑Manahra village in Matai. Ecclesiastical recognition of his holiness is recorded by Pope Cyril VI of Alexandria. He died on Easter Sunday morning, 14 April 1963 (6 Parmouti 1669 A.M.).
The sources do not provide a detailed physical description. Contextually he would have appeared as a Coptic monk and priest—clad in monastic habit and clerical dress appropriate to mid‑20th century Coptic monasticism, living the life of a hermit/ascetic in monastery and village settings—but no direct contemporary descriptions of his height, facial features, or specific garments are supplied in the cited texts.
Sources ascribe to him ecclesiastical charisms rather than folkloric supernatural powers: he is reported to have had gifts of prescience (foreknowledge of events), discerning of spirits (spiritual discernment), and healing the sick. He is also recorded as notable for humility, strict ascetic practice, and extraordinary charity—regularly giving what he received to the needy. These features are presented within Coptic hagiography as marks of personal sanctity.
Weaknesses
- othernone recorded
Wards
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Abadiu of Antinoe
Abadiu of Antinoe was a fourth‑century bishop of Antinoe (Antinoopolis, in Roman Egypt) commemorated as a martyr and saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church, with a feast day on 26 December. Sources record that he was killed during a theological dispute with Arian opponents and reference him in collections of Egyptian martyrs.
Abaskhiron the Soldier
A Coptic Orthodox martyr venerated for refusing imperial idolatry during the Diocletian persecution; reputedly healed by the Archangel Michael, preserved in monastery relics, and commemorated on 14 June (7 Paoni).
Anba George (Saint George of Assiut)
Anba George is a Coptic Orthodox bishop venerated as a saint and martyr in Coptic hagiographical and liturgical tradition. Associated with Assiut in Upper Egypt and the Monastery of St. George, his life is commemorated in Synaxarium-type records; hagiography recounts his leadership of communal fasting and prayer and his subsequent arrest and martyrdom in the 12th century.
Arsenius the Great
Arsenius the Great (c. 350/354–c. 445/450) was a Roman-born imperial tutor who renounced court life to become an anchorite among the Desert Fathers in Egypt. Venerated as a saint in Eastern Orthodox, Coptic, and Roman Catholic traditions, he is remembered for extreme humility, prolonged solitude, silence, copious tears of devotion, and brief monastic writings and sayings preserved in the Apophthegmata Patrum and other collections.
Bashnouna
Bashnouna is a Coptic Christian monk venerated as a saint and martyr in the Coptic Orthodox tradition. According to hagiographical accounts recorded in the Coptic Synaxarion and secondary summaries, he was a monk of the Monastery of Saint Macarius in Scetes, arrested during the Fatimid caliphate of al-'Āḍid, refused to convert to Islam, and was burned alive on 24 Pashons (19 May 1164). His relics are reported buried at the Church of Saint Sergius in Cairo and he is commemorated liturgically on that date.
Bishop Karas (Sorial Ayad Sorial)
Bishop Karas (born Sorial Ayad Sorial, 1955–2002) was a Coptic Orthodox monk, abbot, and the first bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United States to head its first monastery outside Egypt. He is documented as a historical ecclesiastical figure known for monastic leadership, pastoral care, and ascetic practice.
Abatur
Abatur is an uthra (celestial emanation) in Mandaeism described as the 'father of the Uthras' and called the Ancient (ʿattīqā). He resides on the boundary between the World of Light and lower regions, functions as a judge who weighs souls (Abatur Muzania), and supplies instructions and materials to the demiurgic uthra Ptahil in accounts from the Diwan (Scroll) of Abatur.
Abatwa (Twa / Batwa)
Abatwa (also recorded as Twa, Batwa, Mutwa; singular forms Barhwa or Murhwa in some transcriptions) are indigenous hunter‑gatherer peoples of the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, historically identified as some of the earliest inhabitants of the area. The available sources treat them as human ethnic groups whose livelihoods, lands, and populations have been severely affected by conservation policies and modern violence.
Abcán (Abhcán)
Abcán (modern spelling Abhcán) is a named dwarf poet and musician of the Tuatha Dé Danann in Irish myth. He appears in a small number of narratives as a musician whose art has soporific power and as the ferryman who brings the goddess Ruad from the Otherworld to the human world.
Abderus
Abderus (Ancient Greek: Ἄβδηρος, romanized Ábdēros) is a mortal heroic figure in Greek myth closely associated with Heracles, remembered as the youth left in charge of the Mares of Diomedes who was killed by them. He functions as an eponymous local/divine-hero ancestor for the city of Abdera and received funerary commemoration and athletic agones at his tomb.
Abdiel
Abdiel (Hebrew עֲבְדִּיאֵל) is primarily a theophoric Hebrew personal name meaning "servant of El/servant of God," attested once in the Hebrew Bible (1 Chronicles 5:15). In later literature—most notably John Milton's Paradise Lost—Abdiel is reimagined as a faithful seraph who opposes Satan's revolt. The provided sources do not treat Abdiel as an autonomous folkloric spirit type or record rituals or wards associated with the name.
Abdul Qadir Gilani
A historical 11th–12th century Hanbali jurist, preacher, and Sufi shaykh who became the eponym and principal early figure of the Qadiriyya tariqa; venerated in Sunni Sufi traditions as an Awliya (saint) and often given exalted hagiographical ranks such as Muḥi al‑Dīn and Ghawth.
Community Record
- [1]Abdel Messih El-Makari. Wikipedia, article 'Abdel Messih El-Makari'.wiki
- [2]Abdel Messih El-Makari (Wikidata). Wikidata entry Q4664764 for Abdel Messih El-Makari.other
- [3]Abouna Abdel Messih El-Makari, Coptic Saint and Hermit | Citydesert. Citydesert blog post 'Abouna Abdel Messih El-Makari, Coptic Saint and Hermit' (Jan 2014).folk
- [4]January 2014 | Citydesert | Page 4. Citydesert archive page referencing the same material.folk