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[[File:Sisoes-b4-tomb-of-alexander metora.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Saint Sisoes Sisoës the Great before the tomb of Alexander the Great (16th c., [[Meteora|Meteora Monastery]]). A , signifying the remembrance of death (''[[w:Memento mori|Memento mori]]'' ).<ref group="note">Concerning the [[icon]] of St. Sisoës staring over the dead bones of Alexander the Great, we do not know for sure if this depicts a historical event. We do not have a historical account of what the icon describes until its depiction first starts appearing in monasteries in Greece following the [[Fall of Constantinople]] in 1453. The most famous examples come from the Holy Trinity Monastery and [[Varlaam Monastery (remembrance Meteora)|Varlaam Monastery]] at [[Meteora]], and at [[Monasteries of Daphni, Hosios Loukas and Nea Moni of Chios|Hosios Loukas]]. It is not implausible that the depiction of Sisoës lamenting over the tomb of Alexander is a historical event lost to us in document form but survives only in iconography. In many ways, the iconographic tradition is just as reliable historically as is a written document, since Sisoës was a contemporary of deaththe events surrounding Emperor's [[Theodosius the Great (emperor)|Theodosius]]' series of decrees outlawing the worship of pagan gods, among whom Alexander was to the fore. In Alexandria, the Christians rioted and [[w:Serapeum#Destruction_of_the_Alexandrian_Serapeum|destroyed the Serapeum]], the leading pagan temple. This is the time that Alexander's remains finally disappear from history.</ref>]]

Saint '''Sisoes Sisoës the Great''', also '''Sisoi the Great''', '''Sisoy the Great''', '''Sisoes of Sceté''' or '''Shishoy''' (†429 AD) <ref group="note">This saint must not be confounded with two other Sisoës, who lived in the same age:<br>:* One, surnamed the Theban (from the [[w:Thebaid|Thebaid]]), lived at Calamon, in the territory of Arsinoe. :* Another had his cell at Petra.</ref> was a [[hermit|solitary]] [[monk]], pursuing [[asceticism]] in the Egyptian [[Desert Fathers|desert]] in a cave sanctified by the prayerful labors of his predecessor, St [[Anthony the Great]]. For his sixty years of labor in the desert, St Sisoes Sisoës attained to sublime spiritual purity and he was granted the gift of [[Wonderworker|wonderworking]], so that by his [[prayer]]s he once restored a dead child back to life. His feast day is observed on [[July 6]] / July 19.<ref group="note">In some Latin Calendars his feast day was held on July 4.</ref><ref group="note">Patristic scholar and Roman Catholic theologian [[w:Jean-Baptiste Cotelier|Cotelerius]] (1629-1686) bestowed much space on abbat Sisoë in his ''Ecclesiæ Græcæ Monumenta,'' t. i. 662-678.</ref>

Extremely strict with himself, Abba Sisoes ==Life==Saint Sisoës was very merciful and compassionate to othersan Egyptian by birth. Having withdrawn the world from his youth, and he received everyone with love. To those who visited him, retired to the saint first desert of all always taught [[humilityw:Scetis|Sceté]], and lived some time under the direction of abbot Hor. When one The desire of the monks asked how he might attain to finding a constant remembrance of God, St Sisoes remarked, "That is no great thing, my son, but it is a great thing to regard yourself as inferior to everyone else. This leads retreat yet more unfrequented induced him to cross the Nile and hide himself in the acquisition of humilitymountain where St." Asked by the monks whether one year is sufficient for [[repentanceAnthony the Great|Antony]] if a brother sins, Abba Sisoes said, "I trust in the mercy of God that if such a man repents with all his heart, then God will accept his repentance in three daysdied some time before."

When St Sisoes lay upon his deathbedExtremely strict with himself, the disciples surrounding the [[Elder]] saw that his face shone like the sun. They asked the dying man what he saw. Abba Sisoes replied that he saw St [[Anthony the Great|Anthony]], the [[Prophet]]s, Sisoës was very merciful and the [[Apostles]]. His face increased in brightnesscompassionate to others, and he spoke received everyone with someonelove. The monks asked, "With whom are you speaking, Father?" He said that [[angels]] had come for reputation of his soulsanctity became so illustrious as to merit the full confidence of all the neighbouring solitaries. Some even came a great distance to be guided in the interior ways of perfection; and, and in spite of the pains he took he was entreating them forced to give him a little more time for repentance. The monks said, "You have no need for repentance, Father" St Sisoes said with great humilitysubmit his love of silence and retreat, "I do not think that I have even begun to repentthe greater duty of charity."

To those who visited him, the saint first of all always taught [[humility]], as the most necessary virtue. When one of the monks asked how he might attain to a constant remembrance of God, St Sisoës remarked, ''"That is no great thing, my son, but it is a great thing to regard yourself as inferior to everyone else. This leads to the acquisition of humility."'' Thus, while he never lost sight of the divine presence, it was ever accompanied with the consciousness of his own nothingness and misery. Asked by the monks whether one year is sufficient for [[repentance]] if a brother sins, Abba Sisoës said, ''"I trust in the mercy of God that if such a man repents with all his heart, then God will accept his repentance in three days."'' He often passed two days without eating, and was so rapt in God that he forgot his food, so that it was necessary for his disciple Abraham to remind him that it was time to break his [[fast]].  His [[prayer]] was so fervent that it often passed into ecstacy, his heart becoming inflamed with divine love. It was a maxim with him, that a solitary ought not to choose the manual labour which is most pleasing to him. His ordinary work was making baskets. He was tempted one day as he was selling them, to anger; instantly he threw the baskets away and ran off. By efforts like these to command his temper he acquired a meekness which nothing could disturb.  His zeal against vice was without bitterness; and when his monks fell into faults, far from affecting astonishment or the language of reproach, he helped them to rise again with a tenderness truly paternal. Some [[Arianism|Arians]] had the impudence to come to his mount, and utter their heresy before his disciples. The saint, instead of an answer, desired one of the monks to read St. Athanasius’s treatise against Arianism, which at once stopped their mouths and confounded them. He then dismissed them with his usual good temper. The saint said one time, ''“I am now thirty years praying daily that my Lord Jesus may preserve me from saying an idle word, and yet I am always relapsing.”'' Thus he was singularly observant of the times of retirement and silence, and kept his cell constantly locked to avoid interruption, and always gave his answers to those who asked his advice in the fewest words.  ===Death===When St Sisoës lay upon his deathbed, the disciples surrounding the [[Elder]] saw that his face shone like the sun. They asked the dying man what he saw. Abba Sisoës replied that he saw St [[Anthony the Great|Anthony]], the [[Prophet]]s, and the [[Apostles]]. His face increased in brightness, and he spoke with someone. The monks asked, "With whom are you speaking, Father?" He said that [[angels]] had come for his soul, and he was entreating them to give him a little more time for repentance. The monks said, "You have no need for repentance, Father" St Sisoës said with great humility, "I do not think that I have even begun to repent." After these words the face of the holy abba shone so brightly that the brethren were not able to look upon him. St Sisoes Sisoës told them that he saw the [[Lord]] Himself. Then there was a flash like lightning, and a fragrant odor, and Abba Sisoes Sisoës departed to the Heavenly Kingdom.

you were shown to be a wonder-worker, our God-bearing Father SisoesSisoës.<br>

O SisoesSisoës, emulator of the angels,<br>