4th–5th century
Venerable Agathon of Egypt
An ascetic of the Egyptian desert, known for his discernment and humility, whose instructive sayings are preserved in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
Biography
Agathon was a desert ascetic known for his discernment, as recorded in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers.
According to one story, some monks wanted to test whether he could be provoked to anger, and accused him of being a fornicator, proud, a chatterer, and a slanderer; to each charge Agathon calmly answered "yes". But when they called him a heretic, he firmly denied it, explaining that he accepted the other insults because they benefited his soul, whereas heresy means separation from God.
It is also said that when an elder called the still-young Agathon "Abba", and another monk asked why so soon, the elder replied that it was not he who had made him "Abba", but Agathon's way of life. Agathon died in peace.