St. Sisoes

St. Sisoes the Great was an Egyptian Desert Father of the fourth and fifth centuries, who died around 429. After the death of St. Anthony the Great, Sisoes withdrew to the very mountain in the inner desert where Anthony had lived, seeking still greater solitude, and there he spent some sixty years in prayer, fasting, and labor, a spiritual heir of the founder of monasticism.

He was renowned for his profound humility and the gift of tears, considering himself, even after a lifetime of holiness, as one who had not yet begun to repent. A celebrated saying recounts that as he lay dying, his face shone like the sun, and he spoke with unseen visitors — angels and prophets who had come for his soul — still pleading for more time to do penance. He is venerated as a saint, and in Christian art he is often shown gazing upon a tomb in humble meditation on death and eternity.