(CE:2028b-2029a) PSHOI, SAINT, or Bishoi or Peter of , a monk who founded a (feast day: 5 Amshir). Pshoi was a native of Basunah, a village in the district of Akhmim. He was a shepherd, but left this vocation to join Apa Pjol, maternal uncle of Apa Shenute, on the mountain of Atrib (called Psoou in the Life of Shenute) to the west of the present town of Suhaj. Apa Pjol clothed him in the monastic habit at the same time as his nephew Shenute, then aged seven years. They constructed three cells and a church to which they gave the name of al-Raghamah, which appears to mean "of the mountain." All three went to Asyut to visit JOHN COLOBOS and heard a heavenly voice say, "Today I have chosen you, Shenute, as head and leader of all the monks." This prophecy was an anachronism, for John Colobos did not go to Asyut, and JOHN OF LYCOPOLIS had long been dead. Apa Pshoi was buried by Apa Shenute, and his body is in the monastery (no doubt DAYR ANBA BISHOI, Suhaj, or the Red Monastery,) he had founded. Pshoi was celebrated at Dayr Anba Shinuah (the ), as the typika attest (Leiden, Insinger 38c-d; Vienna, State Library K9731; Venice, Biblioteca Naniana, Nani XIX). The SYNAXARION of the in its recension from Upper devotes a fairly long notice to him. BIBLIOGRAPHY Amélineau, E. Monuments pour servir à l'histoire de l'Egypte chrétienne. Mémoires de la Mission archéologique française du Caire 4. Paris, 1886-1888. Leipoldt, I. Sinuthii archimandritae vita et opera omnia. CSCO 41 (text), Paris, 1906; 129 (transl.), Paris, 1951. Pleyte, W., and P. A. A. Boeser, eds. Manuscrits coptes du Musée d'antiquités des Pays-Bas à Leide. Leiden, 1897.

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