Saint Pishoy was born in 320 AD in Egypt. At the age of twenty, Pishoy went to the wilderness of Scetes and became a monk. Eventually he became the spiritual father of many monks who gathered around him. The Copts believe that Saint Pishoy saw Jesus a number of times in his cell (a small cubicle where he spend 6 days a week.)
One day the monks asked him to ask Jesus if they can also see Him. He promised to asked Jesus. Some time after that he said that Jesus visited him and said that on a certain Sunday He would come to the mountain so that the monks can see Him. On the specific Sunday all the monks rushed through the gate of the monastery to the mountain. At the gate there was an old man, begging every monk running past him to pick him and take him along so that he can also see Jesus.
Nobody stopped – all of them were in a hurry to go and to see Jesus. Saint Pishoy came out last, picked up the old man and start to carry him up the mountain. The man became very heavy and Saint Pishoy had to put him down. As he looked down, he saw nail marks in the old man’s feet. Immediately the old man disappeared. When Father Pishoy got to the top of the mountain the monks were angry with Saint Pishoy that Jesus was not there – as Saint Pishoy said it would be.
Then Saint Pishoy said: “He was here, but left. He was the old man at the gate.”
