Pishoy

Pshoi, Paisius the Great, as he has been known in Europe since the 5th century AD, Bishoy, Bishūy, Bishāy or Bishiyyah, as his name is pronounced in Arabic (Coptic: Abba Pšoi / Pišoi; Greek: Ὅσιος Παΐσιος ὁ Μέγας; 320 – 417 AD), known in the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria as the Star of the Desert and the Beloved of our Good Savior, was a Coptic Desert Father. He is said to have seen Jesus, and been bodily preserved to the present day via incorruptibility at the Monastery of Saint Bishoy in the Nitrian Desert, Egypt. He is venerated by the Oriental Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church, and is known in the latter under the Greek version of his name, Paisios.

== Life == Bishoy was born in 320 AD in the village of Shansa (Shensha or Shesna), currently in the Egyptian governorate of Al Minufiyah. Younger to six other brothers, he was weak and frail. His mother saw an angel in a vision asking her to give God one of her children, and pointed at Bishoy. When the mother tried to offer one of her stronger children, the angel insisted that Bishoy was the chosen one.