السيرة
His monastic life:
He was born in the city of Tanis, on an island in Lake Manzala, of pious, God-fearing parents who loved almsgiving and generosity. His heart burned with love for the monastic life, that he might consecrate all his powers to worship. When he reached thirty-five years of age he was ordained a priest, and he devoted himself to the church, serving the people of God with all love; yet his heart remained ablaze with the longing for the contemplative life and the desire for monasticism.
God granted him his heart's request, and he set out from the city to Mareotis, and from there to Scetis, where he became a disciple of a community of holy fathers, Abram and Georgi. He remained there three years, and all came to love him and recognized the strength of his spirit and his virtues. Abba Yoannis, hegumen of Scetis, together with a company of saints, prayed over him for three consecutive days and clothed him in the angelic Schema (the eskim), so that he labored all the more in his ascetic life, with fasting and prayer without ceasing.
His departure to Sakha:
He longed to imitate Saint Simeon the Stylite, so he consulted the fathers of the desert, who approved his resolve and prayed for him; and he set out from the desert to the region of Sakha, to a small church. There the believers built him a dwelling like a pillar, which he ascended.
With his heart enlarged in love and his pure soul, he served the people through his prayers and counsels, and God granted him the gift of working signs, of which we recount the following:
1. In his days there appeared a man possessed of an obstinate demon who led people astray; he would sit in the church surrounded by the people, who carried palm fronds and tree branches. The saint summoned him, prayed over him, and cast the demon out of him.
2. A woman claimed that Saint Mina was speaking to her, and she asked the people to dig a well in the name of Saint Mina so that everyone who bathed in it would be cured of his illness. The saint prayed over the woman and the evil spirit came out, and then the believers filled in the well.
3. A man claimed that he cast out demons, for he would beat those afflicted with unclean spirits so that they fell silent for a time, claiming that he had driven the evil spirits out of them. The saint summoned him to come, but he did not obey; rather, he persisted in his tyranny and the pride of his heart. One day, as the governor was passing by him surrounded by a group of those dominated by evil spirits, they began to insult the governor and revile him. The governor summoned this man and ordered him to be tortured until he died. Thus he received the recompense of the pride of his heart and his disobedience.
4. Demons appeared to Saint Agathon the Stylite in the form of angels, chanting to him and blessing him; he perceived their deceit, made the sign of the Cross over them, and they fled vanquished.
This saint lived one hundred years: he spent 35 years in the world before the priesthood, five years as a priest in Tanis, 10 years in the desert of Scetis, and 50 years in his pillar-dwelling. At last, when he fell ill, many gathered around him and he preached to them, then he prayed and gave up his spirit amid the tears of many.
The Church celebrates his feast on the 14th of the month of Tut