Phorbinus of Egypt is venerated as an ascetic father of the Egyptian desert, commemorated by the Orthodox Church on April 5. He is remembered together with Saints Theonas and Symeon (Simeon) of Egypt, with whom he forms a fixed trio in the synaxarion; in the Greek tradition the three are commemorated on April 4.
Almost nothing of his individual life is preserved. The surviving sources record only his name, his identification as one of the Egyptian ascetics, and his place among the monastic fathers of the 4th century, situating him within the wider Desert Father movement that flourished in Egypt during that period. The Orthodox Church in America's synaxarion notes that no further information about him is available.
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A Commemoration Without a Vita
Phorbinus belongs to the large body of early Egyptian ascetics whose names the Church has preserved in its calendar even where no biographical narrative survives. He is listed only as part of a grouped commemoration alongside Theonas and Symeon, and the standard Orthodox reference sources supply no account of his birth, monastic formation, ascetic labors, repose, or relics.
By the dating given in those sources he is assigned to the 4th century, the era in which Egyptian monasticism reached its first great flowering in the deserts of Nitria, Scetis, and the Thebaid. While no source connects Phorbinus to a particular monastery, teacher, or recorded event, his memory is honored as one of the many desert fathers of that age whose lives were known to their contemporaries but not written down.
His companions & kin
Egyptian ascetics commemorated together with Phorbinus on April 5 (April 4 in Greek usage).
Saints Theonas and Symeon of Egypt
Sources: OCA Synaxarion (oca.org), Lives of the Saints
