Shenoute
d.451. Abbot and Sahidic scholar. About 388 he succeeded his uncle, Pgol, who about 350 had established an important cenobitic community, and White Monastery, based on the Rule of Pachomius,* near Sohag, some fifty miles downstream from Nag Hammadi.* Several accounts of his life remain, the oldest by his pupil and successor Besa, which describe his severe temperament and organizational abilities. Extant also is a considerable volume of expository epistles and sermons, nearly half unpublished. Shenoute was present at the Council of Ephesus* (431)-he dates his ministry from some forty-three years earlier-and influential on the deliberations of Chalcedon (451), having aided the church against both Gnosticism* and Monophysitism.*