AlFarma is considered one of the most important centers of monasticism, and it had more than 5000 monks under the leadership of Anba Isodoros Al-Farmy (355-435 AD), who was a world-renowned theologian during the period in which Coptic monasticism influenced Europe.
It was mentioned in the history of the Coptic Church by Fr. Manasseh Youhanna that there were four brothers among the Farma monks who were called “tall” due to their height. The eldest was called Ammonius and he traveled with Pope Athanasius to Rome in 341 AD. The second brother was named Dioscorus, and Pope Theophilus ordained him as a bishop for the Oasis of Hermoles “Al-Achmonin”. As for the third brother, whose name is Youssab, and the fourth, whose name is Antimus, the Pope ordained them as priests in the Church of Alexandria.
It is also mentioned in the Synaxarium on the fourteenth day of Bashans that on this day Saint Epimachus was martyred, and this saint was born in Al-Farma.
