He was one of the most venerated ascetics of the Nitrian Desert, and Athanasius of Alexandria mentions him in his life of Anthony the Great.

Pushed into marriage by his family at the age of 20, he managed to persuade his bride to take a vow of chastity together with him by the authority of Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians.

He cooperated with Anthony and gathered his monks under his direct supervision, thus forming a monastery from sole hermits.

[citation needed] He died before Anthony the Great from whom there is a surviving epistle written to him,[7] that is, before the year 365, for the latter asserted that he "saw the soul of Amoun borne by angels to heaven.

There are generally seventeen or nineteen Rules of Asceticism (κεφάλαια) ascribed to him; the Greek original exists in manuscript;[9] they were published in the Latin version of Gerardus Vossius.