He is most famous for his torture at the hands of the Chalcedonian Byzantines, for his witness of the Arab invasion of Egypt, and for having built the monastery that carries his name in Mount Qalamoun.
While at the Monastery of Saint Macarius, a Byzantine imperial envoy attempted to convince the desert monks to confess the Chalcedonian faith.
Samuel became zealous and seized the imperial letter and rent it into pieces saying "Excommunicated is this tome and everyone who believes in it, and cursed is everyone who might change the Orthodox faith of our Holy Fathers."
Seized with anger, the envoy ordered Samuel to be beaten with pins and to be hanged up by his arms, and that his face be smitten.
On hearing this, the Cyrus was filled with fury against the saint, and signed to the soldiers to strike him dead, but the ruler of Faiyum delivered him from their hands.
[1] After leaving Scetes, Samuel dwelt in Mount Qalamoun, currently in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Beni Suef.
Eventually, after healing his master's son who was on the verge of death, he was released and permitted to return to Mount Qalamoun.
His father's concerns are quelled after an angel reassures him; Silas builds a church and ordains his son a deacon of it.
When a messenger of Cyrus arrives at Scetis, Samuel asks if he can see the copy of the "Tome of Leo", then tears it to shreds.
Marauding Libyan nomads, returning from a pilgrimage, find him and seize him in the church, but the camel they put him on refuses to move, inspired by God to be obstinate.
God grants Samuel the power to perform miracles, and the Berbers wisely release him with a gift of several fine camels.