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Originally, Saint Eugenios was a pearl-fisher from the island Clysma or Kolzum near Suez in Egypt. After having worked for 25 years, he joined the monastery of [[Pachomius the Great]] in Upper Egypt, where he worked as a baker. He is reported to have possessed spiritual gifts and worked miracles[[miracle]]s, and drawn some following from among the [[monk]]s.

About 70 monks accompanied him when he left Egypt for Mesopotamia, where he founded a monastery on [[w:Mount Izla|Mount Izla]] above the city of [[w:Nusaybin|Nisibis]]. The location was well chosen, for Nisibis lay on the eastern edge of the Roman Empire, which had just embraced [[Introduction to Orthodox Christianity|Christianity]] as the official religion. The rest of Mesopotamia was under Sassanid rule, which tried to revive the [[w:Zoroastrian|Zoroastrian]] religion and occasionally persecuted the Christian population.

The location was well chosen<blockquote>After leaving the [[w:Thebaid|Thebaid]] Awgin retired to Syria, for Nisibis lay and finally settled on Mount Izla, near the eastern edge city of the Roman EmpireNisibis, which had just embraced where [[Introduction to Orthodox ChristianityJacob of Nisibis|ChristianityJacob]] as , the official religion. The rest founder of Mesopotamia was under Sassanid rule, which tried to revive the [[w:ZoroastrianSchool of Nisibis|ZoroastrianSchool of Nisibis]] religion , was then bishop. This was in A.D. 325. Following Awgin's example, all subsequent monastic establishments in Mesopotamia settled in the rocky hills, just as the Egyptian ones went into the desert. On Izla Awgin gathered three hundred and fifty followers, and this community became the parent and metropolis of a monastic life which spread over Mesopotamia, Armenia and occasionally persecuted Persia. [[Jacob of Nisibis]] greatly encouraged this outburst of monasticism, himself building a church for the Christian populationuse of the dwellers of Mount Izla.<ref>De Lacy O'Leary. ''[http://books.google.ca/books?id=d1ySpviy62YC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false The Syriac Church and Fathers].'' Gorgias Reprint Series, Volume 23. Gorgias Press LLC, 2002. p.63.</ref></blockquote>