St Anthony the Great
On January 17, we commemorate the venerable and God-bearing
Father Saint Anthony the Great.
Our venerable and God-bearing Father Saint Anthony the Great
was born into a wealthy family in upper Egypt about 254 AD. Also known
as Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, and Anthony the Anchorite,
he was a leader among the Desert Fathers, who were Christian monks in
the Egyptian desert in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. The Orthodox Church
celebrates his feast on January 17.
Life of St. Anthony
Most of what we know about the life of St Anthony is in the
Greek vita (Life of Antony) by Athanasius, circulated in Latin. Several
surviving homilies and epistles of varying authenticity provide scant
autobiographical detail.
Anthony
was born near Herakleopolis Magna in Upper Egypt in 251 to wealthy
parents. When he was eighteen years old, his parents died and left him
with the care of his unmarried sister. In 285, he decided to follow the
words of Jesus who had said: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what
you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven;
and come, follow Me." (Matthew 19:21). Anthony gave his wealth to the
poor and needy, and placed his sister with a group of Christian virgins,
a sort of proto-nunnery at the time.
The moniker "Father of Monasticism" is misleading, as
Christian monasticism was already being practiced in the deserts of
Egypt. Ascetics commonly retired to isolated locations on the outskirts
of cities. Anthony is notable for being one of the first ascetics to
attempt living in the desert proper, completely cut off from
civilization. His anchoritic (isolated) lifestyle was remarkably harsher
than his predecessors. By the 2nd century there were also famous
Christian ascetics, such as Saint Thecla. Saint Anthony decided to
follow this tradition and headed out into the alkaline desert region
called the Nitra in Latin (Wadi El Natrun today), about 95 km west of
Alexandria, some of the most rugged terrain of the Western Desert.
Also note that pagan ascetic hermits and loosely organized
cenobitic communities that the Hellenized Jewish philosopher Philo of
Alexandria described as the Therapeutae in the first century, were long
established in the harsh environments by the Lake Mareotis close to
Alexandria, and in other less-accessible regions. Philo understood: for
"this class of persons may be met with in many places, for both Greece
and barbarian countries want to enjoy whatever is perfectly good."
(Philo, De vita contemplativa, written c. 10)
According to Athanasius, the devil fought St Anthony by
afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women, which
he overcame by the power of prayer, providing a theme for Christian art.
After that, he moved to a tomb, where he resided and closed the door on
himself, depending on some local villagers who brought him food. When
the devil perceived his ascetic life and his intense worship, he was
envious and beat him mercilessly, leaving him unconscious. When his
friends from the local village came to visit him and found him in this
condition, they carried him to a church.
After he recovered, he made a second effort and went back to
the desert, further out, to a mountain by the Nile, called Pispir, now
Der el Memun, opposite Arsinoë in the Fayyum. There he lived strictly
enclosed in an old abandoned Roman fort for some twenty years. According
to Athanasius, the devil again resumed his war against Saint Anthony,
only this time the phantoms were in the form of wild beasts, wolves,
lions, snakes and scorpions. They appeared as if they were about to
attack him or cut him into pieces. But the Saint would laugh at them
scornfully and say, "If any of you have any authority over me, only one
would have been sufficient to fight me." At his saying this, they
disappeared as though in smoke, and God gave him the victory over the
devil. While in the fort he only communicated with the outside world by a
crevice through which food would be passed and he would say a few
words. Saint Anthony would prepare a quantity of bread that would
sustain him for six months. He did not allow anyone to enter his cell:
whoever came to him, stood outside and listened to his advice.
Then one day he emerged from the fort with the help of
villagers to break down the door. By this time most had expected him to
have wasted away, or gone insane in his solitary confinement, but he
emerged healthy, serene, and enlightened. Everyone was amazed he had
been through these trials and emerged spiritually rejuvenated. He was
hailed as a hero and from this time forth the legend of Anthony began to
spread and grow.
Then he went to the Fayyum and confirmed the brethren there
in the Christian faith, then returned to his old Roman fort. Anthony
wished to become a martyr and went to Alexandria. He visited those who
were imprisoned for the sake of Christ and comforted them. When the
Governor saw that he was confessing his Christianity publicly, not
caring what might happen to him, he ordered him not to show up in the
city. However, the Saint did not heed his threats. He faced him and
argued with him in order that he might arouse his anger so that he might
be tortured and martyred, but it did not happen.
When he went back to the old Roman fort, many came to visit
him and to hear his teachings. He saw that these visits kept him away
from his worship. As a result, he went further into the Eastern Desert
of Egypt. He travelled to the inner wilderness for three days, until he
found a spring of water and some palm trees, and then he chose to settle
there. On this spot now stands the monastery of Saint Anthony the
Great. On occasions, he would go to the monastery on the outskirts of
the desert by the Nile to visit the brethren, then return to his inner
monastery.
The backstory of one of the surviving epistles, directed to
Constantine I recounts how the fame of Saint Anthony spread abroad and
reached Emperor Constantine. The Emperor wrote to him, offering him
praise and asked him to pray for him. The brethren were pleased with the
Emperor's letter, but Anthony did not pay any attention to it, and he
said to them, "The books of God, the King of Kings and the Lord of
Lords, commands us everyday, but we do not heed what they tell us, and
we turn our backs on them." Under the persistence of the brethren who
told him, "Emperor Constantine loves the church," he accepted to write
him a letter blessing him, and praying for the peace and safety of the
empire and the church.
According to Athanasius, Saint Anthony heard a voice telling
him, "Go out and see." He went out and saw an angel who wore a girdle
with a cross, one resembling the holy Eskiem (Tonsure or Schema), and on
his head was a head cover (Kolansowa). He was sitting while braiding
palm leaves, then he stood up to pray, and again he sat to weave. A
voice came to him saying, "Anthony, do this and you will rest."
Henceforth, he started to wear this tunic that he saw, and began to
weave palm leaves, and never got bored again. Saint Anthony prophesied
about the persecution that was about to happen to the church and the
control of the heretics over it, the church victory and its return to
its formal glory, and the end of the age. When Saint Macarius visited
Saint Anthony, Saint Anthony clothed him with the monk's garb, and
foretold him what would be of him. When the day drew near of the
departure of Saint Paul the First Hermit in the desert, Saint Anthony
went to him and buried him, after clothing him in a tunic which was a
present from St Athanasius the Apostolic, the 20th Patriarch of
Alexandria.
When Saint Anthony felt that the day of his departure had
approached, he commanded his disciples to give his staff to Saint
Macarius, and to give one sheepskin cloak to Saint Athanasius and the
other sheepskin cloak to Saint Serapion, his disciple. He further
instructed his disciples to bury his body in an unmarked, secret grave,
lest his body become an object of veneration. He stretched himself on
the ground and gave up his spirit. Saint Anthony the Great lived for 105
years and departed on the year 356. He probably spoke only his native
language, Coptic, but his sayings were spread in a Greek translation. He
himself left no writings. His biography was written by Saint Athanasius
and titled Life of Saint Anthony the Great. Many stories are also told
about him in various collections of sayings of the Desert Fathers.
Some of the stories included in Saint Anthony's biography are
perpetuated now mostly in paintings, where they give an opportunity for
artists to depict their more lurid or bizarre fantasies. Many pictorial
artists, from Hieronymus Bosch to Salvador Dalí, have depicted these
incidents from the life of Anthony; in prose, the tale was retold and
embellished by Gustave Flaubert.
Founder of monasticism
Saint Anthony and Saint Paul the Hermit are seen as the
founders of Christian monasticism. Saint Paul the Hermit is lauded by
Saint Anthony as the first hermit. The monastery of Saint Paul the
Hermit exists to this day in Egypt. Saint Anthony himself provided the
example that others would follow (see Saint Pachomius). Anthony himself
did not organize or create a monastery, but a community grew up around
him based on his example of living an ascetic and isolated life. Those
who wished to follow him needed the company of others to survive the
harsh conditions.
Sayings (apophthegmata) of Abba Anthony
1. When the holy Abba Anthony
lived in the desert he
was beset by accidie, and attacked by many sinful thoughts.
He said to God, 'Lord, I want to be saved but these thoughts
do not leave me alone; what shall I do in my affliction? How
can I be saved?' A short while afterwards, when he got up to
go out, Anthony saw a man like himself sitting at his work,
getting up from his work to pray, then sitting down and
plaiting a rope, then getting up again to pray. It was an
angel of the Lord sent to correct and reassure him. He heard
the angel saying to him, 'Do this and you will be saved.' At
these words, Anthony was filled with joy and courage. He
did this, and he was saved.
2. When the same Abba Anthony
thought about the
depth of the judgements of God, he asked, 'Lord, how is it
that some die when they are young, while others drag on to
extreme old age? Why are there those who are poor and
those who are rich? Why do wicked men prosper and why
are the just in need?' He heard a voice answering him,
'Anthony, keep your attention on yourself; these things are
according to the judgement of God, and it is not to your
advantage to know anything about them.'
3. Someone asked Abba Anthony,
'What must one do in
order to please God?' The old man replied, 'Pay attention to
what I tell you: whoever you may be, always have God
before your eyes; whatever you do, do it according to the
testimony of the holy Scriptures; in whatever place you live,
do not easily leave it. Keep these three precepts and you will
be saved.'
4. Abba Anthony said to Abba
Poemen, 'this is the great
work of a man: always to take the blame for his own sins
before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.'
5. He also said, 'Whoever has not
experienced
temptation cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 'He
even added, 'Without temptations no-one can be saved.'
6. Abba Pambo asked Abba Anthony,
'What ought I to
do?' and the old man said to him 'Do not trust in your own
righteousness do not worry about the past, but control your
tongue and your stomach.'
7. Abba Anthony said, 'I saw the
snares that the enemy
spreads out over the world and I said groaning, "What can
get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying
to me, "Humility."'
8. He also said, 'Some have
afflicted their bodies by
asceticism, but they lack discernment, and so they are far
from God.'
9. He also said, 'Our life and our
death is with our
neighbour. If we gain our brother, we have gained God, but
if we scandalise our brother, we have sinned against Christ.'
10. He said also, 'just as fish
die if they stay too long out
of water, so the monks who loiter outside their cells or pass
their time with men of the world lose the intensity of inner
peace. So like a fish going towards the sea, we must hurry
to reach our cell, for fear that if we delay outside we will
lose our interior watchfulness.'
11. He said also, 'He who wishes
to live in solitude in the
desert is delivered from three conflicts: hearing, speech, and
sight; there is only one conflict for him and that is with
fornication.'
12. Some brothers came to find
Abba Anthony to tell him
about the visions they were having, and to find out from him
if they were true or if they came from the demons. They had
a donkey, which died on the way. When they reached the
place where the old man was, he said to them before they
could ask him anything, 'How was it that the little donkey
died on the way here?' They said, 'How do you know about
that, Father?' And he told them, 'The demons showed me
what happened.' So they said, 'That was what we came to
question you about, for fear we were being deceived, for we
have visions which often turn out to be true.' Thus the old
man convinced them, by the example of the donkey, that
their visions came from the demons.
13. A hunter in the desert saw
Abba Anthony enjoying
himself with the brethren and he was shocked. Wanting to
show him that it was necessary sometimes to meet the needs
of the brethren, the old man said to him, 'Put an arrow in
your bow and shoot it.' So he did. The old man then said,
'Shoot another,' and he did so. Then the old man said, 'Shoot
yet again and the hunter replied 'If I bend my bow so much I
will break it.' Then the old man said to him, 'It is the same
with the work of God. If we stretch the brethren beyond
measure they will soon break. Sometimes it is necessary to
come down to meet their needs.' When he heard these words
“the hunter was pierced by compunction and, greatly edified
by the old man, he went away. As for the brethren, they
went home strengthened.
14. Abba Anthony heard of a very
young monk who had
performed a miracle on the road. Seeing the old men
walking with difficulty along the road, he ordered the wild
asses to come and carry them until they reached Abba
Anthony. Those whom they had carried told Abba Anthony
about it. He said to them, 'This monk seems to me to be a
ship loaded with goods but I do not know if he will reach
harbour.' After a while, Anthony suddenly began to weep, to
tear his hair and lament. His disciples said to him, 'Why are
you weeping, Father?' and the old man replied, 'A great pillar
of the Church has just fallen (he meant the young monk) but
go to him and see what has happened.' So the disciples went
and found the monk sitting on a mat and weeping for the sin
he had committed. Seeing the disciples of the old man he
said, 'Tell the old man to pray that God will give me just ten
days and I hope I will have made satisfaction.' But in the
space of five days he died.
15. The brothers praised a monk
before Abba Anthony.
When the monk came to see him, Anthony wanted to know
how he would bear insults; and seeing that he could not bear
them at all, he said to him, 'You are like a village
magnificently decorated on the outside, but destroyed from
within by robbers.'
16. A brother said to Abba
Anthony, 'Pray for me.' The
old man said to him, 'I will have no mercy upon you, nor will
God have any, if you yourself do not make an effort and if
you do not pray to God.'
17. One day some old men came to
see Abba Anthony.
In the midst of them was Abba Joseph. Wanting to test
them, the old man suggested a text from the Scriptures, and,
beginning with the youngest, he asked them what it meant.
Each gave his opinion as he was able. But to each one the
old man said, 'You have not understood it.' Last of all he
said
to Abba Joseph, 'How would you explain this saying?' and he
replied, 'I do not know.' Then Abba Anthony 'Indeed Abba
Joseph has found the way, for he has said: "I do said, not
know."
18. Some brothers were coming from
Scetis to see Abba
Anthony. When they were getting into a boat to go there,
they found an old man who also wanted to go there. The
brothers did not know him. They sat in the boat, occupied
by turns with the words of the Fathers, Scripture and their
manual work. As for the old man, he remained silent. When
they arrived on shore they found that the old man was going
to the cell of Abba Anthony too. When they reached the
place, Anthony said to them, 'You found this old man a good
companion for the journey?' Then he said to the old man,
'You have brought many good brethren with you, father.'
The old man said, 'No doubt they are good, but they do not
have a door to their house and anyone who wishes can enter
the stable and loose the ass.' He meant that the brethren said
whatever came into their mouths.
19. The brethren came to the Abba
Anthony and said to
him, 'Speak a word; how are we to be saved?' The old man
said to them, 'You have heard the Scriptures. That should
teach you how.' But they said, 'We want to hear from you
too, Father.' Then the old man said to them, 'The Gospel
says, "if anyone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the
other also." (Matt. 5.39) They said, 'We cannot do that.' The
old man said, 'If you cannot offer the other cheek, at least
allow one cheek to be struck.' 'We cannot do that either, '
they said. So he said, 'If you are not able to do that, do not
return evil for evil, ' and they said, 'we cannot do that
either.'
Then the old man said to his disciple, 'Prepare a little brew
of
corn for these invalids. If you cannot do this, or that, what
can I do for you? What you need is prayers.'
20. A brother renounced the world
and gave his goods to the
poor, but he kept back a little for his personal expenses. He
went to see Abba Anthony. When he told him this, the old
man said to him, 'If you want to be a monk, go into the
village, buy some meat, cover your naked body with it and
come here like that.' The brother did so, and the dogs and
birds tore at his flesh. When he came back the old man
asked him whether he had followed his advice. He showed
him his wounded body, and Saint Anthony said, 'Those who
renounce the world but want to keep something for themselves
are torn in this way by the demons who make war
on them.'
21. It happened one day that one
of the brethren in the
monastery of Abba Elias was tempted. Cast out of the
monastery, he went over the mountain to Abba Anthony.
The brother lived near him for a while and then Anthony sent
him back to the monastery from which he had been expelled.
When the brothers saw him they cast him out yet again, and
he went back to Abba Anthony saying, 'My Father, they will
not receive me.' Then the old man sent them a message
saying, 'A boat was shipwrecked at sea and lost its cargo;
with great difficulty it reached the shore; but you want to
throw into the sea that which has found a safe harbour on the
shore. 'When the brothers understood that it was Abba
Anthony who had sent them this monk, they received him at
once.
22. Abba Anthony said, 'I believe
that the body possesses
a natural movement, to which it is adapted, but which it
cannot follow without the consent of the soul; it only
signifies in the body a movement without passion. There is
another movement, which comes from the nourishment and
warming of the body by eating and drinking, and this causes
the heat of the blood to stir up the body to work. That is
why the apostle said, "Do not get drunk with wine for that is
debauchery." (Ephes. 5:18) And in the Gospel the Lord also
recommends this to his disciples: "Take heed to yourselves
lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and
drunkenness." (Luke 21:34) But there is yet another
movement, which afflicts those who fight, and that comes
from the wiles and jealousy of the demons. You must
understand what these three bodily movements are: one is
natural, one comes from too much to eat, the third is caused
by the demons.'
23. He also said, 'God does not
allow the same warfare
and temptations to this generation as he did formerly, for
men are weaker now and cannot bear so much.'
24. It was revealed to Abba
Anthony in his desert that
there was one who was his equal in the city. He was a
doctor by profession and whatever he had beyond his needs
he gave to the poor, and every day he sang the Sanctus with
the angels.
[Sources: OrthodoxWiki.org and Wikipedia.org]
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