St. Anthony

• He was born in Coma (Kemn-el-Arouse) in Middle Egypt.
• He was about eighteen years of age when his parents died, leaving him guardian of his sister, Dious. About six months later (in ca. 269) when he entered the church he was struck by the reading of the Gospel, “If you would be perfect, go sell all you have, give to the poor and come, follow me” (Matt. 19:21).
• He sold about 300 acres of fertile land, gave most of it to the poor keeping back only a little for his sister. Placing his sister in the charge of a community of virgins, he was now free to devote his life to asceticism under the guidance of a holy man living near Coma.
• In ca. 285, St. Anthony left to strike out on his own in the Western Desert, and took shelter in an abandoned tomb carved in the side of a mountain. An obliging friend locked him in an empty vault and brought him bread from time to time. In his solitude he was fighting off the temptations of the flesh and the attacks of demons.
• He was about thirty when he left this retreat to move to the east bank of the Nile to the “Outer Mountain” at Pispir, where he lived in complete solitude.
• After about twenty years (ca. 305), his reputation attracted followers who settled near him, and wished to copy his holy life. They broke down the door of his retreat and St. Anthony

became their leader, teaching them constantly by word and example the ascetic life. Five years later, he again retired into solitude in the Inner Mountain (Mount Qolzum).

• Anchoritism did not make St. Anthony a contemplative unconcerned with the fate of his brothers; it made him a spiritual father beyond all others. Thus he was obliged to visit Alexandria during the persecution against Christians, engineered by Maximin Daja in 316, ministering to the confessors in the prisons.
• Again he visited Alexandria to support Pope Athananius against Arianism in 352 . Pagans and Christians alike rushed out to greet the holy old man.
• From many parts of the world people came to him, seeking cures of the body, mind and soul.
• He died at the age of 105.
• According to St. Athanasius, St. Anthony was a man of “divine wisdom” of grace and urbanity, although he never learned to read or write.
• Saint Anthony said, “Always have the fear of God before your eyes. Remember him who gives death and life. Hate the world and all that is in it. Hate all peace that comes from the flesh. Renounce this life, so that you may be alive to God, for it will be required of you on the day of judgment.”
• He also said to Abba Poemen, “This is the great work of a man: always to take blame of his own sins before God and to expect temptation to his last breath.”

Among the Philosophers

• Once two philosophers came to him, thinking they could test him. When he met them, he said through an interpreter: “Why, philosophers, have you gone to so much trouble to come to a foolish man?” When they said that he was not foolish, but very wise, he said to them: “If you come to a foolish man, your trouble is to no purpose: and if you think that I am wise, make yourselves what I am, for one ought to imitate the good...I am a Christian.”
• A philosopher asked him: “Father, how do you hold up deprived as you are of the solace of books?” “My book, philosopher, is nature and thus, I can read God’s language at will.” Writings 1. Letters He carried on a correspondence with monks as well as with emperors and high officials. a. St. Athanasius states that the fame of St. Anthony reached emperors, for when Constantine and his sons Constantius and Constans heard about these things, they wrote frequently to him as to a father

and begged him to write back. However, he did not make much of the documents nor did he rejoice over the letters. b. He also wrote a letter to Balakius, an imperial officer, who bitterly persecuted Christians because of his zeal on behalf of the detestable Arians. And since he was so barbaric as to beat virgins and strip and flog monks. St. Anthony wrote: “I see wrath coming upon you. Cease, therefore, persecuting Christians, lest the wrath overtake you, for it is even so imminent.” c. Seven other letters addressed to various monasteries in Egypt survive in versions. d. A short but interesting letter addressed to the archimandrite Theodore and his monks reports of a private revelation regarding the forgiveness of sins committed after Baptism. It is reproduced by bishop Amoun, a contemporary of St. Athanasius. 2. Sermons

• There is a collection of twenty Sermons ad fillios suos monachos and one Sermo de vanitate mundi et resurrectione mortuorunl extant in Latin. None of these seem to be genuine. The only discourse of St. Anthony which we possess is found in his biography.