The Life of Saint Anthony the Great
(Feast: 17 January)
Saint Anthony the Great, called the Father of Monks, was born in Egypt around 251. His parents died when he was about eighteen, leaving him responsible for his only sister, who was younger than he. About six months later he went into church and heard the Gospel in which Christ says to the rich young man: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21).
He took this command as a personal call from God. He went and sold some three hundred acres of fertile land, gave most of the money to the poor and kept only a small part for his sister. Then he entrusted his sister to a community of virgins, and so was free to devote his life to following the guidance of a holy man who lived near his village of Coma. He withdrew from people, lived a life of penance and austerity, and became an ascetic in the desert.
In his solitude the demons fought him openly, sometimes in the form of women, sometimes as wild beasts. He faced many temptations and attacks from the Evil One, but he always overcame them because of his attachment to God and his constant prayer, day and night.
He drew many disciples to himself,
and he had a powerful influence on countless people, both in his own time and in the generations that followed, down to our own day.
He fought the good fight for the Church: he strengthened the confessors during the persecutions of the Roman Emperor Diocletian and supported Saint Athanasius in his resistance to the Arians.
This great saint, star of the wilderness, angel of the desert and father of all monks, lived to the age of one hundred and five, striving for holiness and purity, and fell asleep in great peace on 17 January 356.
His life was written by one of the great pillars of Christianity, Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, who was his disciple and very close to him.
Among his sayings:
“I saw the snares of the enemy spread out over the earth, and I said with a groan, ‘Who can escape them?’ Then I heard a voice from heaven saying: ‘Humility.'”
“Our life and our death are with our neighbour. If we gain our brother, we gain God; but if we cause our brother to stumble, we sin against Christ.”
“A time is coming when people will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying: ‘You are mad, because you are not like us.'”
Prepared by Rita of the Sawt el Rab team
