Wisdom From Abba Antony For His Feast Day

Wisdom From Abba Antony For His Feast Day January 17, 2025

JoeyWhisperz: Abba Antony / Wikimedia Commons

After learning that he had been called to a special kind of life, one which was not meant for many, St. Antony the Great went to the Egyptian desert, putting all his trust in God, believing that God would make it possible for him to do what God intended him to achieve. While there were ascetics before him, some who helped train him in the way of asceticism in his youth, and there were even some who went into the desert before him (such as St. Paul the Hermit), Antony would become the most famous of those early ascetics. He was the one whose life and exploits would become so widely known, which is why many, upon hearing of him and what he was doing, would follow after him, hoping that he would serve as their teacher. When they did that, Antony knew he had a duty to them, that he would have to mentor them. One of the things we find him doing is to encourage them to make sure that they did not lose a sense of community, so that, from time to time, they would come together to worship together, and even to help each other meet each other’s needs (spiritual and physical). Antony knew, however much he wanted to live in solitude, enjoying the quiet life with God, with his only other companionship being the animals which lived in the desert, that was not what he was meant for – he was meant for something far more. He learned that no one, not even those called to a hermit-like way of life, is meant to be  entirely alone, ignoring the rest of humanity; everyone needs others in their lives, for, without interacting with others, no one can truly come to know themselves and who they are.

What Antony understood was that the wisdom he had gained was not meant to end with him, it was not meant for himself alone; it was meant to be shared with others. He also found out, thanks to his spiritual practices and the holiness he attained in and through them, he was meant to share the graces he had received, to become a mediator of them on earth, becoming a spiritual healer. But he also knew, he could and should continue to look after himself while engaging such a work, because if he did not, he would eventually find himself once again among those who are spiritually sick, and if that happened, he would not be able to be a good spiritual healer. This was something he also knew was true, not just for himself, but for all; everyone should look after their own  good, not selfishly, being only concerned about themselves, but rather so that such goodness gives that a greater ability to love and help others:

Abba Antony said: “The fathers of old time went out into the desert. They were healed and became healers; they came back and healed others. But we want to treat others as soon as we come out of the world, before being healed. The illness returns to us; the last state is worse than the first (cf. Mt 12:45; Lk 11:26) and we hear from the Lord: ‘Physician, first heal yourself’ [cf. Lk 4:23].” [1]

Thus, there is a good reason for us from time to time to go on a spiritual retreat of some kind, to get away from it all, taking the time we need to attain a greater level of peace and grace in our lives. That way, we will be better equipped to engage the walk of life intended for us. When we grow weary, when we feel ourselves losing our own sense of peace, we will not be able to properly share the peace of Christ with others. But, we must be careful, and not forget we need to still think of others. We can’t just retreat from the world, and everyone in it.  No one is meant to be all alone, ignoring the good of others, even as no one is meant to be a busy-body, trying to take care of others, to get in the affairs of everyone else, giving them no room for them to find themselves. We need to engage others with wisdom and compassion, a wisdom which will allow us to know when to act, when to help others, and when to let others be.

Antony knew that that the spiritual life should be one of self-giving love, following the example of  Christ. Fasting, prayers, pious devotions, and other ascetical practices are to be used to help us take on various qualities of Christ, that is, to become more like Christ. They are meant to help us in overcoming the kind of self-attachment which have us focus on ourselves at the exclusion of all others. That kind of attachment tries to have us keep and preserve the self as we know ourselves as an individual cut off from everyone else, that is, to keep and preserve a false sense of the person we are meant to be; only by dying to that self can we become free and realize our true potential. Thus, we are called to accept the challenges which come from  a “selfless” form of existence. Antony then said, when we do this, we will be able to discern how detached we are, not by the way we legally follow ascetic rules and obligations, but how we relate to others, that is, if we let pride take control, which is why he said if we cannot bear insults, we still are far off from such selfless love: :

 Abba Antony said: “Once when I was staying near Abba Arphat, a virgin visited him saying: ‘Father, I have fasted six days of the week for two hundred Sundays, I have memorised the New and the Old Testaments; what is there left for me to do?’ The elder said to her: ‘Has it not become an honour to be despised?’ ‘Oh, no!’ she said. ‘Or loss [become] like gain or aliens like relatives or indigence like luxury?’ “No,’ she said.  The elder replied: ‘Then you have not fasted six days a week nor have you memorised the Old and New Testaments; rather are you deceiving yourself. Go and put yourself to work, for you have accomplished nothing.’” [2]

We should do what is good, not because of any honor or glory we hope to receive, but because it is good. We might, of course, gain some honor and glory, as Antony eventually did, but we should not be concerned about it or seek to increase it when we have it. Such vainglory undermines the spiritual life. Even if we are not called to be ascetics, that is, if we are not called to become a monk or nun, we still should keep in mind what  Antony told the virgin — we should embrace what is taught in Scripture, the way of love and justice promoted throughout it, using that to be the foundation for our spiritual practices and devotions. We should not embrace performative piety, for such piety is false and what we gain, the glory which we receive, will accomplish us nothing in the end. God will not be fooled, even if we fool ourselves. In the end, we will find out that we have a great deal of pride remaining in us, a pride which, the more we engage such piety, will grow and keep us far away from God, no matter how much we pretend otherwise. This is why Antony told the virgin she deceived herself, for all she had done was for her own self-glorification; he did not say she could not change, indeed, he encouraged her to do so, to put into practice what she read in Scripture. Let us heed Antony’s wisdom and do likewise in our lives.


[1] John Wortley, trans., The Anonymous Sayings Of The Desert Fathers: A Select Edition And Complete English Translation (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013), 485 [N 603].

[2] John Wortley, trans., The Anonymous Sayings Of The Desert Fathers, 351 [N 518].

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