In the 4th century AD the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Arabia and Persia were peopled by a race of men who left behind them a strange reputation. They were the first Christian hermits, who abandoned the cities of the ancient Roman world to live in the solitude and silence of the desert. Why did they do this? The reasons were many and various, but they can all be summed up in one brief phrase: the quest for salvation. Among these men (and women!) the life and witness of St. Anthony the Great is unique.<\/p>\n
St. Anthony, called \u201cthe father of monasticism\u201d, was born in central Egypt about 251 AD, the son of peasant farmers who were Christian. In circa 269, he heard the Gospel being read in Church and applied to himself the words of Jesus to the rich man: \u201cGo, sell all that you have, give it to the poor and come, follow Me.\u201d He sold everything he owned, gave the proceeds to the poor and devoted himself to a life of asceticism under the guidance of a recluse living on the outskirts of his village.<\/p>\n
Around 285 AD he went alone into the desert to live in complete solitude. It was in this solitude and silence that Anthony heard clearly the Word of God for his life. After 20 years in solitude, Anthony emerged \u201cas one initiated into the mysteries of God and inspired by the Holy Spirit (he became) a physician given by God to Egypt through whom the Lord healed many people.\u201d He died at the age of 105 in 356 AD and his biography, written by St. Athanasios (whose memory the Orthodox Church celebrate on January 18th, and the Catholic Church on May 2nd) created an immediate literary and theological sensation throughout the ancient world.<\/p>\n
What can we, more than 1500 years later, learn from Anthony\u2019s witness? What is the meaning of his flight from society into the desert? First, society\u2014which meant classical Roman pagan society, limited by the horizons and prospects of life \u201cin this world\u201d \u2013 was regarded by Anthony and the many other desert fathers and mothers as a shipwreck from which each had to swim for their lives.<\/p>\n
These were men and women who believed that to let oneself drift along, passively accepting the non-Christian tenets of what they knew as society, was purely and simply a disaster. These Coptic hermits\u2014for Anthony\u2014like so many of his brothers and sisters, was a Copt and spoke no Greek or Latin\u2014who left the world as though escaping from a shipwreck, did not merely intend to save themselves. They knew that they were helpless to do any good for others as long as they floundered about in the wreckage. But once they got a foothold on solid ground, things were different. Then they had not only the ability but even the obligation to pull the world to safety after them. Perhaps we cannot do exactly what Anthony did. But we must be as thorough and as ruthless in our determination to break our spiritual chains, cast off the domination of alien compulsions and find our true selves in Christ Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Some sayings of St. Anthony the Great:<\/p>\n
When the same Abba Anthony thought about the depth of the judgments of God, he asked, \u201cLord, 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?\u201d He heard a voice answering him, \u201cAnthony, keep your attention on yourself; these things are according to the judgment of God, and it is not to your advantage to know anything about them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abba Anthony said: \u201cThis is the work of a great man: always to take responsibility for his own sins before God and to expect temptations until his last breath.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
He also said: \u201cWhoever you may be, always have God before your eyes; whatever you do, do it in accordance with 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abbe Pambo asked Abba Anthony, \u201cWhat ought I to do?\u201d and the old man said to him, \u201cDo not trust in your own righteousness, do not worry about the past, but control your tongue and your stomach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abba Anthony said, \u201cI saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, \u2018What can get through from such snares? Then I heard a voice saying to me, \u201cHumility.'\u201d<\/p>\n
Abba Anthony said, \u201cI no longer fear God, but I love Him. For love casts out fear.\u201d (Jn 4:18)<\/p>\n
He also said, \u201cGod 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.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
St. Anthony<\/a>, Pray for Us!<\/p>\n
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