"Saints of Empowered Prayer: St. Anthony of Egypt"
St.
Anthony of Egypt: When Anthony was about eighteen or twenty years old his parents
died, leaving him with an only sister. He cared for her as she was very young,
and also looked after their home. Not six months after his parents' death, as
he was on his way to church for his usual visit, Anthony began to think of how
the apostles had left everything and followed the Savior, and also of those
mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles who had sold their possessions and
brought the apostles the money for distribution to the needy. He reflected too
on the great hope stored up in heaven for such as these. This was all in his
mind when, upon entering the church just as the Gospel was being read, he heard
the Lord's words to the rich man: "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all
you have and give the money to the poor--you will have riches in heaven. Then
come and follow me".
It
seemed to Anthony that it was God who had brought the saints to his mind and
that the words of the Gospel had been spoken directly to him. Immediately he
left the church and gave away to the villagers all the property he had
inherited, about 200 acres of very beautiful and fertile land, so that it would
cause no distraction to his sister and himself. He sold all his other
possessions as well; giving to the poor the considerable sum of money he
collected. However, to care for his sister he retained a few things.
The
next time he went to church Anthony heard the Lord say in the Gospel: "Do not
be anxious about tomorrow". Without a moment's hesitation he went out and gave
the poor all that he had left. He placed his sister in the care of some
well-known and trustworthy virgins and arranged for her to be brought up in the
convent; thus, twenty years after the great persecution of the Emperor Decius
was begun in 250, Anthony began his ascetic life outside his home village in
northern Egypt. He joined the army of anchorites--those who fled into the
desert to prepare for martyrdom and spent their lives in prayer and
solitude--and discovered a totally new Christian way of life: the ascetic,
or monastic, life. After the persecution was over, many of these anchorites
remained in the desert, wrapped up in the wonder of God, living alone in the desert,
hence, their name: monachos, or monks, "those who live alone."
Solitude
has always had its attraction for Christians, and it is from the love of
solitude that the monastic life was born. It is in solitude that the wonder of
God is tasted and that the marvel of His love becomes the main occupation of
the monk. In this St. Anthony is the great model.
Anthony's
fame is based chiefly on his life written by St. Athanasius soon after his
death. He lived an amazing eighty-five years in the desert, coming to
Alexandria at the height of the Arian heresy, to give St. Athanasius, the
patriarch of Alexandria, the support of the monastic communities which by that
time filled the deserts of Egypt. From Anthony's own letters it is clear that
he was a man of simple tastes who had discovered God in solitude, filled with
the wonder and marvel of God. This explains his great love of solitude, as he
went farther into the desert where he could be alone with God.
Later
in life Anthony instructed a few disciples in this new form of life, and St.
Pachomius would gather these scattered monks into community. But Anthony was
the forerunner and the patriarch, and it is Anthony who is considered the
Father of Monks and the originator of this form of life. Anthony died in the
year 356 at the age of one hundred five years. His feast day is January 17th.
Questions:
1)
Have I learned how to be in solitude with
God, or do I look for ways to stay busy, noisy and distracted?
