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My blog posts revolve around my interests and vocation as a historian: the intersection of history and contemporary church life, the intersection of history and contemporary politics, serendipitous discoveries in archives or on research trips, publications and research projects, upcoming conferences, and speaking engagements.
The views expressed in these blogs represent the views of the authors, and not necessarily those of any organizations with which they are associated. |
 I have just re-read the life of St. Antony, and once again realized why he was such a giant in the early church.[1] And why he should be today. A while ago I asked my Protestant students if they would recommend reading the life of St. Antony, especially to those in their church youth group. Most said no for the youth, and even a majority were suspect about having adults in the church read it. I understand why they would balk. The exorcisms, healings, extreme asceticism, and the like are hardly standard fair for Protestants. The fact that monasticism traces its roots back to St. Antony is another strike against him (Protestants jettisoned monasticism in the sixteenth century).
However, there are reasons why St. Antony was one the most well-known saints of the church in the mid-late fourth century. In fact, he was a veritable “rock star” who drew crowds from all over the empire and beyond. Even the Roman Emperors wrote to him. We know about him through a biography Life of Anthony most likely written by St. Athanasius. Antony came from a Christian Egyptian family. After his parents died when he was twenty, he embarked on what would eventually be coined the monastic life when he heard the command of Jesus to the rich young ruler: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor; and come, follow me, and you will have treasure in heaven.” (Matt.19:21 He retreated further and further into the desert over the decades as he sought to flee the crowds that sought him out. He lived a life of seclusion, denying himself any pleasures such as rich foods or fine clothing. His ministry was marked by a number of factors, some that are concerning or even alarming for my Protestant students:
Perhaps the following except will provide a reason for considering his example to emulate (at least in part). Of course, you need not join a monastery or convert to Catholicism to appreciate St. Antony. All one needs to do, whether Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant, is to take what you can in good conscience, and learn from one of the most significant figures in Christian history. “There came to him now many people troubled by demons, driven by harsh necessity to dare to penetrate the desert regions. He consoled these people, while to all the monks he gave the same message, saying, ‘Have faith in Jesus; keep your mind pure from wicked thoughts and your body free from all sordidness. In accordance with the divine sayings, do not be seduced by the fullness of the stomach. Detest pride, pray frequently, recite the psalms in the evening, and in the morning and at noon, and meditate on the commands of the Scriptures. Remember the deeds done by each of the saints so that the memory of their example will inspire your soul to virtue and restrain it from vices.’ He also used to persuade them constantly to bear in mind the words of the apostle, when he says ‘Let not the sun set upon your anger.’ Anthony interpreted this as meaning that the sun should not set not only upon your anger but neither upon any human sin, in case the moon at night or the sun by day which are the witnesses of our sins, should ever disappear. He also warned us to remember that commandment which Saint Paul gave regarding these matters, ‘examine yourselves and test yourselves,’ so that by keeping an account night and day, if they should discover any sin in themselves, they might cease to sin; but if no error was found, they should stand firm in their commitment to their undertaking instead of becoming swollen with pride and contemptuous of others or claiming righteousness for themselves, in accordance with the saying of the teacher I mentioned earlier who said, ‘do not judge before the time.’ Rather they must await the judgment of Christ, to whom alone things hidden are revealed. Many are the ways (as it says in the Bible) that seem just to men but they end with a view into the depths of hell; often we cannot see our own sins, often we are deceived by ignorance of our deeds. The judgment of God who sees everything is different for He judges not from outward appearances but according to the secrets of the mind. It is right for us to show compassion to one another and to bear one another’s burdens, so that leaving judgment to the savior we might keep a watch on our own consciences by examining ourselves.” The Life of Antony, 55.[3] For further reading, you can get the entire Life of Antony online here: https://archive.org/details/the-life-of-antony-by-saint-athanasius-of-alexandria [1] Some other names: Antony of Africa, Antony of Egypt, Antony of the Desert. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great [2] For a helpful and sympathetic summary of monasticism, see Greg Peters, The Story of Monasticism: Retrieving an Ancient Tradition for Contemporary Spirituality (2015). [3] This quotation taken from Early Christian Lives (Penguin, 1998), 43.
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