Feast Day of Saint Anthony the Great
Categories: uncategorized
Date: 17 January 2005 09:54:02
 | O Father Anthony, By your zeal you equaled Elijah; You imitated the life of John the Baptist; You founded a city in the wilderness; You established the Church on the firm foundation of your prayers. Pray to Christ our God That our souls may be saved! Troparion You rejected the cares of this world Kontakion |
Today [January 17] was the Feast Day of Saint Anthony the Great (+ 356), often called the Father of Monasticism.
After hearing the passage Matthew 19:21 [Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."] in church, he took these words to heart and sold the property he inherited after his parents' death. He distributed the money to the poor, and gave his sister into the care of pious virgins in a convent.
He began his ascetic life not far from his village, and after struggles and temptations, moved farther from the village: first to a graveyard, and then, after a little while, to the desert. St Anthony had the gift of healing and wonderworking, and many people sought him out for advice. He spent eighty-five years as a solitary in the desert.
A fuller description of Anthony's life can be read here.
I have been greatly encouraged by the sayings of St Anthony, and the other Desert Fathers, a few of which can be found here, and the life the Desert Fathers led. The Desert Fathers lived, as Benedicta Ward wrote in the Introduction to her Paradise of the Desert Fathers, "by the Word of God, the love of the brethren and of all creation, waiting for the coming of the Kingdom with eager expectation, using each moment as a step in their pilgrimage of the heart towards Christ." May their example serve to strengthen and guide me in my Christian journey.
One of my favourite saying of St Anthony is this one:
Abba Anthony said, "I saw the snares that the enemy spreads out over the world and I said groaning, 'What can get through from such snares?" Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility.'"
Happy Feast Day to all the Anthonys, Antonios, Antonias, and any others whose name comes from Anthony, out there! God grant you many years!