Egyptian Christian monk and hermit (died 356)
Anthony the Great
|
---|
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Saint_Anthony_%28Damaskinos%29.png/220px-Saint_Anthony_%28Damaskinos%29.png) |
|
Born
| 12 January 251
Koma
,
Province of Egypt
,
Roman Empire
|
---|
Died
| 17 January 356
(356-01-17)
(aged 105)
Mount Colzim
, Province of Egypt, Roman Empire
|
---|
Venerated in
| Eastern Orthodox Church
Assyrian Church of the East
Oriental Orthodox Churches
Catholic Church
Anglican Communion
Lutheranism (ELCA)
|
---|
Canonized
| Pre-Congregation
|
---|
Major
shrine
| Monastery of St. Anthony
, Egypt
Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye
, France
|
---|
Feast
| 17 January (
Eastern Orthodox Church
,
Roman Catholic Church
,
Anglican Communion
),
Lutheranism (ELCA)
22
Tobi
(
Coptic calendar
)
|
---|
Attributes
| bell; pig; book;
Tau Cross
[1]
[2]
Tau cross with bell pendant
[3]
|
---|
Patronage
| Animals, skin diseases, farmers, butchers, the poor, basket makers, brushmakers, gravediggers,
[4]
Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, Rome
[5]
|
---|
Anthony the Great
(
Greek
:
?ντ?νιο?
Ant?nios
;
Arabic
:
?????? ???????? ??????
;
Latin
:
Antonius
;
Coptic
:
???? ??????
;
c.
12 January 251
? 17 January 356) was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from
other saints named Anthony
, such as
Anthony of Padua
, by various epithets:
Anthony of Egypt
,
Anthony the Abbot
,
Anthony of the Desert
,
Anthony the Anchorite
,
Anthony the Hermit
, and
Anthony of Thebes
. For his importance among the
Desert Fathers
and to all later
Christian monasticism
, he is also known as the
Father of All Monks
. His feast day is celebrated on 17 January among the
Eastern Orthodox
and
Catholic
churches and on
Tobi
22 in the
Coptic calendar
.
The biography of Anthony's life by
Athanasius of Alexandria
helped to spread the concept of Christian
monasticism
, particularly in Western Europe via its
Latin
translations. He is often erroneously considered the first Christian monk, but as his biography and other sources make clear, there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was, however, among the first known to go into the wilderness (about AD 270), which seems to have contributed to his renown.
[6]
Accounts of Anthony enduring supernatural temptation during his sojourn in the
Eastern Desert
of Egypt inspired the depiction of
his temptations in visual art
and literature.
Anthony is appealed to against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases. In the past, many such afflictions, including
ergotism
,
erysipelas
, and
shingles
, were referred to as
Saint Anthony's fire
.
Life of Anthony
[
edit
]
Most of what is known about Anthony comes from the
Life of Anthony
. Written in Greek
c.
360
by
Athanasius of Alexandria
, it depicts Anthony as an illiterate and holy man who, through his existence in a primordial landscape, has an absolute connection to the divine truth, which is always in harmony with that of Athanasius as the biographer.
[6]
A continuation of the genre of secular
Greek biography
,
[7]
it became his most widely read work.
[8]
Sometime before 374 it was translated into Latin by
Evagrius of Antioch
. The Latin translation helped the
Life
become one of the best-known works of literature in the Christian world, a status it would hold through the
Middle Ages
.
[9]
Translated into several languages, it became something of a "best seller" in its day and played an important role in the spreading of the
ascetic
ideal in Eastern and Western Christianity. It later served as an inspiration to Christian
monastics
in both the East and the West,
[10]
and helped to spread the concept of Christian monasticism, particularly in Western Europe via its Latin translations.
Many stories are also told about Anthony in the
Sayings of the Desert Fathers
.
Anthony probably spoke only his native language,
Coptic
, but his sayings were spread in a
Greek
translation. He himself dictated letters in Coptic, seven of which are extant.
[11]
Life
[
edit
]
Early years
[
edit
]
Anthony was born in
Koma
in
Lower Egypt
to wealthy landowner parents. When he was about 20 years old, his parents died and left him with the care of his unmarried sister. Shortly thereafter, he decided to follow the gospel exhortation in
Matthew 19
: 21, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven." Anthony gave away some of his family's lands to his neighbors, sold the remaining property, and donated the funds to the poor.
He then left to live an
ascetic
life,
placing his sister with a group of
Christian virgins
.
[13]
Hermit
[
edit
]
Coptic icon of Saint Anthony
For the next fifteen years, Anthony remained in the area,
spending the first years as the disciple of another local
hermit
.
[4]
There are various legends that he worked as a
swineherd
during this period.
[15]
According to the
Temptation of Saint Anthony
(1878) by
Felicien Rops
:
Anthony is sometimes considered the first monk,
and the first to initiate solitary desertification,
[16]
but there were others before him. There were already
ascetic
hermits
(the
Therapeutae
), and loosely organized
cenobitic
communities were described by the
Jewish philosopher
Philo of Alexandria
in the 1st century AD as long established in the harsh environment of
Lake Mareotis
and in other less accessible regions. Philo opined that "this class of persons may be met with in many places, for both Greece and barbarian countries want to enjoy whatever is perfectly good."
[17]
Christian ascetics such as
Thecla
had likewise retreated to isolated locations at the outskirts of cities. Anthony is notable for having decided to surpass this tradition and headed out into the desert proper. He left for the alkaline
Nitrian Desert
(later the location of the noted monasteries of
Nitria
,
Kellia
, and
Scetis
) on the edge of the
Western Desert
about 95 km (59 mi) west of
Alexandria
. He remained there for 13 years.
[4]
Anthony maintained a very strict ascetic diet. He ate only bread, salt and water and never meat or wine.
[18]
He ate at most only once a day and sometimes
fasted
through two or four days.
[19]
[20]
According to
Athanasius
, the devil fought Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness, and the phantoms of women, which he overcame by the power of prayer, providing a theme for
Christian art
. After that, he moved to one of the tombs near his native village. There it was that the
Life
records those strange conflicts with demons in the shape of wild beasts, who inflicted blows upon him, and sometimes left him nearly dead.
[21]
After fifteen years of this life, at the age of thirty-five, Anthony determined to withdraw from the habitations of men and retire in absolute solitude. He went into the desert to a mountain by the
Nile
called
Pispir
(now Der-el-Memun), opposite
Arsinoe
.
There he lived strictly enclosed in an old abandoned
Roman
fort for some 20 years.
[4]
Food was thrown to him over the wall. He was at times visited by pilgrims, whom he refused to see; but gradually a number of would-be disciples established themselves in caves and in huts around the mountain. Thus, a colony of ascetics was formed, who begged Anthony to come forth and be their guide in the spiritual life. Eventually, he yielded to their importunities and, about the year 305, emerged from his retreat. To the surprise of all, he appeared to be not emaciated, but healthy in mind and body.
[21]
Painting of Saint Anthony, a part of
The Visitation with
Saint Nicholas
and Saint Anthony Abbot
by
Piero di Cosimo
,
c.
1480
For five or six years he devoted himself to the instruction and organization of the great body of monks that had grown up around him; but then he once again withdrew into the inner desert that lay between the Nile and the Red Sea, near the shore of which he fixed his abode on a mountain (
Mount Colzim
) where still stands the monastery that bears his name,
Der Mar Antonios
. Here he spent the last forty-five years of his life, in a seclusion, not so strict as Pispir, for he freely saw those who came to visit him, and he used to cross the desert to Pispir with considerable frequency. Amid the
Diocletian Persecutions
, around 311 Anthony went to
Alexandria
and was conspicuous visiting those who were imprisoned.
[21]
Father of Monks
[
edit
]
Four tales on Anthony the Great
by
Vitale da Bologna
,
c.
1340
, at the
Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
Anthony was not the first ascetic or hermit, but he may properly be called the "Father of Monasticism" in Christianity,
[22]
[23]
as he organized his disciples into a community and later, following the spread of Athanasius's hagiography, was the inspiration for similar communities throughout Egypt and elsewhere.
Macarius the Great
was a disciple of Anthony. Visitors traveled great distances to see the celebrated holy man. Anthony is said to have spoken to those of a spiritual disposition, leaving the task of addressing the more worldly visitors to Macarius. Macarius later founded a monastic community in the Scetic desert.
[24]
The fame of Anthony spread and reached
Emperor Constantine
, who wrote to him requesting his prayers. The brethren were pleased with the Emperor's letter, but Anthony was not overawed and wrote back exhorting the Emperor and his sons not to esteem this world but remember the next.
[11]
The stories of the meeting of Anthony and
Paul of Thebes
, the
raven
who brought them bread, Anthony being sent to fetch the cloak given him by "Athanasius the bishop" to bury Paul's body in, and Paul's death before he returned, are among the familiar legends of the
Life
. However, belief in the existence of Paul seems to have existed quite independently of the
Life
.
[25]
In 338, he left the desert temporarily to visit Alexandria to help refute the teachings of
Arius
.
[4]
Final days
[
edit
]
When Anthony sensed his death approaching, he commanded his disciples to give his staff to
Macarius of Egypt
, and to give one
sheepskin
cloak to
Athanasius of Alexandria
and the other sheepskin cloak to
Serapion of Thmuis
, his disciple.
[26]
Anthony was interred, according to his instructions, in a grave next to his cell.
[11]
The Torment of Saint Anthony
, copy by the young
Michelangelo
after
an engraving
by
Martin Schongauer
c.
1487
? c.
1489
. Oil and tempera on panel. One of many artistic depictions of Saint Anthony's trials in the desert.
Temptation
[
edit
]
Accounts of Anthony enduring preternatural temptation during his sojourn in the Eastern Desert of Egypt inspired the often-repeated subject of the temptation of St. Anthony in Western art and literature.
[27]
Anthony is said to have faced a series of preternatural
temptations
during his pilgrimage to the desert. The first to report on the temptation was his contemporary
Athanasius of Alexandria
. It is possible these events, like the paintings, are full of rich metaphor or in the case of the animals of the desert, perhaps a vision or dream. Emphasis on these stories, however, did not really begin until the
Middle Ages
when the psychology of the individual became of greater interest.
[4]
Some of the stories included in Anthony's biography are perpetuated now mostly in paintings, where they give an opportunity for artists to depict their more lurid or bizarre interpretations. Many artists, including
Martin Schongauer
,
Hieronymus Bosch
, Joos van Craesbeeck,
Dorothea Tanning
,
Max Ernst
,
Leonora Carrington
and
Salvador Dali
, have depicted these incidents from the life of Anthony; in prose, the tale was retold and embellished by
Gustave Flaubert
in
The Temptation of Saint Anthony
.
[28]
The satyr and the centaur
[
edit
]
The Meeting of Saint Anthony and Saint Paul of Thebes
,
Master of the Osservanza
, 15th century, with the centaur at the background
Anthony was on a journey in the desert to find
Paul of Thebes
, who according to his dream was a better Hermit than he.
[29]
Anthony had been under the impression that he was the first person to ever dwell in the desert; however, due to the dream, Anthony was called into the desert to find his "better", Paul. On his way there, he ran into two creatures in the forms of a
centaur
and a
satyr
. Although chroniclers sometimes postulated that they might have been living beings, Western theology considers them to have been
demons
.
[29]
While traveling through the desert, Anthony first found the centaur, a "creature of mingled shape, half horse half-man", whom he asked about directions. The creature tried to speak in an unintelligible language, but ultimately pointed with his hand the way desired, and then ran away and vanished from sight.
[29]
It was interpreted as a demon trying to terrify him, or alternately a creature engendered by the desert.
[30]
Anthony found next the satyr, "a manikin with hooked snout, horned forehead, and extremities like goats's feet." This creature was peaceful and offered him fruits, and when Anthony asked who he was, the satyr replied, "I'm a mortal being and one of those inhabitants of the desert whom the Gentiles, deluded by various forms of error, worship under the names of
Fauns
,
Satyrs
, and
Incubi
. I am sent to represent my tribe. We pray you in our behalf to entreat the favor of your Lord and ours, who, we have learnt, came once to save the world, and 'whose sound has gone forth into all the earth.'" Upon hearing this, Anthony was overjoyed and rejoiced over the glory of Christ. He condemned the city of
Alexandria
for worshipping monsters instead of God while beasts like the satyr spoke about Christ.
[29]
Silver and gold
[
edit
]
Another time Anthony was travelling in the desert and found a plate of silver coins in his path.
[31]
Demons in the cave
[
edit
]
An ascetic, Anthony went out to live in the tombs away from the village. There were so many demons in the cave though, that Anthony's servant had to carry him out because they had beaten him to death. When the hermits were gathered to Anthony's corpse to mourn his death, Anthony was revived. He demanded that his servants take him back to that cave where the demons had beaten him. When he got there he called out to the demons, and they came back as wild beasts to rip him to shreds. Suddenly a bright light flashed, and the demons ran away. Anthony knew that the light must have come from God, and he asked God where he was before when the demons attacked him. God replied, "I was here but I would see and abide to see thy battle, and because thou hast mainly fought and well maintained thy battle, I shall make thy name to be spread through all the world."
[32]
Veneration
[
edit
]
Pilgrimage banners from the shrine in
Warfhuizen
Anthony had been secretly buried on the mountaintop where he had chosen to live. His remains were reportedly discovered in 361 and transferred to
Alexandria
. Some time later, they were taken from Alexandria to
Constantinople
, so that they might escape the destruction being perpetrated by invading
Saracens
. In the eleventh century, the
Byzantine emperor
gave them to the French
Count
Jocelin. Jocelin had them transferred to La-Motte-Saint-Didier, later renamed.
[4]
There, Jocelin undertook to build a church to house the remains, but died before the church was even started. The building was finally erected in 1297 and became a centre of veneration and pilgrimage, known as
Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye
.
Anthony is credited with assisting in a number of miraculous healings, primarily from
ergotism
, which became known as "St. Anthony's Fire". Two local noblemen credited his assistance in their recovery from the disease. They then founded the
Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony
in honor of him, who specialized in nursing the victims of skin diseases.
[4]
He is venerated especially by the
Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit
for his close association with St.
Paul of Thebes
, after whom they take their name. In the
Life of St. Paul the First Hermit
, by St. Jerome, it is recorded that it was St. Anthony that found St. Paul towards the end of his life and without whom it is doubtful he would be known.
[33]
Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye
,
Isere
, France
Veneration of Anthony in the East is more restrained. There are comparatively few icons and paintings of him. He is, however, regarded as the "first master of the desert and the pinnacle of holy monks", and there are monastic communities of the Maronite, Chaldean, and Orthodox churches which state that they follow his monastic rule.
[4]
During the
Middle Ages
, Anthony, along with
Quirinus of Neuss
,
Cornelius
and
Hubertus
, was venerated as one of the
Four Holy Marshals
(
Vier Marschalle Gottes
) in the
Rhineland
.
[34]
Anthony is
remembered
in the
Anglican Communion
with a
Lesser Festival
on 17 January.
[35]
[36]
[37]
Though Anthony himself did not organize or create a monastery, a community grew around him based on his example of living an
ascetic
and isolated life. Athanasius' biography helped propagate Anthony's ideals. Athanasius writes, "For monks, the life of Anthony is a sufficient example of
asceticism
.
[4]
His story influenced the conversion of
Augustine of Hippo
[38]
[39]
and
John Chrysostom
.
[40]
Coptic literature
[
edit
]
Examples of purely
Coptic literature
are the works of Anthony and
Pachomius
, who spoke only Coptic, and the sermons and preaching of
Shenouda the Archmandrite
, who chose to write only in Coptic. The earliest original writings in the
Coptic language
were the letters by Anthony. During the 3rd and 4th centuries, many ecclesiastics and monks wrote in Coptic.
[41]
Translations
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
- Mount Colzim
, Anthony's "Inner mountain"
- List of Coptic saints
- Abba Anoub of Scetis
- Chariton the Confessor
(mid-3rd century ? c. 350), contemporary monk in the Judaean desert
- Desert Fathers
and
Desert Mothers
, early Christian hermits, ascetics, and monks who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt beginning around the third century AD
- Abba Or of Nitria
- Hilarion
(291?371), anchorite and saint considered by some to be the founder of Palestinian monasticism
- Monastery of Saint Anthony
, Egypt
- Pachomius the Great
(c. 292 ? 348), Egyptian saint generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism
- Patron saints of ailments, illness and dangers
- Paul of Thebes
(c. 226/7 ? c. 341), known as "Paul, the First Hermit", who preceded both Anthony and Chariton
- St. Anthony Hall
, American fraternity and literary society
- Saint Anthony the Great, patron saint archive
- Serapion of Thmuis
, disciple of Anthony
- Pitirim of Porphyry
, disciple of Anthony
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Jack Tresidder, ed. (2005).
The Complete Dictionary of Symbols
. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.
ISBN
0-8118-4767-5
.
- ^
Cornwell, Hilarie; James Cornwell (2009).
Saints, Signs, and Symbols
(3rd ed.). Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing.
ISBN
978-0-8192-2345-6
.
- ^
Liechtenstein, the Princely Collections
, catalogue of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, p. 276
[1]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Michael Walsh, ed. (1991).
Butler's Lives of the Saints
(Concise, Revised & Updated, 1st HarperCollins ed.). San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.
ISBN
0-06-069299-5
.
- ^
"Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica, Cenni storici (1701?2001)"
.
Pontificia Accademia Ecclesiastica
(in Italian). Vatican, Roman Curia
. Retrieved
17 January
2017
.
- ^
a
b
Endsjø, Dag Øistein (2008).
Primordial landscapes, Incorruptible Bodies
. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
ISBN
978-1-4331-0181-6
.
- ^
"Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography. Volume I: Periods and Places. Ashgate research companions ? Bryn Mawr Classical Review"
.
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
.
- ^
"Athanasius of Alexandria: Vita S. Antoni [Life of St. Antony] (written bwtween 356 and 362)"
. Fordham University
. Retrieved
14 July
2016
.
- ^
McGinn, Bernhart (12 December 2006).
The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism
. Modern Library.
ISBN
0-8129-7421-2
.
- ^
"Athanasius"
.
Christian History | Learn the History of Christianity & the Church
. Retrieved
14 March
2018
.
- ^
a
b
c
"
"Saint Anthony of Egypt",
Lives of the Saints
, John J. Crawley & Co., Inc"
.
- ^
Athanasius (1998).
Life of Antony
. Vol. 3. Carolinne White, trans. London: Penguin Books. p. 10.
ISBN
0-8146-2377-8
.
- ^
Sax, Boria.
"How Saint Anthony Brought Fire to the World"
. Retrieved
4 January
2013
.
- ^
"A few words about the life and writings of St. Anthony the Great"
.
orthodoxthought.sovietpedia.com
. Archived from
the original
on 25 March 2017
. Retrieved
24 March
2017
.
- ^
Philo.
De Vita Contemplativa
[
English:
The Contemplative Life
].
.
- ^
Watterson, Barbara. (1989).
Coptic Egypt
. Scottish Academic Press. p. 57.
ISBN
978-0707305561
"His food consisted of bread, salt and water: meat and wine he never touched at all. He slept upon a mat, and sometimes upon the bare ground; and never washed or cleansed his body with oil and strigil."
- ^
Smedley, Edward; Rose, Hugh James; Rose, Henry John. (1845).
Encyclopaedia Metropolitana
. Volume 20. London. p. 228. "He never tasted food till sunset, and sometimes fasted through two or even four days; his diet was of the simplest kind, bread, salt and water, his bed was straw, or frequently bare ground."
- ^
Harmless, William. (2004).
Desert Christians: An Introduction to the Literature of Early Monasticism
. Oxford University Press. pp. 61?62.
ISBN
0-19-516222-6
- ^
a
b
c
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Butler, Cuthbert (1907). "
St. Anthony
". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^
"Britannica, Saint Anthony"
.
- ^
"Saint Anthony Father of the Monks"
. coptic.net.
- ^
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Healy, Patrick Joseph (1913). "
Macarius the Egyptian (or "Macarius the Elder")
". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 16. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Bacchus, Francis Joseph (1911). "
St. Paul the Hermit
". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).
Catholic Encyclopedia
. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^
Cross, F. L., ed. (1957)
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
. Oxford U.P., p. 1242
- ^
Alan Shestack;
Fifteenth century Engravings of Northern Europe
; no. 37, 1967, National Gallery of Art, Washington (Catalogue),
LCCN
67-29080
- ^
Leclerc, Yvan.
"Gustave Flaubert ? etudes critiques ? Le saint-poeme selon Flaubert : le delire des sens dans La Tentation de saint Antoine"
.
flaubert.univ-rouen.fr
. Archived from
the original
on 13 August 2018
. Retrieved
4 September
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Vitae Patrum
, Book 1a- Collected from Jerome. Ch. VI
- ^
Bacchus, Francis.
"Catholic Encyclopedia: Saint Paul the Hermit"
. Robert Appleton Company
. Retrieved
4 January
2013
.
- ^
"Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the Great"
.
oca.org
. Retrieved
11 December
2017
.
- ^
"The Golden Legend: The Life of Anthony of Egypt"
. Archived from
the original
on 23 January 2013
. Retrieved
4 January
2013
.
- ^
"Liturgical Calendar"
.
The Australian Province of the Order Of Saint Paul The First Hermit
. 29 August 2022
. Retrieved
29 August
2022
.
- ^
"Quirinus von Rom"
[English:
Quirinus of Rome
] (in German)
. Retrieved
25 April
2012
.
- ^
"The Calendar"
.
The Church of England
. Retrieved
27 March
2021
.
- ^
"For All the Saints / For All the Saints ? A Resource for the Commemorations of the Calendar / Worship Resources/ Karakia/ ANZPB-HKMOA / Resources / Home ? Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia"
.
www.anglican.org.nz
. Retrieved
27 March
2021
.
- ^
"Antony of Egypt, Monastic, 356"
.
The Episcopal Church
. Retrieved
19 July
2022
.
- ^
Confessions ? Book VIII Chapters 1-6
- ^
On Christian Doctrine ? Preface Section 4
- ^
The Homilies of John Chrysostom/Homily 8 verse 7 on Gospel of Matthew
- ^
"Coptic Literature"
. Retrieved
4 January
2013
.
References
[
edit
]
- Baynes, T. S., ed. (1878),
"Saint Anthony"
,
Encyclopædia Britannica
, vol. 2 (9th ed.), New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 106
- Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911),
"Anthony, Saint"
,
Encyclopædia Britannica
, vol. 2 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 96?97
External links
[
edit
]
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has original text related to this article:
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