MONK ANTHONY
OF EGYPT
Perhaps the most effective tactic adopted by the adversary of man's
salvation has been to blind man to the reality of the spiritual warfare
being waged for possession of his soul. We have consequently become
spiritually flabby and easy prey for the enemy. To escape such a
perilous condition we would do well to contemplate more often the
examples of the saints who engaged in direct combat with the Evil One,
unmasking his deceptions and thereby disarming him. Nowhere is this
illustrated more dramatically than in the life of St. Anthony the Great.
St. Anthony was an Egyptian, born c. 251 of noble
Christian parents who provided well for their son's future by educating
him in the fear of God. His parents left this world when Anthony was 18
or 20, and he inherited a substantial fortune in terms of earthly
wealth. But although he was at the age most attracted by fortune's
delights, he aspired only to amass the riches of virtues.
Anthony was reflecting one day upon how the Apostles
had forsaken all to follow after Christ. when he heard in church the
words of the Gospel: "If thou wishest
to be perfect, go and sell everything thou hast...and come and follow Me"
(Matt. 19:21). Thus confirmed in his desire to do likewise, Anthony
sold his estate and distributed the money to the poor, persuading his
younger sister to be likeminded, he gave her into the care of some
virgins.
Now free of all earthly attachments, the young man
began to lead a life of great abstinence and self-denial on the
outskirts of his village. He gave his mind no occasion to think back
upon the affairs of this world but led it into a desert that it might
be occupied with thoughts of pleasing God alone. He delighted in
visiting the dwellings of righteous men and studying their virtuous
habits which he proceeded to adopt for himself, exercising himself in
their practice. Indeed, he was like a bee which gathers nectar from
various blossoms and creates out of it a fragrantly sweet honey. With
his concentrated desire Anthony rapidly ascended the ladder of
perfection. The enemy, however, could not endure to behold the likeness
of Christ shining forth from this creation of dust and ashes, and he
determined to destroy this 'house of virtue.'
The Unseen Warfare
The first campaign was waged on the battlefield of
the mind. Anthony experienced a barrage of unsettling
thoughts--flattery, the allurement of the world and all the pleasures
his former wealth could buy, concern for his sister's welfare, the
difficulties of the path he had chosen. The vicious net was craftily
woven, but the Saint recognized it as the handiwork of his adversary
and tore it apart by means of intense prayer and vigilance, deflecting
any and all disturbing thoughts before they took hold in his mind. The
battle grew more intense when the Enemy', taking advantage of the
Saint's youth, assailed him with lustful thoughts, inflaming the
natural appetites of the flesh until the Saint was burning with his own
lust. He manfully fought back by mortifying his body with increased
fasting to quench the passions of the flesh, and by meditating on death
and the eternal torments which await those who give themselves over to
the spirit of fornication. And so be escaped unharmed, even
strengthened by this experience.
When the Evil One found himself so disgraced, he
took on a human voice and complained bitterly to Anthony: "I have
deceived and conquered many in my time; but now in your case, as in
that of many others, I am defied by your ascetic labors."
Knowing that his antagonist would continue to stalk
him as a roaring lion after his prey, Anthony did not allow himself to
relax his vigilance on account of his victory. He passed many night s
without sleep, en grossed in prayer, and limited his bodily nourishment
to bread and water, of which he partook once a day at evening. For, he
said, by weakening the pleasures of the body the mind is strengthened.
Such disregard did he have for the body as to imitate the nature of the
fleshless ones, i.e., the angels. The severity of his labors and his
accumulated virtues astonished the older ascetics, but Anthony never
thought about his spiritual progress and regarded each day a s the
beginning of his spiritual journey, thereby shielding himself from
pride and vainglory.
For the sake of greater solitude, Anthony moved
further from the village to a burial place at the edge of the desert,
where he locked himself up in a sepulchre; only allowing a servant to
come at rare intervals with a supply of bread. The enemy, embittered by
his previous defeat, attacked with vengeance. This time the assault was
physical. A whole troop of demons came one night and beat the Saint
until the very breath of life was ready to leave him. But even as he
lay on the ground, covered with bruises and unable to stand, he said in
a loud voice:
"Here, devils, here am I, Anthony, ready for more of
your wounds. Try your worst, for you shall never separate me from
Christ." He fortified himself by singing the words of the Psalmist:
"Though a host should encamp against me, yet my heart shall not fear."
Incensed by the audacity of Anthony's challenge, the
Devil gathered his minions: "Don't you see now? This fellow could not
be restrained either by the spirit of fornication or by bangs and
bruises,.. We must assail him by other means."
That night, as Anthony was still lying on the ground
recovering, a hoard of demons shook the walls of the sepulchre and
rushed in to terrorize the Saint. For this purpose they had taken on
the forms of hideous wild beasts--hissing snakes, roaring lions,
ferocious wolves, a bull which threatened to gore the victim. But
Anthony was not frightened by what he perceived to be mere spectral
creatures, and he made bold to mock his enemy's impotence: "What is the
use of all this vain uproar? If ye have power to hurt, why don't you?
But you can't, for the Lord is my shield and my wall of safety." The
demons could only gnash their teeth in reply.
When Anthony had thus manfully proven himself as a
champion athlete in the spiritual arena, he was granted to experience
the comforting presence of the Lord. Lifting his eyes heavenward he saw
a roof-curtain drawn aside and a ray of light descending upon him.
Straightway the demons vanished, and Anthony felt his bodily pains melt
away. Consoled by this outpouring of Divine Grace, he rested briefly
from the fatigue of battle before addressing his Master aloud:
"Lord, where wast Thou when these sufferings and
tribulations came upon me? Why didst Thou not help me?" He heard a
voice in reply:
"I was here, Anthony, but I wanted to witness your
combat. Having seen that you withstood your adversary without
retreating, I shall from now on be your Helper and shall make your name
celebrated far and wide as My faithful servant."
Anthony knelt in prayer to give thanks to God for
this promise and for the peace and newfound strength which filled his
soul, the grace-given rewards of his victory. He was then about 35
years old.
With Demons in the Desert
The next day Anthony left the place of the
sepulchres to live as a hermit in the desert. Even as he journeyed, the
enemy continued to lay all kinds of traps for him, but the Saint was
not to be outsmarted. Seeing a large silver disk in his path, he
immediately surmised that it was a ruse of the devil, for had some
traveler passed that way and lost it, surely he would have retraced his
steps to recover such a valuable object. "O Devil," he cried out, "you
will not so easily draw me away from my purpose. May you take your
silver and go down to perdition together." No sooner had he said this
than the silver disk disappeared in a cloud of smoke, proof that it was
indeed the devil's creation.
At length Anthony settled in a cleft of some rocks
beside a river, blocking the entrance so as not to be disturbed. For
twenty years he remained there in solitude, admitting no visitors but
only a supply of bread three times a year. It must not be imagined,
however, that he enjoyed a blissful life of uninterrupted peace. Those
who came in hopes of seeing or hearing a word from the far famed
ascetic were often perplexed by the raucous din coming from the cleft.
They sup-posed a band of angry men had somehow gained entrance, for
they could make out shouts of: "Depart from us! Why have you come to
our country to cause our death?!" Through a fissure, however, they saw
that the Saint was quite alone, and they understood that the tumult was
made by demons.
Indeed, the demons quite exhausted their bag of
tricks in their frantic efforts to deter the Saint from his course, for
fear that his example would inspire others to invade their desert
domain with fasting and psalm-singing which they found intolerable. And
this is just what happened. Whole multitudes began coming to the desert
to lose their lives, like Anthony, for the sake of the Kingdom.
Persuaded by their entreaties, the Saint relinquished his solitude to
share the light of his accumulated experience with these eager new
recruits in Christ's army. By word and example he fanned such zeal for
the ascetic life that many monasteries--the first in the history of
Christianity--were founded under his influence, for which reason he is
known as the Father of Monasticism.
In guiding these warriors of Christ, St. Anthony
exhorted them to pursue their aim with diligence, for "the promise of
eternal life is bought with a small price... and the work is easy, if
we be only willing." He warned them of the subtle craftiness of the
demonic powers, exposing their numerous tricks and guises whereby they
seek to trip and destroy the Christian whom they find laboring on the
path of salvation. He spoke of the evil and impure thoughts they try to
instigate and of the fearful appearances they assume, of their
pretention in foretelling future events. "Sometimes, too, they appear
in the habit of monks, and talk very religiously in order to gain our
confidence and then to seduce us." At the same time, he encouraged the
brethren not to fear when they came under attack, but to fortify
themselves by faith and the sign of the Cross: "If they find us
rejoicing in the Lord, and meditating or conversing on divine things,
then demons have no power over the Christian...for when they see the
soul secured by such thoughts, they turn away deeply ashamed of
themselves."
Besides his extraordinary skill in discerning
spirits, St. Anthony had other gifts --of healing, of casting out
demons, of foretelling future events. And although he was illiterate he
readily outwitted many philosophers. Once, when some 'wise' men came
thinking to mock his Christian faith, St. Anthony brought forward
several people who were troubled with demons, and said, "Can you heal
these men by your reasoning? or by any art or magic, calling upon your
idols?" The Saint then called upon the name of Christ and marked the
demoniacs with the sign of the Cross, a first, second and third time.
Immediately the men were healed of their insanity, and the philosophers
departed amazed by the miracle and by Anthony's wisdom.
Treasury of Good Gifts
Crowds flocked to this heavenly-born physician of
the Egyptian desert, and no one left without being enriched from St.
Anthony's store of gifts. "For who," writes St. Athanasius, "went to
him in sorrow, and did not come back rejoicing? Who went to him in
anger, and was not converted into a friend? What poor man met him, with
a dejected heart, who, after he saw and heard him, did not go away
despising riches and content with poverty? If a monk was remiss, he
excited him to diligence. If a young man went to the mountain and
beheld Anthony, he straightway renounced pleasure and embraced a life
of temperance. Whosoever came to him, tempted by a demo n, was
relieved; or if troubled with evil thoughts was tranquilized."
Even when St. Anthony had attained the heights of
perfection, he never hesitated to learn from someone else. Nor did he,
in his humility, ascribe his spiritual gifts to his own achievements,
but exhorted those who benefited by his prayers to thank God Who is the
source and cause of all that is good.