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feast day:
- January 17 in the New-Calendar Eastern Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Coptic Catholic Church
- January 30 in the Old-Calendar Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church
about:
- born: c.251 Herakleopolis Magna, Egypt
- died: c.356 Mount Colzim, Egypt
- abbot, patriarch of monks
- also known as Antony the Great, Saint Anthony, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Anthony of Thebes, Abba Antonius (Ἀββᾶς Ἀντώνιος) and Father of All Monks
- The biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of Alexandria helped to spread the concept of monasticism, particularly in Western Europe through Latin translations. He is often erroneously considered the first monk, but as his biography and other sources make clear, there were many ascetics before him. Anthony was, however, the first known ascetic going into the wilderness (about AD 270–271), a geographical move that seems to have contributed to his renown. Accounts of Anthony enduring supernatural 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.
- Anthony is appealed to against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases. In the past, many such afflictions, including ergotism, erysipelas, and shingles, were historically referred to as St. Anthony's fire.
- major shrine: Monastery of St. Anthony, Egypt; Saint-Antoine-l'Abbaye, France
- attributes: bell; pig; book; Tau cross
- patronage: Skin diseases, basket makers, brushmakers, gravediggers
- The life of Anthony will remind many people of St. Francis of Assisi. At 20, Anthony was so moved by the Gospel message, “Go, sell what you have, and give to [the] poor” (Mark 10:21b), that he actually did just that with his large inheritance. He is different from Francis in that most of Anthony’s life was spent in solitude. He saw the world completely covered with snares, and gave the Church and the world the witness of solitary asceticism, great personal mortification and prayer. But no saint is antisocial, and Anthony drew many people to himself for spiritual healing and guidance.
At 54, he responded to many requests and founded a sort of monastery of scattered cells. Again like Francis, he had great fear of “stately buildings and well-laden tables.”
At 60, he hoped to be a martyr in the renewed Roman persecution of 311, fearlessly exposing himself to danger while giving moral and material support to those in prison. At 88, he was fighting the Arian heresy, that massive trauma from which it took the Church centuries to recover. “The mule kicking over the altar” denied the divinity of Christ.
Anthony is associated in art with a T-shaped cross, a pig and a book. The pig and the cross are symbols of his valiant warfare with the devil—the cross his constant means of power over evil spirits, the pig a symbol of the devil himself. The book recalls his preference for “the book of nature” over the printed word. Anthony died in solitude at 105.
links/ sources:
- "Anthony the Great" (source: Wikipedia):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great
- "St. Anthony the Abbot" (source: Catholic Online):
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=23
- "St. Anthony the Abbot" (source: EWTN):
http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/A/stanthonytheabbot.asp
- "St. Anthony" (source: Catholic Encyclopedia):
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01553d.htm
- "St. Anthony of Egypt" (source: American Catholic):
http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/Saint.aspx?id=1263
