Athanasius: The Life of Antony in Egypt by Albert Haase

A Paraphrase by

A l b e r t H A A s e , O. F. M .

C l a s s i C s in Spiritual Formation

Athanasius

T h e L i f e o f

A n t o n y o f E g y p t

i

Foreword by sH A n e Cl A i bOr n e

128 pages, paperback, 978-0-8308-3592-8, $15.00

ATHANASIUS: CLASSICS IN SPIRITUAL FORMATION

Athanasius, one of the most influential Athanasius, one of the most influential

church fathers in history, records in his Life

of Antony of Egypt the story of another

extremely influential figure of early

Christianity. In these pages we read of St.

Antony's early life, his retreat into the

desert and his famous spiritual battles.

Albert Haase's work gives us access to a Albert Haase's work gives us access to a

masterwork of spiritual formation, that we

too might know the God of the universe as

richly and deeply as Athanasius himself did.

The Classics in Spiritual Formation series is

designed for those who want to read the

church fathers for the first time as well as

for those who want a fresh new paraphrase

of a beloved work.

Purchase a copy of

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C L A S S I C Sin Spiritual Formation

ATHANASIUS

T H E L I F E OF

A N TON Y OF E G Y P T

A Paraphrase by

ALBERt hAAsE, O.F.M.Foreword by s h A n E C L A i B OR n E

Also includesLetter to Ammoun

Letter to Dracontius

Fragment of Festal Letter 39

i

Athanasius.indd 3 2/24/12 10:37 AM

InterVarsity Press

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©2012 by Albert Haase, O.F.M.

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ISBN 978-0-8308-3592-8

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Athanasius, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria, d. 373.

[Life of St. Antony. English]

The life of Antony of Egypt / Athanasius; [edited by] Albert

Haase.

p. cm. — (Classics in spiritual formation)

Includes bibliographical references (p. ).

ISBN 978-0-8308-3592-8 (pbk.: alk. paper)

1. Anthony, of Egypt, Saint, ca. 250-355 or 6. 2. Christian

saints—Egypt—Biography. I. Haase, Albert, 1955- II. Title.

BR1720.A6A8313 2012

270.1092—dc23

[B]

2012000255

P 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Y 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12


Contents

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Foreword by Shane Claiborne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1. The Life of Antony of Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2. Letter to Ammoun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

3. Letter to Dracontius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

4. Fragment of Festal Letter 39 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Annotated Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125


Foreword

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Reading the IVP Formatio series Classics in Spiritual Forma-tion is like discovering lost treasures. These works are some of the gems of church history. The authors wipe off the dust and give them a fresh polish so they shine in new ways for the world we live in.

I’ve got friends who fix up abandoned houses who call them-selves “restoration artists.” They work carefully to bring old historic buildings back to life, doing their best to restore the original style of architecture, original floors and such. Of course, they have to be careful not to be overly zealous lest they do more damage than good or create a counterfeit of the origi-nal that a careful eye can detect.

Albert Haase is a restoration artist of the ancient Christian classics—preserving them, touching them up, pulling out the original color and wiping off the dust. And it is a delicate art; he has to be sure not to overextend his creative license, lest we end up with something like a CliffsNotes version of the original which may help you pass a final exam in college but makes for terrible reading and doesn’t have much life in it. Or maybe the task gone wrong would be like reading a movie review for a film you never saw. Rather, Albert is helping translate a won-


8 AthAnAsius

derful piece of art whose truth is timeless. It helps, of course, that this book is written by a sassy monk who is living with some of the desert monastic flair that characterized folks like Antony of Egypt.

Athanasius’s The Life of Antony of Egypt is a classic.Antony of Egypt is one of the bright lights in the history of

Christianity. He is often misunderstood as running to the caves to escape

society. But as Albert shows us in this book, Antony under-stood that society had grown very sick—so sick that some folks needed to head to the hills and build a new society in the shell of the old one. It was not an attempt to flee the world but to save the world . . . starting with what they could actually change: themselves.

Some of the stories of Antony’s life, like wrestling with de-mons and seeing angels, may seem bizarre to “postmodern” ears, but the fact is, the demons they wrestled are very similar to the demons we wrestle today—lust, violence, greed, power, arrogance, entitlement. They may just wear new disguises, like wingtip shoes instead of wings. The devil doesn’t always come with a pitchfork; sometimes he comes with a briefcase and a limo. But we must wrestle demons and powers today as the desert saints did. We must reimagine the world as the desert saints did. We must reject the patterns of this world that teach us lies like violence can bring peace or happiness can be pur-chased. We must say yes to Jesus and no to all the things that try to get us to settle for something short of God’s dream for the world.

Antony’s life is an invitation not to settle for the world as it is but to dream of the world as it could be. It is an invitation to stop complaining about the church we see and become the church we dream of.


Foreword 9

And it is a daring call to fight our own demons, to be still and hear the gentle whisper that we are beloved. It is an invita-tion to give up all the stuff that doesn’t last for the one thing that lasts forever.

The devout rigor and tireless discipline of St. Antony is a wonderful corrective to the ugly fundamentalism and to the sloppy liberalism that have infected much of Christendom. Antony reminds us that without discipline we will not become very good disciples, and without grace we are doomed.

Ultimately, the life of Antony is an invitation to live a simple life for God, unencumbered by the stuff of earth that competes for the allegiance we owe only to the Giver of all good things.

Shane Claiborne


introduction

i

The works in this small volume contain an enduring Christian wisdom that is unparalleled. They will offer you practices and insights for your own contemporary spiritual journey. They will also offer practical suggestions to help you avoid some common pitfalls in the process of spiritual formation. These works, as you will quickly discover, come from one of the most influential centuries and authors in the history of Christianity.

The fourth century a.d. marked a defining period for Chris-tianity as it sought to find its voice and hit its stride. Though the century opened with a period of persecution, the conver-sion of Emperor Constantine in 312 gave Christianity not only freedom of expression but also the financial and military sup-port of the imperial government. In addition, some of the dif-ferent and competing ways of expressing Christianity, along with the subsequent quarrels over authority, were gradually resolved as fourth-century church councils articulated ortho-dox belief and labeled those who did not agree “heretics.” The fourth century also left behind the first historical record of the books that formed the canon of the Christian Scriptures, the development of the church’s liturgical calendar and how its feasts would be celebrated, and a hierarchy of clergy who took


12 AthAnAsius

responsibility for the developing geographical boundaries called dioceses and local parishes. And a new form of Christian discipleship emerged during the 300s: the “monk,” men who, unlike the solitaries who lived in cities and oriented their spir-itual formation around the local church, opted out of society and went into the desert to focus their energies exclusively upon their relationship with God.

A living witness and important participant in this defining period of Christianity was Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 295-373). He was the first “doctor of the church” in the West and is known as the “Father of Orthodoxy” among Greek Christians because of his fierce defense of Christ’s divine sonship. He is the author of the four works in this volume.1

Life

Little is known of Athanasius’s early life. He appears on the scene in his twenties as the secretary and assistant to Alexan-der, bishop of Alexandria (312-328), who had ordained Athana-sius a deacon. With Alexander, he attended the Council of Ni-caea in 325. Two decisions of this first ecumenical council would later affect Athanasius. First, with the exception of pos-sibly two dissenting votes among the 250 to 318 attendees, the council fathers voted overwhelmingly that the Father and the Son are of the same substance and are coeternal. This contra-dicted the belief of the followers of Arius, who held that the Son of God was a creature, made from nothing and the Father’s first

1Two excellent studies were consulted for the preparation of this introduction and are recommended for those seeking a more in-depth study of Athanasius, his writings and his approach to spiritual formation. The first and more general introduction is a volume in the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality series titled Athanasius: The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus, translated and with an introduction by Robert C. Gregg (New York: Paulist Press, 1980). The second is more scholarly and is titled Athanasius and Asceticism by David Brakke (Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hop-kins University Press, 1995).


Introduction 13

production before all ages. Thus, the Arians believed that there was a time when the Son did not exist. Second, the council fa-thers authorized the bishop of Alexandria to annually announce the exact date of Eas-ter, the most impor-tant celebration for Christians, to all the other bishops. Inde-pendent of the He-brew calendar, this feast would be cele-brated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox.

Before Alexander died on April 17, 328, he named Athana-sius as his successor. However, it is unclear why it took more than six weeks—till June 8—for Athanasius to be elected bishop of Alexandria. Some have suggested that perhaps Athanasius had not reached the legal age required to become bishop; others have sug-gested that his election was not in accordance with the norms of the Council of Nicaea. In any event, soon after assuming the see of Alexandria, Athanasius discovered he had oppo-nents on three fronts.

Meletius (died after 325) was the founder of a Christian sect that refused to re-admit those Christians who had renounced the faith during the persecution and later repented. Known as

Athanasius


14 AthAnAsius

the Church of the Martyrs, this sect included about twenty-eight bishops, some of whom had been personally ordained by Meletius, and accepted the Arian interpretation of Christ. Rela-tively successful throughout Egypt, the Meletian bishops did not recognize Athanasius’s election.

The second group of opponents were Christians in the Alex-andrian see who considered the theological views of the Arians acceptable. They were surprised and perplexed by the strict and authoritarian response that Athanasius inherited from his former bishop, Alexander, and continued toward anything that smacked of what the Council of Nicaea considered to be the Arian heresy.

The third group who opposed Athanasius was made up of a number of fellow bishops of the Eastern church. Sympathetic to the views of Arius, they were eager to limit Athanasius’s influ-ence. The most active persecutor among these was Eusebius of Nicomedia. This third group achieved some success in 335 when a synod of bishops meeting in Tyre condemned Athana-sius. As a result of this condemnation, Constantine banished Athanasius from Alexandria and sent him to Gaul. This exile lasted two years (335-337).

Though Athanasius was bishop of Alexandria for almost forty-five years before his death on May 2, 373, he spent a large part of his episcopacy watching the storm clouds produced by the Arians gather around him. Ultimately, he would be exiled four more times (from 339-346, 356-362, 362-363 and 365-366) by four different emperors altogether: Constantine, Constan-tius, Julian and Valens. He spent his second exile in the West and his final three in the Egyptian desert.

The Life of AnTony of egypT

It was during his third exile, spent in the Egyptian desert, that


Introduction 15

Athanasius encountered Antony of Egypt (c. 251-356) and penned his masterpiece of spirituality called The Life of Antony of Egypt. The work is noteworthy for two reasons.

First, though it is written as a biography of Antony of Egypt, it clearly reflects Athanasius’s fierce opposition to the Meletian schismatics and the Arian heresy and his vehement advocacy of the interpretation of Christ decided upon at the Council of Ni-caea. There is no evidence in other sources, such as The Sayings of the Desert Fathers, that Antony had any interest in combating heresies, which indi-cates to scholars that the statements of An-tony against the Mele-tians and Arians found in paragraphs 68-70, 89 and 91 are more than likely the opin-ions and advice of Athanasius. With The Life of Antony of Egypt, Athanasius is promot-ing his own doctrinal beliefs and trying to frustrate and impede any further spread of the Arian heresy, es-pecially among the monks of the desert. The biography of the Egyptian hermit therefore gives us a win-dow into the soul of the bishop of Alexandria.

Second, The Life of Antony of Egypt was immensely popular and quickly attained the status of a classic. By the end of the

Antony the Great


16 AthAnAsius

fourth century, it was translated into Latin for those who could not read Greek and found its way to Gaul and Italy. Conse-quently, some of the themes found in Athanasius’s work be-came the ideals of early Christian spiritual formation. These include (numbers in parentheses indicate the paragraphs in which they’re found in The Life of Antony of Egypt):

• the challenge and transformative power of Scripture (2, 3)

• the importance of a spiritual companion, especially for learning spiritual practices (3, 4, 15, 16)

• the importance of work and almsgiving as spiritual practices (3, 53)

• spiritual formation as spiritual warfare against the devil (5, 7, 13, 30, 42, 43, 51)

• Christ as the source of all spiritual progress and all spiritual gifts (5, 7, 10, 14, 19, 30, 38, 42, 48, 58, 80, 84)

• training of the physical body (7, 45)

• physical solitude as a spiritual practice (8, 11, 12, 14, 84)

• the ultimate victory of Christ over Satan (9, 24, 28, 35, 40)

• the effect of spiritual formation on the body, mind and emo-tions (14)

• the importance of perseverance (17-20)

• simplicity of life (17, 47, 50, 93)

• the importance of the discernment of spirits (22-37, 43)

• the importance of charity and hospitality, even as a hermit (46, 50)

Contemporary readers of this work are often intrigued and fascinated by Antony’s adventures in the desert and his battles with demons. Scenes of his emergence from solitude with a body


Introduction 17

unblemished by the discipline of fasting and the passage of time, demons materializing in his presence, physical beatings by the devil, and the obedience of a captured animal who ate freely from his vegetable garden seem exotic and fanciful. But to focus literally upon these details of the story is to miss two important points of Athanasius’s intended spiritual teaching.

First and foremost, in emphasizing the physicality of the devil and his attacks, the author wants to convey the fact that the devil and temptation are real. There exists a reality of dark-ness and evil that not only stands in direct opposition to the kingdom of God but also actively works against it. Christians faithful to the teachings of Christ will come into conflict with this realm. Spiritual warfare is a perennial and timeless fact.

Second, just as spiritual warfare is real, so too is spiritual transformation. Athanasius wants to encourage readers of The Life of Antony of Egypt to resist temptation and remain faithful to the teachings of Christ; this will lead them back to the orig-inal innocence enjoyed in the Garden of Eden. Antony’s un-blemished body, his talking to animals and his becoming an instrument of Christ’s healing for others all suggest a man who has been revived, renewed and renovated by the grace of God into someone approaching a “new Adam” (see 1 Corinthians 15:45-49). This transformation forms the heart of the spiritual formation process for Athanasius.

The Life of Antony of Egypt defined the parameters of Chris-tian spiritual formation for nine centuries until the geographi-cal focus of spiritual formation shifted to the small town of Assisi, Italy, with the mendicant revolution initiated by its most famous citizen, Francis.

AthAnAsius’s Other Writings

Because the Arian controversy forced Athanasius to spend more


18 AthAnAsius

than one-third of his episcopacy in exile, it is not surprising that an overarching theme of his forty-plus extant Greek writ-ings is the articulation of the ramifications of the Council of Nicaea vis-à-vis the beliefs of the Arians. Works such as Against the Pagans, On the Incarnation, Orations Against the Arians, De-fense of the Nicene Definition and Defense Against the Arians deal either directly or indirectly with this issue. His Letters to Sera-pion Concerning the Holy Spirit, in which Athanasius defends the divinity of the Holy Spirit, is another example of how im-portant a role polemics played in the bishop’s writing career.

Though his polemical writings suggest a strong theological background and understanding, his Festal Letters and other in-dividual letters suggest a bishop who was also serious about the practical details of the episcopal ministry and the pastoral con-cerns of those to whom he ministered. As required by the Council of Nicaea, he announced the exact date of Easter in an annual letter and, with the pastoral sense of a teacher, some-times offered reflections upon the Paschal Mystery. In other letters, we see Athanasius encouraging, challenging and some-times cajoling the recipient.

In addition, his biblical exegeses on three books of the Old Testament (Genesis, Song of Solomon and Psalms) as well as his On Virginity and On Charity and Self-Control, together with The Life of Antony of Egypt, reveal a man who knew how to swim in the waters of spiritual formation. Typically remem-bered as a theologian, a defender of the faith and a bishop, Athanasius was also a wise spiritual master who, as suggested in his first two Festal Letters, had been taught early on the es-sentials of the spiritual life either by his episcopal predecessor, Alexander, or by some Christian teacher in Alexandria.

What emerges from the Athanasian corpus of writings—those written in Greek and some only preserved in Coptic, both


Introduction 19

complete and fragmentary—is a multitalented person, an extra-ordinarily dedicated Christian and a bishop who was always quick to defend the orthodox faith while encouraging his flock to be faithful to the faith they had professed.

A guide fOr spirituAL fOrmAtiOn

InterVarsity Press’s Classics in Spiritual Formation series brings the classics of Christian spirituality to contemporary Chris-tians through paraphrases in colloquial English. Its unique em-phasis on the practices of spiritual formation steered the choos-ing of the four works by Athanasius found in this volume.

The Life of Antony of Egypt was an obvious choice because of the way it shaped the earliest practices of spiritual formation for almost a millennium. Indeed, it would not be an exaggera-tion to say that after the Sermon on the Mount and the earliest practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving recommended by Jesus himself in the Gospels, The Life of Antony of Egypt was the next essential guide to the Christian spiritual life.

The history of Christian spiritual formation has often wit-nessed an unhealthy strain of spirituality that distrusts the body and anything associated with it, particularly the sexual organs. Such strains are a radical contradiction to the wonder of the incarnation and to the temple of the Holy Spirit borne in the believer’s physical body. Athanasius’s Letter to Ammoun is a vivid reminder that scruples regarding the body and its func-tions come, in point of fact, from the powers of darkness.

The Letter to Dracontius deals with what many people today consider to be the “schizophrenic split” between one’s spiritual life and one’s ordinary life in the world. There has always been a tendency to consider the latter a threat to the former. This was Dracontius’s mistaken belief as he ran from accepting the episcopal office for fear it would negatively influence his spiri-


20 AthAnAsius

tual formation. Athanasius, with some tough words at times, tries to set the newly elected bishop straight.

Scripture has been the critical companion for any believer on the spiritual journey as exemplified in the praying of the Psalms found in the desert and monastic traditions, the imitation of the life of Christ found in the mendicant tradition, and the hearing and preaching of the Word of God, championed by Paul and enshrined in the Protestant Reformation. The frag-ment we have of Athanasius’s Festal Letter 39 is the first his-torical record of the books that make up the canon of the Chris-tian Scriptures. It was included here for that very reason.

To mine the timeless wisdom found in these pages requires more than a perfunctory reading of each of the works. You will have to read slowly and meditatively, pausing and pondering the obvious and, at other times, the hidden. This will result in a clearer understanding of and deeper appreciation for spiritual formation that is the Athanasian legacy to the history of Chris-tian spirituality.

Once when he was asked for advice about writing, William Wordsworth responded, “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” In this volume, you will encounter the heart of a man which, though beating more than seventeen centuries ago, still exhales the wisdom and passion of the Spirit of the living God.

Albert Haase, O.F.M.May 2, Feast of Saint Athanasius


1

the Life of Antony of Egypt

the Life of Our holy Father Antony(Written and sent to monks everywhere)

i

So you have decided to throw your hat into the ring with the Egyptian monks and try to match or even outshine them in the practice of spiritual formation! You have the place to do it and you know the names of the monks who live there get top bill-ing. Kudos to you—and I wouldn’t be surprised if God answers your prayers and grants you the grace of transformation.

I was tickled to death to hear that you asked about the spiritual practices and way of life of blessed Antony—what he was like before God’s grace touched him, how he re-sponded to God’s grace and how he died. And to think you even wanted to know if all of this was just pie-in-the-sky pious legend! Truth be told, it’s not worth imitating a pious legend. Antony was the real deal, and as far as I’m concerned, just remembering how he responded to God’s grace and what happened as a result gives me goose bumps because the same could happen to you and me. So rather than just sit on the


22 AthAnAsius

sidelines and applaud his success, let’s try to walk in his shoes. After all, he sets a good example for the practices of spiritual formation.

Don’t be cynical or jaded about what you hear from others about him. These reports are just pieces of a larger jigsaw puzzle—and let me tell you, even if you strong-armed me to tell you everything I know in this letter, there’s a lot more than what’s mentioned here. So don’t hesitate to ask others who might set sail from here. Even with everyone’s various stories and tales about his generous response to God’s grace, you’ll still find a piece or two missing from the big picture.

After getting the request in your letter, I was going to get to-gether with some monks who knew Antony and get the com-plete scoop on him. After that, I was going to write you a full report. However, the weather is starting to change and it’s not the best time to sail. On top of that, the letter-carrier is getting itchy feet. So instead, I have written what I myself know of Antony—and let me be blunt, I have seen him often and even hung out with him on occasion, so I know what I’m talking about. So you are getting it straight from the horse’s mouth: the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Antony was an Egyptian. His parents came from good stock and had money. Since his parents were Christian, Antony was raised a believer. Growing up as a child, home was all he knew. As he got older, he didn’t show any interest in school or in hav-ing classmates be his friends. Rather, like Jacob in the Old Tes-tament (see Genesis 25:27), he just wanted to live a quiet life at home with no drama or worries. Though rich, he wasn’t a spoiled brat, demanding steak and potatoes; rather, he was quite content with what was placed before him at meals and wanted nothing more.

[1]


The Life of Antony of Egypt 23

He was obedient and went to church with his parents. Atten-tive to the readings he heard there, Antony developed a knack for having the transformative words of the Scriptures enter his ears and stick in his heart.

The deaths of both of Antony’s parents left him alone with one sister. He was about eighteen or twenty years old.

It wasn’t even six months after his parents’ deaths when he had a life-changing experience. As he typically did, he was walk-ing to church one day. As he gathered his thoughts, he began thinking about how the apostles left everything and followed the Savior, and how it says in Acts that some believers sold their pos-sessions and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles for dis-tribution to those in need, and how people who do such things have a great hope stored up for themselves in heaven.

He was reflecting upon these things as he entered the church. At the exact moment that he entered, the Gospel of Matthew was being read and he heard the Lord saying to the rich man, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (19:21 nrsv). It was as if God had planned for him to be thinking about the saints at the exact time the Scripture passage was being read so that Antony would know this word was meant for him.

He immediately left the church and gave the townspeople all the possessions he had inherited, which included about three hundred acres of fertile and beautiful land.

“Now me and Sis are free of burdens,” he said to himself and sighed with relief.

And selling all the rest that he could pick up with his hands, he donated the sizable proceeds to the poor, holding back a few things for his sister.

[2]


24 AthAnAsius

Soon afterward, he was back in church. And this time he heard the Lord saying in the Gospel reading, “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own” (Matthew 6:34 nrsv). These words rattled his con-science since he felt they referred to the things he had hung on to for his sister.

He squirmed and squirmed. Within minutes, he left and gave those things he had previously held back for his sister to the needy. He placed his sister in a convent, giv-ing trustworthy and re-spected women vowed to virginity the respon-sibility of raising and educating her. He then let household responsi-bilities slide and got se-rious about his own spiritual formation. He started by reflecting upon his life and pa-tiently learning spiri-tual practices.

Monasteries in Egypt at this time were few and no monk was fa-miliar with the distant and great desert; conse-quently, those wishing to focus upon spiritual

[3]

By Antony’s day in the fourth century, the Lord’s Supper, gradually being called the Missa ( from the Latin for “dismissal”), was no longer celebrated in homes but in small churches and was moving away from a simple meal to a ritual with a central prayer called the “Canon.” Celebrated on Sundays, it consisted of two set readings (one from the writings of the prophets and the other from the memories of the Gospel writers), a reflection or homily based upon the readings, and the Canon or Eucharistic Prayer. By this time, the ritual of the Mass included processions, genuflections, incense, bells, sacred vessels and special clothing



formation did so in solitude and isolation, not far from their own village.

Now at that time in the neighboring village there was an old man who had lived as a hermit since he was young. After seeing this man, Antony decided to imitate his life of devotion.

He initially decided to live in places right outside his own village. And then, if he heard of any spiritual master anywhere,

like a bloodhound he would sniff him out. Once he had found him and stocked up on sup-plies for the spiritual journey, he would then return home.

Spending the begin-ning of his formation on the outskirts of his village, he confirmed his decision not to give any attention to matters dealing with his former life or his relatives. All his desire and energy were focused upon deepening his spiritual life. However, he did work with his hands since he had heard, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat” (2 Thessalo-nians 3:10); what he earned he spent partly

worn by the presider called vestments. It was also probably around Antony’s lifetime that the Christian community definitively decided upon the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. Written Bibles were rare. Ordinary Christians, and Antony in particular due to his lack of formal education, relied upon their hearing for knowledge of the Scriptures. This would have occurred almost exclusively at the Sunday Mass. Antony’s dramatic encounter with the Sunday gospel in church reveals an important aspect of spiritual formation: it all begins with the grace and call of God’s Word.


26 AthAnAsius

on bread and the rest he gave in alms to the poor. He prayed all the time, since he learned it is necessary to

pray unceasingly. For he was so attentive to the Word of God that not one single letter was ever wasted or ignored—every-thing went into his ear and straight to his heart where it was written on his memory.

Antony was loved by everyone because of the way he lived. He listened intently and obeyed the holy men he visited and took note of those areas in his own life where he did not live up to

their zeal and disci-pline. He observed the thoughtfulness of one and the love of prayer in another; he noticed another’s freedom from anger and the kindness of another; he took note of one as he lived in the present moment, of an-other as he studied; he admired one for his perseverance, another for his fasting and sleeping on the ground; he carefully watched the gentleness of one and the spirit of trust-ful acceptance and sur-render of another. He

couldn’t help but notice the burning devotion to Christ and mutual love which fueled them all.

Antony’s attention to the Word of God suggests an important spiritual practice with Scripture. This practice begins with hearing the Word of God, perhaps memorizing the phrase or verse which touches or stings, and then “treasuring” and “pondering” it as exemplified in Luke 2:19 (nrsv). Such pondering moves beyond superficial reflection to a deeper, contemplative brooding where the Word is allowed to shape and transform attitudes and behaviors.

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Edified and challenged by the witness of these holy men, he returned home intent upon absorbing their virtues and living them out in his own spiritual formation. He did not consider himself in competition with others of his own age except to say that he was not content with the silver medal; he constantly strove for the gold. And he did this not to shame them but to edify them, as he himself had been edified by others.

The villagers and his spiritual friends, seeing the example set by An-tony, used to call him “the beloved of God.” Some even welcomed him as a son, others as a brother.

The devil, who despises anything that is good, could not stomach see-ing a young man ablaze with such spiritual devotion. So he decided to pull out some of the tricks he had up his sleeve in hopes of throwing cold water on Antony’s spiritual practices.

He started with mind games. He conjured up memories of An-tony’s former life—his possessions, his sister and relatives, and a carefree life stuffed with the p’s of possessions, prestige and pleas-ure. He then compared that with the time-consuming demands and energy-depleting challenges of spiritual formation. That’s how the devil tried to put the kibosh on Antony’s devotion. But he failed. He was no match for the beloved of God. On the contrary, he was being left in the dust by Antony’s own version of the three p’s: firm persistence, religious persuasion and constant prayers.

Spiritual formation has never been confined to the written page. It is a lived reality that for centuries has been handed down in the witness and words of the holy men and women who have preceded us. That’s why those students who are faithful to it sooner or later become its teachers.

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28 AthAnAsius

That’s when the devil decided to take it up a notch and hit below the belt—literally! Knowing from experience that lust is typically the chink in the armor of youth, he advanced against the young man, disturbing him by night and harassing him by day. The devil hurled obscene and lewd thoughts; the beloved of

God countered them with prayers. The devil torched him with sex-ual desires; Antony, seeming to blush, doused his body with faith, prayer and fast-ing. In an act of despera-tion, the devil one night assumed the form of a woman and imitated her actions in hopes of seducing Antony. But having his mind fixed upon Christ and the spiritual relationship that Christ makes pos-sible, Antony extin-guished the devil’s fire.

The enemy again at-tacked, purring with soft and seductive psalmody in praise of the pursuit of pleasure. Antony, however, was angered and, mulling over the consequences of eternal damnation, managed to emerge from this offensive unscathed.

All of this shamed the devil. And he who considered himself like God was now made a fool of by this mere young mortal; he who boasted of himself as surpassing flesh and blood was

Athanasius notes how important it is to express sexual desires appropriately according to one’s state in life. This is a crucial insight. Our sexual desires say more about us and our selfishness than we are sometimes willing to admit. When expressed appropriately, sexual desires can be a catalyst for a deeper experience of divine love in our lives. However, when expressed inappropriately, they can become the instrument of slavery and addiction.



brought to his knees by that very flesh and blood.Antony’s secret weapon in these battles was the Lord—the

very Lord who took on flesh for our sake and gave the body vic-tory over the devil, so that all who resist temptations can truly say, “It was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Cor-inthians 15:10 nrsv).

When that dragon finally realized that his strategy wasn’t working and that single-hearted Antony refused to serve two masters, he gnashed his teeth as the Scriptures say. He then decided to mani-fest his dark and salacious self in the image of a lustful local lad. And, almost admitting defeat by no longer lobbing thoughts at Antony, he spoke in a human voice and said, “I have tricked and triumphed over many. But your tenacity is too much for me.”

Antony asked, “Who are you?”He sputtered an immediate reply. “I am the friend of fornica-

tion. I ply my trade against the young and weak on late-night street corners and in darkened alleys. I am the spirit of pure, unadulterated, hot and steamy sex. I have seduced many who wanted to live chastely! How many, steeled with willpower, have I broken like toothpicks! I am the one in bed with those whom the prophet lambastes, saying, ‘They’ve replaced their God with their genitals’ (Hosea 4:12). Thanks to me and my al-luring charm, they sold their souls and dropped their pants. I am the one who kept trying to seduce you but you refused to take the bait.”

Antony gave thanks to God and courageously replied, “You are a pathetic little wimp. From now on, you won’t cause me any drama, for ‘God’s my strong champion; I flick off my ene-mies like flies’” (Psalm 118:7).

Hearing these words, the dragon cringed, cowered and slith-ered away, afraid to even go near the beloved of God.

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30 AthAnAsius

That was Antony’s first run-in with the devil. And, truth be told, it was actually the Savior’s victory—the Savior who “con-demned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4 nrsv).

Antony didn’t sit back and prop up his feet as if the battle were over. Nor did the enemy. On the contrary, the devil con-tinued prowling around like a lion looking for other ways to attack since, as the Scriptures had taught the beloved of God, the enemy has a large bag of tricks.

Though he had won the battle of the flesh, Antony, for his part, knew the sweetheart of sin would scheme and connive in other ways for victory. That’s why he continued, strength-ened and even increased his spiritual practices and physical discipline so that, having mastered some areas, he wouldn’t lose in others.

People were amazed at his strict spiritual practices, but An-tony took them all in stride. He was so ready and willing to grow in his relationship with God that he heeded even the smallest of suggestions from others. He inspired wonder as he spent endless nights in prayer. He ate only once a day, after the sun set, and sometimes once in two days; often he ate only once in four days. And he only ate bread and salt and drank only water—don’t even think about meat and wine which was un-heard of among such spiritual men. He slept on a straw mat but more often on the bare ground. He wouldn’t even moisturize his skin with oil, saying that young people needed to be strict in spiritual discipline and not do anything to relax the body, for the apostle Paul says, “For whenever I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10 nrsv).

He used to say that the vigor of the soul intensified to the degree that the pleasures of the body were decreased. And he

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Athanasius: The Life of Antony in Egypt by Albert Haase

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