A lot of texts have been written about this ancient Christian holy father, but the work of Athanasius the Great "The Life of Anthony the Great" occupies a special place. This work is considered one of the best thanks to instructive descriptions of the ascetic life of the holy ascetic.
St. Anthony became the founder of Christian hermit monasticism. This is when several hermits, under the guidance of an abba (one mentor), live in caves (sketes) or huts separately from each other and constantly indulge in prayer, fasting and work. Several sketes under the control of the abba were called lavra, hence the name that has survived to this day: Kiev-Pechersk, Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, etc.
Before we figure out what St. Anthony the Great helps with, let's plunge into the history of his life, since it is there that we will find all the answers to our questions.
Life
The Monk Anthony was born in Egypt, in the village of Koma, near Heliopolis, in the year 251. His family is from a noble family, his parents were Christians, so he was brought up according to Christ's commandments. All his childhood was spent in his parents' house. Closer to adolescence, they wanted to give him to learn to read and write, but the young boy refused to leave his father's house. And he practically did not communicate with his peers.
Antony grew up as an obedient son and loved to go to the temple of God with his father and mother. Everything that was read and preached there, he listened attentively. Despite the fact that his family was rich, the boy was modest and did not require exquisite outfits, dishes and other excesses, everything was moderate, for pedagogical purposes.
Fate
When the parents of St. Anthony the Great died, he remained in charge of the elder and began to take care of the large household and his younger sister. By that time he was about twenty years old. Some time later, an incident happened to him, which determined his entire future fate.
One day, as he usually did, Anthony was about to go to the temple. Along the way, he was always thinking. The apostles and believers came to his mind, who, selling their property and leaving everything worldly, put all their means before the disciples of the Lord and followed Him.
God's providence
Having crossed the threshold of the temple, the rich young man heard the words addressed to him from the Gospel (Matt., 19:21). He immediately got the impression that the Savior himself was talking to him.
It was a passage from the Gospel, where Jesus Christ is talking to a young man who fulfilled the precepts of Christ, but still wanted to know what else he lacks in the spiritual life. Jesus replied that if he wants to be perfect, let him sell all hisHe will distribute the property, the money received, to the poor and then he will have all the blessings in heaven, and then let him come and follow Him. Hearing these words, the young man was sad and went away, because he had a large estate, and he was not going to sell it.
In this gospel passage, the Lord speaks of one of the most important vows of monks - non-possession. Antony took these words to heart. As if it was for him personally. In the life of St. Anthony the Great it is written that he immediately sold the estate and dozens of hectares of fertile land. He distributed one part of the proceeds to local people so that they would not disturb him, and the other part to the poor. The third part was received by the sister, who was given to the care of the virtuous virgins living in the monastery. Anthony himself indulged in solitary prayer not far from his father's house.
Monasticism
Starting his ascetic journey, Antony began to realize that he lacked a spiritual mentor, so he sometimes left his secluded place and went in search of wise people in order to receive wise guidance from them. But then he returned to his original place again. Thus, step by step, he enriched his ascetic path with the light of divine service and prayer.
The future saint did not forget about physical labor, as he tried to earn his living, and donated the rest of his belongings to disadvantaged people.
Difficulties
All the inhabitants of the surroundings saw the good deeds of Anthony and treated him very respectfully. But this was of the least interest to him, since he constantlyhe indulged in a more difficult feat - a prayerful vigil, which he could spend whole nights. He ate once a day - after sunset. His food was the simplest - bread with s alt and plain water.
The holy hermit slept mostly on bare ground, and matting served as a blanket for him. Then he decided to aggravate his ascetic feat and retired to the tombs. In one of them, he imprisoned himself and blocked the entrance with a large boulder, having agreed in advance with his acquaintance that he would bring him bread.
In the tomb, the saint experienced many temptations, but he withstood all this with dignity and only strengthened his spirit. Saint Anthony spent about fifteen years in his voluntary imprisonment. Then, in 285, he withdrew east from the Nile River and found a mountain there to retire to pray. There he spent another twenty years.
New hermitage
He soon found a place where people had not lived for a long time, but it was filled with all sorts of earthly reptiles. However, as soon as the monk settled in it, they disappeared somewhere, as if some powerful force had expelled them. Anthony, having prepared for himself a six-month supply of bread (he got water in his dwelling), took refuge inside. Bread was brought to him twice a year.
Sometimes people would come to him to talk to him, but he wouldn't let anyone near his fence. But if he understood that this was the will of God, then he talked with this person through a small window of his, so to speak, reclusive cell.
Intrigues of enemies
Visitors sometimes heard strange sounds from his room,similar to cries, roars, groans and moans, someone obsessively asked the reverend to leave this place. People were wondering what was going on there. As they got closer to the window, they saw screaming demons. From fear, people began to scream and call Anthony. He, approaching the door from the inside, immediately recommended that they leave this place as soon as possible and, relying on the will of the Lord, not to be afraid of anything.
St. Anthony the Great spent twenty years of his life in this cell. Gradually, the people paved the way to him again, because some of them wanted to imitate him.
One day, people who strongly wanted to see the holy hermit decided to kick his door. The saint immediately went to them. Through the prayers of St. Anthony the Great, then many of those present were healed of their ailments, and demons were expelled from some.
Maximian
St. Anthony the Great knew how to speak inspired speeches and thus consoled the suffering, reconciled the warring, and some of them embarked on the monastic path. Over time, other monks began to settle near the hermit's cell. And listening to the will of God, he became their spiritual mentor. Monasteries at that time were organized in the likeness of such sketes.
But in 308, Emperor Maximian staged a cruel persecution of Christians, whose blood flowed in rivers. The holy martyrs were sent to Alexandria for trial, and Anthony followed them to take part in a dispute with the Arians. He wanted to die for Christ, but did not want to deliberately provoke the rulers to be executed. And it was contrary to the providence of God.
During this period, he helped in any way he could,courageous confessors imprisoned in dungeons. But most importantly, he supported them spiritually, called for steadfastness of faith.
Retaliation
This behavior of Anthony and the monks around him did not please the judge, and then he ordered them to leave the city. Some of his wards decided to leave, but the next day, Antony, having washed his clothes, again appeared before the hegemon in everything clean, defiantly challenging the tormentors. For this, an early death threatened him, but this was not pleasing to God.
When Bishop Peter of Alexandria died as a martyr, Saint Anthony left this ill-fated city back to his monastery to retire again in prayer.
New Hermitage
The prayer of St. Anthony the Great was so strong and divinely inspired that people, feeling it, did not leave the monk alone and came to him in droves. And again he consoled them, gave instructions and healed. From this, more and more people began to come to him. Not wanting to be thought highly of him, he decided to go to the Upper Thebaid, where he was not known. But while waiting for the ship, sitting on the shore, he heard the words of the Lord to go to the inner desert. The saint did not know the way there, but the Lord told him to join the Saracens. After spending three days on the road, Antony saw a mountain surrounded by a plain with several palm trees, and a cool spring flowing at its foot. He immediately understood that the Lord was talking about this place.
In the rock he found a small cave and indulged in divine thought. This mountain later became known as Antoniev. The Saracens, who sometimes visited the area, brought him bread. In order not to burden them, he found a plot of land and sowed it with wheat. However, the people found him again, and then he realized that it was impossible to hide from people, and began to grow vegetables to strengthen the strength of his wards.
Fighting wild animals
Uninvited guests - wild animals - immediately began to come to the garden to St. Anthony the Great. One day, having caught one of them, he mercifully asked him to tell all the rest of his brethren not to visit this place and not harm the beds. And so it happened - wild animals did not appear here anymore.
Time passed and Antony grew old. Because of his poor he alth, the monks begged him for permission to bring him vegetables, olives, and oil. And he gave them his own wicker baskets in return (as he wanted to repay them for their care).
New trials and wonders
One day the pious brethren asked Anthony to visit their monastery, and he agreed. On the way, they ran out of water, and they began to die of thirst, but through the miraculous prayer of the reverend, a source of pure water suddenly broke out of the earth.
After staying with the monks for some more time, the holy righteous returned to his inner mountain to again perform his prayers in complete humility and silence.
But people still did not leave him alone, and so a wave of rumors about the miracle worker reached the Tsar Constantine the Great himself and his sons, who wrote him a letter. The pious elder did not accept him, explaining to the envoys,that he should not be surprised at the attention of the king, but rather - to God, who revealed himself through His Only Begotten Son.
But then other monks intervened and told how these kings help and protect Christianity, and if their messages are ignored, they can be tempted.
Departure to another world
Saint Anthony the Great knew the day of his death in advance. Before that, he visited the monks on the outer mountain and warned that he would soon leave this world. The monks, upset by this news, began to tearfully ask him to accept death in their monastery. But he refused, giving them parting words.
A few months passed and Antony fell ill. Before the day of his death, he called two monks who lived with him and helped him because of his old age, said goodbye to them and bequeathed to bury his body in the ground.
The life of St. Anthony the Great says that he lived for almost 106 years, and in 356 the monk reposed before the Lord.
Devil persecution
In his life, amazing things really happened. The devil himself entered into a fight with him, who began to repair all sorts of intrigues for him, driving him out of these places and setting up his vile nets.
At first, he tempted the monk with memories of a carefree past, we alth, an abandoned sister, delicacies in food and amenities, catching up the fear of weakness of the body and difficulties on the path of monastic life.
But the holy hermit knew how to deal with such temptations. His weapons in his deeds were faith, a strong spirit, heartfelt prayer, love and hope in the Lord.
Testpassions
It is in these passages from his life that one can understand what St. Anthony the Great helps with. Then the evil one decided to act in a different way. He assumed the form of a woman and came to Antony in the night. But fornication did not quench the zealous faith of the holy monk in the Lord, who brought to mind thoughts of fire in hell. And then the heat of satanic deception went out.
Seeing that this monk is a zealous ascetic, Satan called his mortal and evil spirits. At night they came and beat the monk half to death. According to St. Anthony, the pain he experienced was impossible, it could not even be compared with the pain inflicted by people. But the merciful God did not leave Anthony without consolation and help, whom He healed and put on his feet.
Uninvited visitors
And again, flattering Satan got angry, did not leave the poor monk alone and again subjected him to a terrible test. The evil one wanted to break the will of the saint and passionately wanted to bring him to complete despair. At night such thunder struck, from which the walls of the reclusive cell of the monk trembled and almost fell apart. And then the servants of Satan in the form of wild animals rushed to him from all sides. They growled, howled and hissed, and all wanted to pounce on Antony to tear him to pieces. The lion was ready to rush at any moment and froze in a jump, the wolf grinned, the kite writhed, and the ox butted.
Wounded by the attacks of intruders, Antony writhed in excruciating pain, because it was unbearable, but he did not feel fear. He began to denounce the evil spirits and told them that if they were really strong andhad power, then even one could cope with it, but there are many of them, which means that the Lord took everything from them. Then, under the shield of divine faith, he added that they should not frighten him, but attack faster, but if they do not have such power, then it is not worth trying. And the hermit gave himself up to prayer.
Another rescue
After these bold words, the roof of his cell seemed to open, and a beam of light penetrated the vacated space. The demons immediately disappeared, the pain stopped, and the dwelling became the same. Anthony continued to pray, encouraged by the Lord, and all this evil spirits dispersed like black smoke.
But again the devil did not calm down, and this time he decided to test the monk's love of money by serving him a silver dish. But when the monk realized why all this was being done, he thought that the dish itself would be to the death of the devil. And it really disappeared somewhere.
Beneficial Faith
The next time Satan called himself God and the providence of God (so cunningly he wanted to break the spirit of the reverend). But he couldn't do it. Then he sent fierce hyenas to the saint. But even then the holy hermit did not flinch, but the Lord saved and sent evil to where it came from.
Many, many insidious trials were arranged for him by the enemy, but thanks to his unshakable faith, the saint never gave up, since his reliable weapon was a prayer to the Savior, who always protected his righteous servant.
Now on January 30, the church honors the day of memory of St. Anthony the Great. Anthony the Great left many of his teachings forChristians, but they were made up of various philanthropists, since he himself was not a church writer. In the teachings of St. Anthony the Great, there is a whole charter of hermit life and its external orders.
Icon of Anthony the Great (photo)
An interesting fact is that the saint looked quite youthful until old age, even though the icons depict him as an old man. On the icon of Anthony the Great, you can see that he has a thick full beard and a piercing look. On icons, he can be depicted waist-deep or full-length.
On the icon of St. Anthony the Great, you can also see that he holds a staff in the form of a cross and Holy Scripture in his hands. Sometimes bells can be depicted nearby to scare away demons and a pig.
By the way, the oldest monastery and temple of St. Anthony the Great is still preserved in Egypt. It is located in the northern Arabian desert and belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Before the icon of St. Anthony the Great, they pray for the mental and physical he alth of their loved ones. An interesting fact is that the saint himself had amazing he alth, despite his hard ascetic life.
Many are interested in questions about what St. Anthony the Great helps with and how to pray to him. They pray to the reverend elder so that he strengthens in faith, teaches humility, delivers from demonic attacks, saves from all sorts of temptations: dependence on drunkenness and smoking. They say it helps to endure age-related diseases more easily and people whothose who pray to him live longer.
Prayer to Anthony the Great begins with the words "Oh, great servant of God, Reverend Father Anthony!"
