Saints of the Russian Orthodox Church: Anthony the Great /the Hermit

Saint Antony the Great/Antony the Hermit (257-356) is an early Christian ascetic, a founder of the Christian monasticism highly venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church. His steadfastness & force of the Saint Spirit inspire the believers & serve a good example to follow.

Saint Antony was born in a rich Coptic family devoted to Christianity. They died when he was 20 years old. He left alone with his younger sister. Once attending a liturgy he made a decision to become a monk: he gave his riches to the poor, cared about his sister & began serving a Christian oldman – hermit who he left as soon as he reached a good spiritual level.

He settled in the Desert Fathers (Thebais) where he practised a hard life of a hermit without almost communicating with people. His spiritual trial lasted for 20 years. Saint Antony was tempted hard by Devil so his austerity was growing but even for him it was not easy to stand all the diabolic designs. At the end, he had a vision of Christ who liberated him from his spiritual quest. Since 305 Saint Antony changed his way of life. He began appearing in the world to support chased Christians & formed a circle of first followers, future monks.

Meanwhile times changed. Christian persecutions ceased. Saint Antony was already 70 years old when he learnt about it. About 350 AD he participated in the Arian dispute. He convinced the Council & the crowd that he had never practised Arianism & found proper words to explain that it was a heresy.

The Saint spent last years of his life in the desert accompanied with two followers. He died at the age of 105. By his will his tomb was kept in secret & discovered only in a long period of time.

Saint Antony is the father of monkhood. His biographies written by various Christian authors contain plenty of useful instructions & quotes the Saint left to us:

“One who has never been tempted won’t find himself in Paradise. None will be saved if he faced any temptation”.

“Die everyday to live for ever as one who fears God will live unto ages of ages”.

Saint Antony the Hermit is celebrated on the 30th of January.

Maria KethuProfumo