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tion 4 1 coptic literature 5 translations 6 see also 7 notes 8 references 9 sources 10 external links toggle the table of contents anthony the great 65 languages afrikaans alemannisch aragonés العربية مصرى asturianu беларуская тарашкевіца беларуская български brezhoneg català čeština dansk deutsch ελληνικά esperanto español euskara فارسی suomi français frysk galego गोंयची कोंकणी gõychi konknni עברית hrvatski magyar հայերեն bahasa indonesia italiano 日本語 ქართული 한국어 latina lombard lietuvių latviešu malagasy македонски മലയാളം nederlands norsk nynorsk norsk bokmål polski português română русский sardu srpskohrvatski српскохрватски slovenčina slovenščina shqip српски srpski svenska kiswahili தமிழ் ไทย türkçe українська اردو vèneto tiếng việt winaray 吴语 中文 edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikimedia commons wikiquote wikisource wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia egyptian christian monk and hermit died 356 saint anthony abbot redirects here for other uses see saint anthony abbot disambiguation saint anthony the great saint anthony the great by michael damaskinos 16th century venerable and god bearing father of monasticism and all monks born 12 january 251 koma province of egypt roman empire died 17 january 356 356 01 17 aged 105 mount colzim province of egypt roman empire venerated in eastern orthodox church oriental orthodox church catholic church assyrian church of the east anglican communion lutheranism elca canonized pre congregation major shrine monastery of st anthony egypt saint antoine l abbaye france st antony the great shrine marambadi dindigul tamil nadu india feast 17 january eastern orthodox catholic church anglican lutheranism elca 22 tobi coptic calendar attributes bell lamb book tau cross 1 2 tau cross with bell pendant 3 patronage animals skin diseases farmers butchers the poor basket makers brushmakers gravediggers 4 pontifical ecclesiastical academy rome 5 anthony the great a c 12 january 251 17 january 356 was a christian monk from egypt revered since his death as a saint he is distinguished from other saints named anthony such as anthony of padua by various epithets anthony of egypt anthony the abbot anthony of the desert anthony the anchorite anthony the hermit and anthony of thebes for his importance among the desert fathers and to all later christian monasticism he is also known as the father of all monks his feast day is celebrated on 17 january among the eastern orthodox and catholic churches and on tobi 22 in the coptic calendar the biography of anthony s life by athanasius of alexandria helped to spread the concept of christian monasticism particularly in western europe via its latin translations he is often erroneously considered the first christian monk but as his biography and other sources make clear there were many ascetics before him anthony was however among the first known to go into the wilderness about ad 270 which seems to have contributed to his renown 6 accounts of anthony enduring supernatural temptation during his sojourn in the eastern desert of egypt inspired the depiction of his temptations in visual art and literature anthony is invoked against infectious diseases particularly skin diseases in the past many such afflictions including ergotism erysipelas and shingles were referred to as saint anthony s fire life of anthony edit most of what is known about anthony comes from the life of anthony written in greek c 360 by athanasius of alexandria it depicts anthony as an illiterate and holy man who through his existence in a primordial landscape has an absolute connection to the divine truth which is always in harmony with that of athanasius as the biographer 6 a continuation of the genre of secular greek biography 7 it became his most widely read work 8 sometime before 374 it was translated into latin by evagrius of antioch the latin translation helped the life become one of the best known works of literature in the christian world a status it would hold through the middle ages 9 translated into several languages it became something of a best seller in its day and played an important role in the spreading of the ascetic ideal in eastern and western christianity it later served as an inspiration to christian monastics in both the east and the west 10 and helped to spread the concept of christian monasticism particularly in western europe via its latin translations many stories are also told about anthony in the sayings of the desert fathers anthony probably spoke only his native language coptic but his sayings were spread in a greek translation he himself dictated letters in coptic seven of which are extant 11 life edit early years edit anthony was born in koma in lower egypt to wealthy landowner parents when he was about 20 years old his parents died and left him with the care of his unmarried sister shortly thereafter he decided to follow the gospel exhortation in matthew 19 21 if you want to be perfect go sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven anthony gave away some of his family s lands to his neighbors sold the remaining property and donated the funds to the poor 12 he then left to live an ascetic life 12 placing his sister with a group of christian virgins 13 hermit edit coptic icon of saint anthony for the next fifteen years anthony remained in the area 14 spending the first years as the disciple of another local hermit 4 there are various legends that he worked as a swineherd during this period 15 according to the temptation of saint anthony 1878 by félicien rops anthony is sometimes considered the first monk 14 and the first to initiate solitary desertification 16 but there were others before him there were already ascetic hermits the therapeutae and loosely organized cenobitic communities were described by the jewish philosopher philo of alexandria in the 1st century ad as long established in the harsh environment of lake mareotis and in other less accessible regions philo opined that this class of persons may be met with in many places for both greece and barbarian countries want to enjoy whatever is perfectly good 17 christian ascetics such as thecla had likewise retreated to isolated locations at the outskirts of cities anthony is notable for having decided to surpass this tradition and headed out into the desert proper he left for the alkaline nitrian desert later the location of the noted monasteries of nitria kellia and scetis on the edge of the western desert about 95 km 59 mi west of alexandria he remained there for 13 years 4 anthony maintained a very strict ascetic diet he ate only bread salt and water and never meat or wine 18 he ate at most only once a day and sometimes fasted through two or four days 19 20 according to athanasius the devil fought anthony by afflicting him with boredom laziness and the phantoms of women which he overcame by the power of prayer providing a theme for christian art after that he moved to one of the tombs near his native village there it was that the life records those strange conflicts with demons in the shape of wild beasts who inflicted blows upon him and sometimes left him nearly dead 21 after fifteen years of this life at the age of thirty five anthony determined to withdraw from the habitations of men and retire in absolute solitude he went into the desert to a mountain by the nile called pispir now der el memun opposite arsinoë 14 there he lived strictly enclosed in an old abandoned roman fort for some 20 years 4 food was thrown to him over the wall he was at times visited by pilgrims whom he refused to see but gradually a number of would be disciples established themselves in caves and in huts around the mountain thus a colony of ascetics was formed who begged anthony to come forth and be their guide in the spiritual life eventually he yielded to their importunities and about the year 305 emerged from his retreat to the surprise of all he appeared to be not emaciated but healthy in mind and body 21 painting of saint anthony a part of the visitation with saint nicholas and saint anthony abbot by piero di cosimo c 1480 for five or six years he devoted himself to the instruction and organization of the great body of monks that had grown up around him but then he once again withdrew into the inner desert that lay between the nile and the red sea near the shore of which he fixed his abode on a mountain mount colzim where still stands the monastery that bears his name deir mar antonios here he spent the last forty five years of his life in a seclusion not so strict as pispir for he freely saw those who came to visit him and he used to cross the desert to pispir with considerable frequency amid the diocletianic persecutions around 311 anthony went to alexandria and was conspicuous visiting those who were imprisoned 21 father of monks edit four tales on anthony the great by vitale da bologna c 1340 at the pinacoteca nazionale di bologna anthony was not the first ascetic or hermit but he may properly be called the father of monasticism in christianity 12 22 23 as he organized his disciples into a community and later following the spread of athanasius s hagiography was the inspiration for similar communities throughout egypt and elsewhere macarius the great was a disciple of anthony visitors traveled great distances to see the celebrated holy man anthony is said to have spoken to those of a spiritual disposition leaving the task of addressing the more worldly visitors to macarius macarius later founded a monastic community in the scetic desert 24 the fame of anthony spread and reached emperor constantine who wrote to him requesting his prayers the brethren were pleased with the emperor s letter but anthony was not overawed and wrote back exhorting the emperor and his sons not to esteem this world but remember the next 11 the stories of the meeting of anthony and paul of thebes the raven who brought them bread anthony being sent to fetch the cloak given him by athanasius the bishop to bury paul s body in and paul s death before he returned are among the familiar legends of the life however belief in the existence of paul seems to have existed quite independently of the life 25 in 338 he left the desert temporarily to visit alexandria to help refute the teachings of arius 4 final days edit when anthony sensed his death approaching he commanded his disciples to give his staff to macarius of egypt and to give one sheepskin cloak to athanasius of alexandria and the other sheepskin cloak to serapion of thmuis his disciple 26 anthony was interred according to his instructions in a grave next to his cell 11 the torment of saint anthony copy by the young michelangelo after an engraving by martin schongauer c 1487 c 1489 oil and tempera on panel one of many artistic depictions of saint anthony s trials in the desert temptation edit see also temptation of saint anthony in visual arts accounts of anthony enduring preternatural 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 27 anthony is said to have faced a series of preternatural temptations during his pilgrimage to the desert the first to report on the temptation was his contemporary athanasius of alexandria it is possible these events like the paintings are full of rich metaphor or in the case of the animals of the desert perhaps a vision or dream emphasis on these stories however did not really begin until the middle ages when the psychology of the individual became of greater interest 4 some of the stories included in anthony s biography are perpetuated now mostly in paintings where they give an opportunity for artists to depict their more lurid or bizarre interpretations many artists including martin schongauer hieronymus bosch joos van craesbeeck dorothea tanning max ernst leonora carrington matthias grünewald jacob van swanenburg and salvador dalí have depicted these incidents from the life of anthony in prose the tale was retold and embellished by gustave flaubert in the temptation of saint anthony 28 the satyr and the centaur edit the meeting of saint anthony and saint paul of thebes master of the osservanza 15th century with the centaur at the background anthony was on a journey in the desert to find paul of thebes who according to his dream was a better hermit than he 29 anthony had been under the impression that he was the first person to ever dwell in the desert however due to the dream anthony was called into the desert to find his better paul on his way there he ran into two creatures in the forms of a centaur and a satyr although chroniclers sometimes postulated that they might have been living beings western theology considers them to have been demons 29 while traveling through the desert anthony first found the centaur a creature of mingled shape half horse half man whom he asked about directions the creature tried to speak in an unintelligible language but ultimately pointed with his hand the way desired and then ran away and vanished from sight 29 it was interpreted as a demon trying to terrify him or alternately a creature engendered by the desert 30 anthony found next the satyr a manikin with hooked snout horned forehead and extremities like goats feet this creature was peaceful and offered him fruits and when anthony asked who he was the satyr replied i m a mortal being and one of those inhabitants of the desert whom the gentiles deluded by various forms of error worship under the names of fauns satyrs and incubi i am sent to represent my tribe we pray you on our behalf to entreat the favor of your lord who we have learnt came once to save the world and whose sound has gone forth into all the earth upon hearing this anthony was overjoyed and rejoiced over the glory of christ he condemned the city of alexandria for worshipping monsters instead of god while beasts like the satyr spoke about christ 29 silver and gold edit another time anthony was travelling and found a plate of silver coins in his path since he was in the middle of the desert where it didn t make any sense for anyone to be there he declared that the silver was a temptation from the devil immediately after anthony s declaration the silver vanished 31 soon after walking some more in that desert he found a pile of gold coins that was also a temptation from the devil anthony cast the gold into a fire and the gold coins immediately disappeared just like the silver ones cretan icon of saint anthony the great with scenes by emmanuel tzanes 1645 after these two events he had a vision where the whole world was covered with snares...