Vol: 4 Issue: 1
Touba 1726 / January 2010
An Encomium about St Anthony By: St John of Shmun I wish today to offer you a banquet of honors for Antony the Great, since this is an obligation encumbent on me. For who is called to honor the master more than his disciples? Besides, it is better for us to honor the saint to the best of our ability than to pass over him in silence and have what is written be fulfilled to our detriment: `No prophet is honored in his own village'. It would be strange indeed for us to venerate with every honor at our disposal other saints from far away and distant countries while we remain silent about our saint, who is right at hand, imitating in this regard that malady whereby the eyes see well what is distant from them but do not recognize with certainty what is close up and right in front of them. If you have not yet understood that Antony is your fellow countryman, I shall call it to your attention from the words of Athanasius himself. For it is good that I begin with the words of Athanasius so that if someone wishes to speak ill of my words shame will rein him in, just as someone who wants to attack somebody spares him because he sees him bearing the royal insignia. Antony, says Athanasius, was Egyptian by birth . Where will the sun rise except in the east? And where do you wish Antony to shine forth except in Egypt, the place where sin abounded but grace abounded all the more where the poor blossom and foreigners gather? For most of the saints who have lived have been from Egypt or Egypt has attracted them from other places, as a valley collects on its valley floor waters that flow into it from both sides, or as the sea which contains its own waters also has rivers flowing into it continuously from all directions. It is not only Antony's homeland that is worthy of admiration, but his family as well. For his parents, Athanasius says, were well-born and had numerous possessions; because of this, it appears that Antony not only had the intention to renounce worldly things but did so in fact. For there is no guarantee that a person who has despised a little will also be able to forget a lot, but it is clear that the
person who has renounced a lot will not be concerned at all with a lesser amount. Therefore, when Antony went to the church as a young man and heard the Saviour say to the young man, `Go, sell your possessions, give them to the poor, and lay up for yourself treasure in heaven, and come and follow me', he did not disregard anything that the Saviour said and was not sad like the young man in the Gospel. On the contrary, he left immediately and joyfully did what the Saviour had told him and stripped himself of everything, as someone takes off a dirty tunic too filthy to wear, or as someone whom weariness or the sweat of summer forces to strip off his heavy clothing. Arid he spoke, not only about his intentions, but also concerning that which he had already done: `See, I have renounced everything and have followed you. What then will I have?' And he heard even more forcefully, `You will receive a hundred fold in this world, and you will also inherit life eternal'. Now that I have said these things, you who are listening to me should yourself marvel at what sort of zealous person he was before he was even living the zealous life and how he was a monk before he had even donned the monastic habit, going to church as was his custom and hearing the reading of the Scriptures as was his habit, and listening, not merely listening, but listening attentively, and not An old Refectory for monks merely listening attentively, but also putting into at St Anthony’s Monastery practice what he heard, and even doing so before he heard it! In this way he heard and cried out like Israel of old: `we will put into practice and obey the words that the Lord our God has spoken. For when a person approaches the place where the word of God is spoken, he is ready to do the good that he will hear: it is as though he had already done it before he even heard it. Antony was, therefore, virtuous by nature from the time he was little, just as babies come into the world without needing outside experts to teach them to eat or drink or sleep and other things of this sort; on the contrary, nature alone guides them in such natural matters. So Antony had no need for an outside teacher to teach him what is suitable; on the contrary, good disposition and reason drew him into the church and prepared his ear to hear and his heart to understand what was being read and gave him the will to do what he was told before he had even heard it. For who is there among the historians who has not spoken about Antony? Who is there among the writers to whom Antony has not given material? Or who is there among the fathers who has not praised that blessed old man? For Athanasius said, `As for me, it is a great profit for me merely to remember Antony'. If Basil [of Caesarea] wishes to list the names of the monks, he summons the name of Antony for his readers . If Gregory [of Nazianzus] wishes to name Athanasius, he introduces Antony into his discourse. If John [Chrysostom] wishes to characterise those who have rePage 2
nounced the world, he says `like Antony the Great'. If Cyril [of Alexandria] wishes to praise the monks of Egypt, he says `Emulate Antony'. If Severus [of Antioch] wishes to give an example of those who have conducted themselves well in the sensible world, he says 'like Antony the Great'. And above all of these, Apa Shenoute the truth-teller said, 'If you gathered together all the monks in the world, there would not be a single Antony among them'.
A servants-prep class from St Mark’s Church Spending the day at the monastery
A Group of Sunday school boys from Arch-Angel Michael Church spending a retreat at the monastery and participating in the Kiahk Praises
“If you go now to the desert of Egypt, you will see that this desert has become better than any paradise, with countless choruses of angels in human form… They display the same strictness in the great diligence of their lifestyle as they do in their doctrine of faith. For though they have stripped themselves of all possessions and crucified themselves to the whole world, they push themselves still further, nourishing those in need through their own physical labours. For though they fast and keep vigils, they do not think it right to be idle during the day; instead they devote their nights to holy hymns and watches, applying themselves during the day to prayers and the work of their hands together at once, imitating the apostles’ zeal.” Page 3
Fourth Century Life Today By: Fr Anthony St Shenouda The Biography of St Anthony “Vita Antoni” written by St Athanasius in the 4th century was and still is a source of inspiration to many. St Augustine writes in his confessions. After he read the biography of St Anthony that he “neither wished nor needed to read further. At once with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart.” It was also the reason monasticism introduced to the western world. But someone might think, but how is it relevant for us today. St Anthony went to the desert and we cannot all do the same. But when we consider why did St Anthony chose the desert to fulfill the gospel calling to follow Christ. The desert was usually known to be a dwelling place for demons. In the life of St Macarius, the saint overheard the devils prophesying “if we allow him to remain here, multitudes will gathers around him and the desert places will not be under our power.” If St Anthony in the 4th century had to go out to the desert to combat the demons, we today do not have to go very far at all to do that. Turn on your T.V. or Internet, or just drive in the city streets. So to read the life of St Anthony is like reading “how to defeat the devil manual in the 21st century Australia.”
The Water Spring where Saint Anthony used to drink water. It brings water till today
So the first step in our spiritual warfare is to declare war against the demons. We sometimes blame all our sins and every evil that happens to us on the devil, when it is really us who put ourselves in such situations. In the Sayings of the Desert Fathers there is a story of a monk who complained to his father that the devils were waging a strong war against him. After the father prayed, the devils told him we did not even know that this monk came to the desert. St Anthony declared war against the devil by reading the gospel and applying it in his life. He put in his heart to ‘resist the devil and it will flee from you.’ He refused the distorted image society gives to religious people. He gave the bible commandment first priority in his life even if it cost him all his possessions. Secondly we need to be persistent. Our spiritual warfare lasts a lifetime. We read in the vita that the devils ceaselessly fought against St Anthony all his life, and he does the same today but it is us who have to fight back at all time without putting our guards down. When the devil could not attack St Anthony by thoughts, he physically abused him to the extent that some villagers had to take him back to the village, and after he regained his consciousness he sat up and asked them to take him back to the Arena of Combat. In the Coptic tradition there is a story about St Anthony that while he is praying the devil came to him and physically abused him and while pulling his head garPage 4
ment (Kolonsua) he torned it into two, so the saint got up sawed his head garment back and kept praying (Which is the reason why monks today wear a head garment with sawing in the middle, to remember St Anthony’s persistence in struggle). The attacks that were waged on St Anthony are not any different than ours today. It says in vita that the devil “first tempted to lead him away from his ascetical disciplines, casting into him the remembrance of his possessions and his guardianship of his sister, longing for family and kin, love of money, boasting, the pleasure in eating many kinds of foods and the other satisfactions of life. Finally he cast into his heart the difficulty of virtuous living.” It is very interesting to read that St Anthony like all of us went through many spiritual warfares. What is interesting about his, is that we often have superman image of the saints, as if their life was only about performing miracles and seeing visions and so on but we often overlook the part of the story where they were like us, weak, struggle against sins, and falls and gets up again. If we understand this, it makes the saint’s life more relevant to us today.
A Group of Youth from St Anthony’s Church spending the Kiahk Mid-night praises at the monastery
Page 5
Antony and Manual Labour By: Lisa Agaiby The acknowledged prototype of monastic life is St Antony the Egyptian whose ascetic practices, grounded in scripture and emulated by other Egyptian monks, were idealised and promoted throughout the Late Roman World. One of these ascetical practices was Manual Labour. Here I shall consider the various reasons why Antony incorporated manual work as part of his ascetic theology. 1. A Biblical commandment: For Antony the monastic way of life is simply “the life according to the gospel,” and therefore he worked with his hands; being mindful of the Apostle’s warning, “Let the lazy person not eat.” 2. Self-sufficiency: The need to be self-sufficient, especially in the remote places where Antony and his disciples dwelt, cannot be underestimated, and so we read how Antony “was accustomed to working hard…he was weaving baskets that he would give to those who came to see him in exchange for supplies.” Later when he moved into the inner desert and his concerned friends provided for his basic needs, he realised the inconvenience he was causing them and so, “Wishing to spare the monks this burden he asked that they supply him with a hoe and an axe and a little grain, and hence he tilled and farmed the land and having a sufficient supply of fresh water, he sowed the ground. By doing this he rejoiced that he would not be bothering anyone about bread, and he made sure that he would not be a burden in anything.” This incident brings to mind Poemen of Scetis who refused to stop pleating ropes because of the burden he might otherwise cause. In fact there are many anecdotes in the Apophthegmata Patrum that portray the monks in the semi-anchoritic communities as being self-sufficient by exchanging the produce of their handiwork for necessary provisions, John the Dwarf wove ropes and baskets in exchange for provisions, and also worked with Macarius the Egyptian during the harvest season for wages, Lucius made ropes to earn money with which he purchased his food, the two young strangers “who had been brought up in luxury” were instructed to make baskets after which they would be provided bread, Sisoes weaved baskets so that he could eat “now and then,” and Silvanus sums up the situation by explaining, “When I work, I eat the fruit of my wages, but if I do not work, I eat charity.” 3. Giving alms and providing charity: Being charitable was also a biblical command that Antony was diligent to fulfil and hence we read that “he worked hard with his hands in order to give to those who were begging,” and his community of monks “worked in order to give alms.” In addition, “When [Antony] once again saw people coming to see him, he also planted a few vegetables so that those coming to visit might have a little relief.” Page 6
In Scetis, Pambo began a custom among the brothers that each year they were to give a certain portion of grain from their “charitable labour to those in need, distributing them to the hospices for lepers and to the widows and orphans.” Likewise Longinus the anchorite “laboured with his handiwork so he could find a way to give to those in need by means of his handiwork, making himself in this regard like the holy apostle Paul who says, ‘My hands served my own needs and the needs of my companions’, and ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Poemen of Scetis believed that alms and faith can purify one from sin. 4. Divine instruction to alleviate boredom and assist in contemplation: Perhaps one of the most important reasons why Antony included work in his ascetic regime was because it was a divine instruction given to him to overcome restlessness and sin. Antony experienced this revelation one day when through sheer boredom he began being attacked by many sinful thoughts. So he cried out to God, “Lord, I want to be saved but these thoughts do not leave me alone; what shall I do in my affliction? How can I be saved?” And so the Lord sent an angel garbed similar to Antony who alternated between sitting down and weaving and standing up to pray. Then the angel said to Antony, “Do this and you will be saved.” In accordance with the angel’s instruction, John Cassian notes that the lives of the semi -anchoritic monks were also disciplined by combining work and prayer; “only occasionally interrupting their handiwork with gestures of standing and prostration.” Because of this divine instruction, Egyptian monks, from the time of Antony, believed in the power of work to overcome sin. Hence when a brother asked Poemen of Scetis, “What shall I do, for fornication and anger war against me? The old man said, ‘In this connection David said, I will pierce the lion and I will slay the bear; that is to say I will cut off anger and I will crush fornication with hard labour.’” As Antony Rich notes, by the fifth century manual labour was being specifically prescribed by the desert fathers as an antidote for restlessness and depression. 5. Divine revelations: It is generally believed that work was a way of achieving the ideal of unceasing prayer and it is no surprise therefore that Antony experienced divine revelations during these times, as Athanasius relates, “While Antony was sitting and working he had a vision.” It is a phenomenon experienced many times by Pachomius as well as Macarius. 6. The practice is pleasing to God: By satisfying the biblical commandments of working with one’s hands, giving alms, being charitable to others, and unceasing prayer, manual labour becomes pleasing to God, and this is attested in the way that the devil tried to distract Antony from work by “pulling the plait he was working.” Likewise in the Apophthegmata Patrum we learn how the devil bothered Macarius as he was harvesting palm leaves and attacked him saying, “You beat me by your humility!” The response of the devil can signify two things; the first is a validation of work being pleasing to God and hence the devil tries to hinder it, and the second is that work is a sign of humility. Page 7
Groups visiting the monastery during the month on December
Page 8