Founder of Christian monasticism. The chief source of information on
St. Anthony is a Greek Life attributed to St. Athanasius, to be found in
any edition of his works. A note of the controversy concerning this
Life is given at the end of this article; here it will suffice to say
that now it is received with practical unanimity by scholars as a
substantially historical record, and as a probably authentic work of St.
Athanasius. Valuable subsidiary information is supplied by secondary
sources: the "Apophthegmata", chiefly those collected under Anthony's
name (at the head of Cotelier's alphabetical collection, P.G. LXV, 7]);
Cassian, especially Coll. II; Palladius, "Historica Lausiaca", 3,4,21,22
(ed. Butler). All this matter may probably be accepted as substantially
authentic, whereas what is related concerning St. Anthony in St.
Jerome's Life of St. Paul the Hermit" cannot be used for historical
purposes.
Anthony was born at Coma, near Heracleopolis Magna in Fayum,
about the middle of the third century. He was the son of well-to-do
parents, and on their death, in his twentieth year, he inherited their
possessions. He had a desire to imitate the life of the Apostles and the
early Christians, and one day, on hearing in the church the Gospel
words, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thou hast", he received
them as spoken to himself, disposed of all his property and goods, and
devoted himself exclusively to religious exercises. Long before this it
had been usual for Christians to practice asceticism, abstain from
marriage and exercising themselves in self-denial, fasting, prayer, and
works of piety; but this they had done in the midst of their families,
and without leaving house or home. Later on, in Egypt, such ascetics
lived in huts, in the outskirts of the towns and villages, and this was
the common practice about 270, when Anthony withdrew from the world. He
began his career by practising the ascetical life in this fashion
without leaving his native place. He used to visit the various ascetics,
study their lives, and try to learn from each of them the virtue in
which he seemed to excel. Then he took up his abode in one of the tombs,
near his native village, and 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. 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 crossed
the Nile, and on a mountain near the east bank, then called Pispir, now
Der el Memum, he found an old fort into which he shut himself, and
lived there for twenty years without seeing the face of man, food being
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. At length, about the year 305, he
yielded to their importunities an emerged from his retreat, and, to the
surprise of all, he appeared to be as when he had gone in, not
emaciated, but vigorous in body and mind. 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 hen 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 where still stands the
monastery that bears his name, Der 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. The Life says that on two
occasions he went to Alexandria, once after he came forth from the fort
at Pispir, to strengthen the Christian martyrs in the persecution of
311, and once at the close of his life (c. 350), to preach against the
Arians. The Life says he dies at the age of a hundred and five, and St.
Jerome places his death in 356-357. All the chronology is based on the
hypothesis that this date and the figures in the Life are correct. At
his own request his grave was kept secret by the two disciples who
buried him, lest his body should become an object of reverence.
Of his writings, the most authentic formulation of his teaching
is without doubt that which is contained in the various sayings and
discourses put into his mouth in the Life, especially the long ascetic
sermons (16-43) spoken on his coming forth from the fort at Pispir. It
is an instruction on the duties of the spiritual life, in which the
warfare with demons occupies the chief place. Though probably not an
actual discourse spoken on any single occasion, it can hardly be a mere
invention of the biographer, and doubtless reproduces St. Anthony's
actual doctrine, brought together and co-ordinated. It is likely that
many of the sayings attributed to him in the "Apophthegmata" really go
back to him, and the same may be said of the stories told of him in
Cassian and Palladius. There is a homogeneity about these records, and a
certain dignity and spiritual elevation that seem to mark them with the
stamp of truth, and to justify the belief that the picture they give us
of St Anthony's personality, character, and teaching is essentially
authentic. A different verdict has to be passed on the writings that go
under his name, to be found in P.G., XL. The Sermons and twenty Epistles
from the Arabic are by common consent pronounced wholly spurious. St
Jerome (De Viris Ill., lxxxviii) knew seven epistles translated from the
Coptic into Greek; the Greek appears to be lost, but a Latin version
exists (ibid.), and Coptic fragments exist of three of these letters,
agreeing closely with the Latin; they may be authentic, but it would be
premature to decide. Better is the position of a Greek letter to
Theodore, preserved in the "Epistola Ammonis ad Theophilum", sect. 20,
and said to be a translation of a Coptic original; there seems to be no
sufficient ground for doubting that it really was written by Anthony
(see Butler, Lausiac History of Palladius, Part I,223). The authorities
are agreed that St Anthony knew no Greek and spoke only Coptic. There
exists a monastic Rule that bears St Anthony's name, preserved in Latin
and Arabic forms (P.G., XL, 1065). While it cannot be received as having
been actually composed by Anthony, it probably in large measure goes
back to him, being for the most part made up out of the utterances
attributed to him in the Life and the "Apophthegmata"; it contains,
however, an element derived from the spuria and also from the "Pachomian
Rules". It was compiled at an early date, and had a great vogue in
Egypt the East. At this day it is the rule followed by the Uniat Monks
of Syria and Armenia, of whom the Maronites, with sixty monasteries and
1,100 monks, are the most important; it is followed also by the scanty
remnants of Coptic monachism.
It will be proper to define St. Anthony's place, and to explain
his influence in the history of Christian monachism. He probably was not
the first Christian hermit; it is more reasonable to believe that,
however little historical St Jerome's "Vita Pauli" may be, some kernel o
fact underlies the story (Butler, op. cit., Pat I, 231,232), but Paul's
existence was wholly unknown unknown till long after Anthony has become
the recognized leader of Christian hermits. Nor was St Anthony a great
legislator and organizer of monks, like his younger contemporary
Pachomius: for, though Pachomius's first foundations were probably some
ten or fifteen years later than Anthony's coming forth from his retreat
at Pispir, it cannot be shown that Pachomius was directly influenced by
Anthony, indeed his institute ran on quite different lines. And yet it
is abundantly evident that from the middle of the fourth century
throughout Egypt, as elsewhere, and among the Pachomian monks
themselves, St Anthony was looked upon as the founder and father of
Christian monachism. This great position was no doubt due to his
commanding personality and high character, qualities that stand out
clearly in all the records of him that have come down. The best study of
his character is Newman's in the "Church of the Fathers" (reprinted in
"Historical Sketches"). The following is his estimate: "His doctrine
surely was pure and unimpeachable; and his temper is high and heavenly,
without cowardice, without gloom, without formality, without
self-complacency. Superstition is abject and crouching, it is full of
thoughts of guilt; it distrusts God, and dreads the powers of evil.
Anthony at least had nothing of this, being full of confidence, divine
peace, cheerfulness, and valorousness, be he (as some men may judge)
ever so much an enthusiast" (op.cit., Anthony in Conflict). Full of
enthusiasm he was, but it did not make him fanatical or morose; his
urbanity and gentleness, his moderation and sense stand out in many of
the stories related of him. Abbot Moses in Cassian (Coll. II) says he
had heard Anthony maintaining that of all virtues discretion was the
most essential for attaining perfection; and the little known story of
Eulogius and the Cripple, preserved in the Lausiac History (xxi),
illustrates the kind of advice and direction he gave to those who sought
his guidance.
The monasticism established under St Anthony's direct influence
became the norm in Northern Egypt, from Lycopolis (Asyut) to the
Mediterranean. In contradistinction to the fully coenobitical system,
established by Pachomius in the South, it continued to be of a
semi-eremetical character, the monks living commonly in separate cells
or huts, and coming together only occasionally for church services; they
were left very much to their own devices, and the life they lived was
not a community life according to rule, as now understood (see Butler,
op. cit., Part I, 233-238). This was the form of monastic life in the
deserts of Nitria and Scete, as portrayed by Palladius and Cassian. Such
groups of semi-independent hermitages were later on called Lauras, and
have always existed in the East alongside of the Basilian monasteries;
in the West St Anthony's monachism is in some measure represented by the
Carthusians. Such was St Anthony's life and character, and such his
role in Christian history. He is justly recognized as the father not
only of monasticism, strictly so called, but of the technical religious
life in every shape and form. Few names have exercised on the human race
an influence more deep and lasting, more widespread, or on the whole
more beneficent.
It remains to say a word on the controversy carried on during the
present generation concerning St Anthony and the Life. In 1877
Weingarten denied the Athanasian authorship and the historical character
of the Life, which he pronounced to be a mere romance; he held that up
to 340 there were no Christian monks, and that therefore the dates of
the "real" Anthony had to be shifted nearly a century. Some imitators in
England went still further and questioned, even denied, that St Anthony
had ever existed. To anyone conversant with the literature of monastic
Egypt, the notion that the fictitious hero of a novel could ever have
come to occupy Anthony's position position in monastic history can
appear nothing less than a fantastic paradox. As a matter of fact these
theories are abandoned on all hands; the Life is received as certainly
historical in substances, and as probably by Athanasius, and the
traditional account of monastic origins is reinstated in its great
outlines. The episode is now chiefly of interest as a curious example of
a theory that was broached and became the fashion, and then was
completely abandoned, all within a single generation. (on the
controversy see Butler, op.cit. Part I, 215-228, Part II, ix-xi).
E. C. BUTLER (Catholic Encyclopedia)
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