§ 108. Содержание и дух наставлений его.

A brief table of contents of the seven letters (according to the ancient Latin translation) can partly show their dignity: 1st letter about moving away from the world; 2nd about the fetters of the devil and about the means to get rid of them; 3rd about God's benefits to man; 4th about the incarnation of Christ the Son of God; 5th about Christian vigilance; 6th about knowing yourself and the need for the incarnation of the Son of God; 7th, about knowing yourself with an admonition against Arius. In his instructions, the Great Anthony appears to be the same as his life represents him. This is what he wrote about the process of reliable formation of the soul. “We must first of all try to know ourselves. He who has correct knowledge about himself also has correct knowledge about the creatures that God made out of nothing; he also knows the dignity of the intelligent and immortal human spirit, imprisoned for a time in a mortal body, in order to perfect himself in virtues in it. Whoever knows this knows that he must love God, and whoever loves God loves everyone.” 101 Here is an instruction about our condition and ways to correct it. “Beloved! if we want to get closer to our Creator, we must, in accordance with the spiritual law, try to free our souls from passions. Our unrighteous deeds and many devilish temptations have weakened us; the strength of our souls was almost completely destroyed; and we can no longer see the dignity of our nature, due to the dominion of passions over us. We can receive salvation in no other way than through our Lord Jesus Christ. For the Apostle Paul wrote that just as in Adam all died, so in Christ all receive life (1 Cor. 15:22). And so our Lord Jesus Christ is life for all rational creatures created in his likeness. He Himself is the true likeness and unchangeable image of the Father; but we change the image visible in creatures, and therefore we were subjected to death, although our spiritual nature is immortal. When we are born in the body, we are already a dwelling place of sin. When we were deprived of all strength, and God the Father saw our powerlessness, that we could not bear His appearance in His own and true image: He sent to us His only begotten Son, Who took on our body, visited all creation and blessed the gifts of His holy servants. And so my beloved children! I beg you with my love for you, turn to the Lord with all your heart... We must cleanse ourselves from sins, conform our will to the will of God and sanctify all our feelings; must continually renew themselves in order to be worthy of visiting our Lord Jesus Christ.... His Death and Resurrection laid the foundation for our resurrection and destroyed the power of death, i.e. the devil, and we, moving away from sin, can become His true disciples. My beloved children in the Lord! my spirit and body are embarrassed when I imagine that we are honored with the names of the Saints and clothed in the clothes with which we boast before the infidels, but despite this, we are not in the least adorned with good deeds.... I, a sinner, reveal to you about myself that when God awakened my mind from the sleep of death, my entire rather long life after that was nothing more than incessant crying and groaning about my sins: for how can we thank the Lord for everything that He has done for us” 102. So many thoughts here! and what depth there is in them! This is a preaching of experience, and long-term experience, experience that has deeply studied the spiritual nature and its needs, that has caught up with and assimilated the treasure and power of the grace of Christ! This is a conversation between the Father and the children, the Father that only a hundred-year-old disciple of Christ’s love could be! Here is another instruction about the action of good and evil spirits on the soul: “The appearance of good Angels does not produce any confusion in the soul; their presence is peaceful and reassuring; it fills the soul with joy and animates it with confidence. Then you feel such a strong love for everything divine that you are ready to leave life to follow them into blissful eternity. On the contrary, the appearance of evil spirits produces disturbance in the soul; they plunge the soul into confusion of thoughts, or into fear; they arouse in the soul disgust from exploits and make the soul waver in its intentions” 103. This is the instruction of one who, through a long-term struggle with flesh and blood, purified his spirit and acquired a firm knowledge of the states of the soul! Letter 6 according to ancient times. lat. text. Letter 7 in Arabic. text - in Chr. Thurs. 1828 7, 31, p. 12 ff. In Athanasius: Vita S. Antonii. You might be interested in: