§ 109. Антоний – начальник отшельнической монашеской жизни.

Both the life and writings of Anthony present the great Anthony as the father of monastic monastic life. And he is truly the boss of this life. This should not be understood in the sense that before the time of Anthony, or his mentor Paul, there was nothing at all that we see in the life of the great. Virgin life, combined with strict feats of abstinence and prayer, from the first times of Christianity, was the subject of jealousy among believers. Proof of this is in the words of the Savior and His Apostle, in the epistles of the Apostolic disciple Clement, in the writings of Methodius on virginity. Origen wrote that there are very many Christians who strive in constant virginity 104; his teacher Clement calls these people the most chosen of the chosen 105. Irenaeus 106, Dionysius of Alexandria 107 and others 108 testify that such people not only did not eat meat, but often spent two or three days, or more, in fasting and engaged in prayer; they were otherwise called ascetics, and many of them are still known by the names of those who died as martyrs 109. It cannot be argued that ascetics live only among people; on the contrary, this could sometimes be completely inconsistent with their determination to engage in prayer as much as possible. On the other hand, the very needs of the time forced many, even in the first centuries, to retire into solitude, i.e. persecution, during which others, not out of fear, but following the words of the Savior, moved away from the persecutors. Anthony himself testifies: “From the first time I began to lead a monastic life (βιον μοναχικον), there was nowhere a community in which they cared about the salvation of others: but each of the ancient monks, after the end of the persecution, labored separately. But later on, your father (speaking of the Great Pachomius), with the help of God, accomplished such a saving deed” 110. What did the Great Anthony do? Since it is certain that not all ascetics led a constantly solitary life, and on the other hand, persecution either squandered them or reaped them as classes, which is why they were unnoticeable phenomena both in life and in history: it remained for the particular and unnoticeable to be elevated to a general rule, and this was left to the Great Anthony. By the example of his unusually strict life, Anthony the Great glorified the life of a hermit and the spirit of grace that dwelt in him in such abundance aroused jealousy to imitate himself, while it was already more convenient to imitate the great example, and the deserts were populated not by one, not by two, but by thousands of desert dwellers. For this reason, Blessed Jerome writes about Anthony: “they say that he is the head of such a (solitary) life; but this is only partly true: for it was not so much he who was first of all, but rather the jealousy of everyone was awakened by him” 111. Further, the quoted words of Anthony himself show that he was not the head of the actual communal monastic life; he sanctified the monastic hermit life, and precisely in the form that hundreds established their booths not close to one another, but also not far from the booth of the Great Elder, whose example and instructions served as the rule of life. This is the great place that, according to the purpose of the Lord of the Church and by His Grace, the Great Anthony occupies in the Church of Christ! Cant. Celsum lib. 7. § 48. p. 365. Sl. libr. § 6. Horat. 19. in Ieroniam. § 7. Quis dives selectur. § 36. Sl. Strom. libr. 3. p. 538. In Eusebius H. E. libr. 5. c. 24. The canon, the message - in the book of rules, in Beverage Candect. T. 2. r. 3. Epiphanius – Expos. fidei § 22. These are Eusebius: Peter, Panphilus are ascetics, Seleucus is an imitator of pious ascetics (De martyr, potest, pp. 10, 11); further Justin martyr, Lucian martyr. great ascetic (Athanasius Op. T. 2. r. 157), Serapion bishop. Antioch (Jerome De vir. illustr. § 76). Acts of Rev. Pachomius § 77 in Panebrol Act. Sanct ad 14 maii. Vita S. Pauli eremitae. Stud. Mathiae, Neotsadii, Austriae 1760. 4. You might be interested in: