Saint Anthony of Egypt

Abbot

Feast Day

January 17

Life

251–356

Order

Father of Christian monasticism

Born

Coma (Qiman al-Arus), Egypt

Anthony was born about 251 in Coma in middle Egypt to Christian Coptic parents. According to Athanasius's Life of Anthony (Vita Antonii), written shortly after the saint's death, his parents died when he was about eighteen, leaving him a substantial inheritance. Hearing the Gospel passage "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor" (Matthew 19:21) read in church, he sold his property, provided for his sister, and entered upon the ascetic life.

For about fifteen years he lived as a hermit near his village under the guidance of an older ascetic. Around 285 he withdrew to an abandoned fort at Pispir on the east bank of the Nile, where he remained twenty years in solitary prayer and combat with demons, episodes vividly described by Athanasius. About 305, drawn by disciples, he emerged to organize a colony of hermits, the first form of Christian monasticism.

During the Diocletianic persecution he traveled to Alexandria to encourage confessors. Later he withdrew further into the desert to a mountain near the Red Sea (Mount Colzim), where his monastery still stands. He emerged again about 338 to support Athanasius against the Arians.

Anthony died on Mount Colzim on January 17, 356, said by Athanasius to be in his hundred-and-fifth year. The Greek Vita Antonii was translated into Latin by Evagrius of Antioch and circulated through the West, where Augustine in his Confessions records its decisive role in his own conversion (Confessions VIII, 6). Anthony is honored as the Father of Christian monasticism.