Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot, Mk 3,1-6

Saint Anton the Hermit, also called the Abbot, came from a rich Christian family. He was born around 251/52 in North African Coma, Egypt. When he was 20 years old, both his parents died. Anton took care of the family property and the younger sister.

But that didn’t last long. When Anton once heard the words of the Gospel while visiting a church service: “If you want to be perfect, sell everything you have and give to the poor…” (Mt 19:21), he decided to accept this challenge from Jesus. He gave some property to religious women with the request that they take care of his sister, and gave away everything else. He began to lead a strict ascetic life in prayer, self-denial, and physical labor. At first, he lived near his hometown. Later, the desire for greater solitude led him to a rock cave in the Libyan desert and finally to the desolate mountains between the Nile River and the Red Sea.

Anton’s contemporaries, especially simple people, did not know such comforts as are taken for granted in our times. They lived simply and hard. How must the hermit Anton live, when his way of life caused general admiration and respect? In addition to voluntary hunger, thirst, and a stone bed, Anton endured the harsh desert climate with admirable contentment, and in such conditions, he worked, prayed, and pondered over the words he read in the Holy Scriptures. But that was not enough. For many years he was tormented by severe temptations. Biographers mention that the devil appeared to him in various animal and human forms. Sometimes he tempted him with enticing seductions, other times he tortured him so much that Anton was often completely beaten up.

It is certain that many extraordinary events mentioned in Anton’s old biographies have too much fantasy in them and belong rather to legends. But even these, in their way, help to better realize the historical fact that Saint Anthony the Hermit chose a very difficult path of following Christ, from which he was not led away by any seductions or threats or debilitating suffering.

Anton sought solitude, but he did not always manage to keep it. His admirable way of life did not remain a secret. He was sought out by the curious and people who asked for advice and help. Not only ordinary people came to him, but also monks, priests, and bishops, even Emperor Constantine the Great and his sons addressed him by letter. Since Anton also had a reputation as a miracle worker, many sick people came to him to achieve healing with his help. Several of the visitors decided to stay close to him and follow his way of life. That is why Anton is sometimes referred to as the founder of monastic life. However, he did not organize any monastic communities; only his younger contemporary Pachomius did that.

Despite his great desire for solitude, Anton did not despise human company. When there was a serious reason, he was willing to leave his heritage and go to help those who needed him. Thus, in the persecution under Emperor Maxi minus Daza (around 310), he set off on a long journey to Alexandria to strengthen the persecuted and imprisoned Christians there. Towards the end of his long life, he left solitude once again, at the request of the Alexandrian bishop St. Athanasius. He asked Anton to help him defend his true faith against the error of Arianism. It was already a very arduous journey for Anton, over a century old, but he went. When he returned, he felt that he was about to die. He warned his disciples of his impending death and ordered them to bury him in such a way that no one would know about the place of his grave.

Anton died at the advanced age of about 105 years. Biographies give the date of his death as January 17, 356. His grave remained unknown for a long time. It was only discovered during the reign of Emperor Justinian I in 561. At that time, his remains were transferred to Alexandria. Well, not for long. When the Muslims conquered Egypt, the remains of Saint Anthony were transported (in 635) to Constantinople. From there, around the year 1000, a large part of the remains reached France, where they have been kept in the church of St. since 1491. Julien in Arles.

St. Anthony Abbot had a surprisingly strong influence on his generation and subsequent periods. Under the influence of his example, thousands of Christians left their homes and chose a strict ascetic life. Even in the West, hermit communities were formed according to his model (Rome, Milan, …). St. Anthony himself did not establish any monastic institution and did not write any rules for his disciples. He was their living rule, which they strove to realize in their lives. What was later referred to as the rules of St. Anthony, was only a summary of advice and instructions, mostly taken from the biography of St. Anthony, written around 370 by St. Athanasius. After the saint’s remains were transferred to France, his veneration spread greatly in this country as well. A special knightly order of St. Anton and several fraternities for caring for the sick.

Anthony’s institutions, especially hospitals, had a good name and great privileges in France. Among them was the permission to raise pigs where other residents were not allowed to do so. From there, some derive the custom of depicting St. Anton Pustovník with a pig. Perhaps the veneration of this saint as the protector of domestic animals is related to this. Others explain the depiction of St. Anton with the pig so that it is an allusion to his temptations, during which the devil appeared to him in the form of animals. There is also a legend, according to which the defeated devil had to accompany the holy hermit in the form of a bravo as punishment.

Although these are mostly folk and legendary ideas, these also help – especially simple people – to understand the great spiritual power with which the great holy hermit Anthony surpassed everything that was animal and diabolical.