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Antony's Youth
and First Struggles with Demons
1. Antony you must know was by descent an Egyptian: his parents were of
good family and possessed considerable wealth, and as they were
Christians he also was reared in the same Faith. In infancy he was
brought up with his parents, knowing nought else but them and his home.
But when he was grown and arrived at boyhood, and was advancing in
years, he could not endure to learn letters, not caring to associate
with other boys; but all his desire was, as it is written of Jacob, to
live a plain man at home. With his parents he used to attend the Lord's
House, and neither as a child was he idle nor when older did he despise
them; but was both obedient to his father and mother and attentive to
what was read, keeping in his heart what was profitable in what he
heard. And though as a child brought up in moderate affluence, he did
not trouble his parents for varied or luxurious fare, nor was this a
source of pleasure to him; but was content simply with what he found
nor sought anything further.
2. After the death of his father and mother he was left alone with one
little sister: his age was about eighteen or twenty, and on him the
care both of home and sister rested. Now it was not six months after
the death of his parents, and going according to custom into the Lord's
House, he communed with himself and reflected as he walked how the
Apostles left all and followed the Saviour; and how they in the Acts
sold their possessions and brought and laid them at the Apostles” feet
for distribution to the needy, and what and how great a hope was laid
up for them in heaven. Pondering over these things he entered the
church, and it happened the Gospel was being read, and he heard the
Lord saying to the rich man, “If thou wouldest be perfect, go and sell
that thou hast and give to the poor; and come follow Me and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven.” Antony, as though God had put him in mind of
the Saints, and the passage had been read on his account, went out
immediately from the church, and gave the possessions of his
forefathers to the villagers – they were three hundred acres,
productive and very fair – that they should be no more a clog upon
himself and his sister. And all the rest that was movable he sold, and
having got together much money he gave it to the poor, reserving a
little however for his sister's sake.
3. And again as he went into the church, hearing the Lord say in the
Gospel, “be not anxious for the morrow,” he could stay no longer, but
went out and gave those things also to the poor. Having committed his
sister to known and faithful virgins, and put her into a convent to be
brought up, he henceforth devoted himself outside his house to
discipline, taking heed to himself and training himself with patience.
For there were not yet so many monasteries in Egypt, and no monk at all
knew of the distant desert; but all who wished to give heed to
themselves practiced the discipline in solitude near their own village.
Now there was then in the next village an old man who had lived the
life of a hermit from his youth up. Antony, after he had seen this man,
imitated him in piety. And at first he began to abide in places outside
the village: then if he heard of a good man anywhere, like the prudent
bee, he went forth and sought him, nor turned back to his own palace
until he had seen him; and he returned, having got from the good man as
it were supplies for his journey in the way of virtue. So dwelling
there at first, he confirmed his purpose not to return to the abode of
his fathers nor to the remembrance of his kinsfolk; but to keep all his
desire and energy for perfecting his discipline. He worked, however,
with his hands, having heard, “he who is idle let him not eat,” and
part he spent on bread and part he gave to the needy. And he was
constant in prayer, knowing that a man ought to pray in secret
unceasingly. For he had given such heed to what was read that none of
the things that were written fell from him to the ground, but he
remembered all, and afterwards his memory served him for books.
4. Thus conducting himself, Antony was beloved by all. He subjected
himself in sincerity to the good men whom he visited, and learned
thoroughly where each surpassed him in zeal and discipline. He observed
the graciousness of one; the unceasing prayer of another; he took
knowledge of another's freedom from anger and another's
loving-kindness; he gave heed to one as he watched, to another as he
studied; one he admired for his endurance, another for his fasting and
sleeping on the ground; the meekness of one and the long-suffering of
another he watched with care, while he took note of the piety towards
Christ and the mutual love which animated all. Thus filled, he returned
to his own place of discipline, and henceforth would strive to unite
the qualities of each, and was eager to show in himself the virtues of
all. With others of the same age he had no rivalry; save this only,
that he should not be second to them in higher things. And this he did
so as to hurt the feelings of nobody, but made them rejoice over him.
So all they of that village and the good men in whose intimacy he was,
when they saw that he was a man of this sort, used to call him
God-beloved. And some welcomed him as a son, others as a brother.
5. But the devil, who hates and envies what is good, could not endure
to see such a resolution in a youth, but endeavoured to carry out
against him what he had been wont to effect against others. First of
all he tried to lead him away from the discipline, whispering to him
the remembrance of his wealth, care for his sister, claims of kindred,
love of money, love of glory, the various pleasures of the table and
the other relaxations of life, and at last the difficulty of virtue and
the labor of it; he suggested also the infirmity of the body and the
length of the time. In a word he raised in his mind a great dust of
debate, wishing to debar him from his settled purpose. But when the
enemy saw himself to be too weak for Antony's determination, and that
he rather was conquered by the other's firmness, overthrown by his
great faith and falling through his constant prayers, then at length
putting his trust in the weapons which are “in the navel of his belly”
and boasting in them--for they are his first snare for the young--he
attacked the young man, disturbing him by night and harassing him by
day, so that even the onlookers saw the struggle which was going on
between them. The one would suggest foul thoughts and the other counter
them with prayers: the one fire him with lust the other, as one who
seemed to blush, fortify his body with faith, prayers, and fasting. And
the devil, unhappy wight, one night even took upon him the shape of a
woman and imitated all her acts simply to beguile Antony. But he, his
mind filled with Christ and the nobility inspired by Him, and
considering the spirituality of the soul, quenched the coal of the
other's deceit. Again the enemy suggested the ease of pleasure. But he
like a man filled with rage and grief turned his thoughts to the
threatened fire and the gnawing worm, and setting these in array
against his adversary, passed through the temptation unscathed. All
this was a source of shame to his foe. For he, deeming himself like
God, was now mocked by a young man; and he who boasted himself against
flesh and blood was being put to flight by a man in the flesh. For the
Lord was working with Antony--the Lord who for our sake took flesh and
gave the body victory over the devil, so that all who truly fight can
say, “ not I but the grace of God which was with me.”
6. At last when the dragon could not even thus overthrow Antony, but
saw himself thrust out of his heart, gnashing his teeth as it is
written, and as it were beside himself, he appeared to Antony like a
black boy, taking a visible shape in accordance with the color of his
mind. And cringing to him, as it were, he plied him with thoughts no
longer, for guileful as he was, he had been worsted, but at last spoke
in human voice and said, “Many I deceived, many I cast down; but now
attacking thee and thy labours as I had many others, I proved weak.”
When Antony asked, Who art thou who speakest thus with me ? he answered
with a lamentable voice, “I am the friend of whoredom, and have taken
upon me incitements which lead to it against the young. I am called the
spirit of lust. How many have I deceived who wished to live soberly,
how many are the chaste whom by my incitements I have over-persuaded! I
am he on account of whom also the prophet reproves those who have
fallen, saying, "Ye have been caused to err by the spirit of whoredom."
For by me they have been tripped up. I am he who have so often troubled
thee and have so often been overthrown by thee.” But Antony having
given thanks to the Lord, with good courage said to him, “ Thou art
very despicable then, for thou art black-hearted and weak as a child.
Henceforth I shall have no trouble from thee, "for the Lord is my
helper, and I shall look down on mine enemies."“ Having heard this, the
black one straightway fled, shuddering at the words and dreading any
longer even to come near the man.
7. This was Antony's first struggle against the devil, or rather this
victory was the Saviour's work in Antony, “Who condemned sin in the
flesh that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit.” But neither did Antony,
although the evil one had fallen, henceforth relax his care and despise
him; nor did the enemy as though conquered cease to lay snares for him.
For again he went round as a lion seeking some occasion against him.
But Antony having learned from the Scriptures that the devices of the
devil are many, zealously continued the discipline, reckoning that
though the devil had not been able to deceive his heart by bodily
pleasure, he would endeavor to ensnare him by other means. For the
demon loves sin. Wherefore more and more he repressed the body and kept
it in subjection, lest haply having conquered on one side, he should be
dragged down on the other. He therefore planned to accustom himself to
a severer mode of life. And many marvelled, but he himself used to bear
the labor easily; for the eagerness of soul, through the length of time
it had abode in him, had wrought a good habit in him, so that taking
but little initiation from others he shewed great zeal in this matter.
He kept vigil to such an extent that he often continued the whole night
without sleep; and this not once but often, to the marvel of other. He
ate once a day, after sunset, sometimes once in two days, and often
even in four. His food was bread and salt, his drink, water only. Of
flesh and wine it is superfluous even to speak, since no such thing was
found with the other earnest men. A rush mat served him to sleep upon,
but for the most part he lay upon the bare ground. He would not anoint
himself with oil, saying it behoved young men to be earnest in training
and not to seek what would enervate the body; but they must accustom it
to labour, mindful of the Apostle's words, “ when I am weak, then am I
strong.” “For,” said he, “the fibre of the soul is then sound when the
pleasures of the body are diminished.” And he had come to this truly
wonderful conclusion, “that progress in virtue, and retirement from the
world for the sake of it, ought not to be measured by time, but by
desire and fixity of purpos. He at least gave no thought to the past,
but day by day, as if he were at the beginning of his discipline,
applied greater efforts for advancement, often repeating to himself the
saying of Paul : “Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching
forward to the things which are before.” He was also mindful of the
words spoken by the prophet Elias, “the Lord lives before whose
presence I stand to-day.” For he observed that in saying “to-day” the
prophet did not compute the time that had gone by: but daily as though
ever commencing he eagerly endeavoured to make himself fit to appear
before God, being pure in heart and ever ready to submit to His
counsel, and to Him alone. And he used to say to himself that from the
life of the great Elias the hermit ought to see his own as in a mirror.
Preface
Part I: Antony's Youth and First Struggles with Demons
Part II: He Dwells
Among the Tombs
Part III: He Goes to
the Desert
Part IV: His Sermon to
the Young Men
Part V: His Life in
the Desert
Part VI: He Goes to
the Inner Desert
Part VII: Advice and
Assistance for Visitors
Part VIII: His
Discourses Against Schismatics, Arians, and Pagans
Part IX: His Growing
Fame
Part X: His Death
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