Category: Antony the Great
What Can We Learn from Anthony the Great?
Anthony the Great
Today the church remembers Anthony the Great. He is considered by many to be the father of Christian monasticism. Though he was born in a well-to-do family he decided that the words of Jesus, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven; and come, follow Me”, (Mt. 19.21) were to be taken seriously. Many followed him to the desert in the years to come and Christian spirituality was never the same.
He was close friends with Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria. As a theologian he was considered influential in the defeat of Arianism at the Nicene Council. People across Christendom valued his opinions. Most of our data on the man comes from a hagiography written by Athanasius, so we are limited, in a sense, to Athanasius’ Anthony, but what an Anthony he was!
For many modern Christians much a man should be considered an extremist. For Protestants his piety seemed “legalistic” to use an anachronistic approach. For moderns his spiritual warfare seems archaic. But what can we learn from such a man?
But maybe there are some things we can learn from Anthony. Maybe in a scientific world we can remember that there is more than meets the eye. Maybe in a materialistic world we can remember that there is freedom in selling all for the kingdom. Maybe in a church that strives for greatness in a similar way to many Fortune 500 companies, his life of piety and prayer will remind us what it means to be the church in the world. Maybe.
Demons Should Not Be Feared
For those who fear demons and who think that Satan has any power against the Christian you may find the words of Athanasius that he attributed to Antony, the great ascetic monk, edifying. He wrote:
To end our fear of them, we ought to ponder this: If the capability were theirs, they would not come in great mobs, nor create phantasms, nor would they work their fraud by being transfigured. It would suffice for only one to come and do what he can and wills–especially because everyone who actually possesses the power does not destroy with apparitions, nor arouse fear with large mobs, but exercises his might directly, as he wishes. The demons, however, unable to effect anything, play parts as if they were on stage, changing their forms and striking fear in children by illusion or the hordes and their shapes. For these antics they deserve instead to be ridiculed as weaklings. The true angel of the Lord, at least, who was sent by the Lord to the Assyrians, had no need of hordes, nor of visible apparitions, nor of crashing sounds and rattling noises. He weilded his authority quietly, and at once destroyed a hundred and eighty-five thousand foers. But the demons, who lack the power to do anything, these are the sort who must try to frighten, even if through illusions. [1]
The words of Antony tell us this. Those who fear the demonic do so wrongly. Demons can only scare, manipulate, and deceive. Demons cannot destroy and demons do not have power like we see in the movies (e.g. Constantine). Rather, if demons had any powers there would be no need for spooky antics, but like the angel of the Lord who destoryed the enemies of Israel quickly and quietly, we would all be devistated. Since no such thing happens demons can only threaten, but not act. Christ has conquered the demonic.
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[1] Athanasius, The Life of Antony, trans. Robert C. Gregg. New York, NY: Paulist Press, 1980.
