St. Anthony The Great

He was born in a rich Christian family His parents were righteous He had one sister His parents died when he was young

One day he was in church and he heard the gospel saying: “ 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 and follow Me” (Mathew 19:21) He felt that this was a heavenly call for him

So he went and sold all what he had and gave it to the poor He also placed his sister in a monastery for women He went outside of his village and imitated the holy elders He was learning from others their virtues

Then he decided to go deeper in the desert and lived alone in the ruins of an old castle Then he moved even deeper next to the red sea

He was devoting all his time to God and prayers He was also reading and working with his hands. He was making baskets

The devils were continuously fighting him They would remind him of his previous wealth or remind him of his sister that he had left behind

They also would appear to him as wild animals or beautiful women He was always victorious because of his humility and faith in Christ He attracted many young men to live like him in the desert till their number reached approximately 100,000

So he build monasteries for these monks who followed him and wanted to live like him He left his monastery twice to go and strengths Christians stand against persecution But he always came back quickly to his cell in the monastery He felt that a monk outside of his cell is like a fish out side of the water

He also went and visited St. Paul in the desert That when he knew that he was not the first one to live in the desert

As he grew older he lived only with two of his disciples till he died He was 105 years old when he departed to heaven They buried his body in the earth and no one knew where he was buried

Conclusion St. Anthony was the first monk that founded the system of monasteries for monks He was know for his humility and love of monastic life

“ 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 and follow Me” (Mathew 19:21)