Early Christian Biographies

Introduction

INTRODUCTION IIliE EXTRAORDINARY importance of the Life of Saint Anthony can be attributed to a number of causes, but chief among them must be reckoned, first, the great holiness and unusual personality of the subject,l and, second, the unique authority and influence of the biographer, St. Athanasius,2 and the veneration in which he was held. It is only when the menace of the Arian heresy is grasped that the influence of St. Athanasius (296.373) can be under. stood. Arianism struck at the very heart of Christianity, the mystery of the Trinity, by asserting that Christ, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, was but a creature. If Arianism had not been crushed, Christianity, humanly speaking, would not have survived. In the mighty conflict that then raged, the Bishop of Alexandria was not only the indomitable leader in defending the divinity of Christ, but the personal inspiration of many of the other great thinkers I St. Anthony was born at Coma, which is today Queman.el·Arous. The abandoned fort in which he lived for twenty years was at Meimun. The mountain on which he finally made his home in 512 is in Qol206m , and bears his name today, Der Mar Antonios. Here, there still exists the ancient Coptic convent, Deir-el-'Arab. Cf. LeclerC«], DACL, s.v. 'Monachisme: Cardinal Newman beautifully portrays the character of St. Anthony in his Historical Sketches, 'Anthony in Conflict' and 'Antony in Calm: 2 A very brief but succinct account of St. Athanasius is given in Campbell , Greek Fathers 47·55. 127 128 ST. ATHANASIUS and writers, often more gifted than himself, who fought in the ranks of orthodoxy. This was Athanasius' greatest contribu. tion to civilization. All his writings clearly reflect the antithesis that exists be. tween pagan and Christian thought, and this despite his Greek culture and distinctively Greek cast of mind. In this work, however, he gives in a simple, straightforward style the life of the man who was perhaps most typical of the reaction to pagan culture and ideals of that age. The Life was written at the request of a group of 'foreign monks,' probably between 356 and 357, not long after the death of St. Anthony, while St. Athanasius himself was hidden in The Thebaid during the Arian persecution which was then raging.3 Less than five years after its publication, Evagrius of Antioch translated it into Latin, and, in 384, as St. Augus. tine testifies, it had been read by officials of the imperial court at TIives. There is also a very ancient Syriac version, as well as Armenian and Arabian translations! The number of ancient authors who testify to the author. ship and date of the Life is impressive. Montfaucon has listed them in his In Antonii vitam monitum, which is reprinted in the Migne edition of his text of the Life. It was the Magdeburg Centuriators (1562) who made the first system. atic attempt to discredit the Life; Weingarten's attack in 1877 was the last. His theory, fashionable for a time, was completely abandoned within a generation. Today, scholars are practically unanimous in their acceptance of the work 11 This is Leclercq's view; Cayre gives the year 360. A. Robertson. who wrote the notes for Ellershaw's translation. puts the date between 356 and 1162. There variations depend on the interpretation of section 82 of the Life. 4 Cf. Leclercq. 'Monachisme: LIFE OF ST. ANTHONY 129 as a genuine historical record and as an authentic work of St. Athanasius.6 The Life of Saint Anthony is of major importance in the history of monasticism.6 St. Anthony was not the first Christian hermit, it is true, nor was he a great OI:ganizer or legislator , but there can be no doubt that he was everywhere looked upon as the father of Christian monasticism. He is also regar :ded as the founder of the religious life, in the technical sense of the term, in all its various forms. The long ascetical sermon in the Life (section 16-34) can be considered the first monastic rule. The mode of life prescribed by St. Anthony was really semi-eremetical in character, for the monks lived in separate huts or cells, and came together only occasionally for divine service or spiritual conferences. This form of monasticism became , under St. Anthony's direct influence, the norm in Northern Egypt from Lycopolis...