“Anthony the Great”

Class do you know who was him?

• was a Christian monk, a prominent leader among the Desert.

• founder of the hermit movement.• He is celebrated in many churches on his feast

days.• The biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of

Alexandria helped to spread the concept of monasticism (this mean that also my presentation).

• He presents the figure of a man who grows in holiness and became model for Christians. He has elements of historical and other legendary character, it is known that left his property to lead a hermit's existence and attending several monastic communities in Egypt, staying hermit. It is said that amounted to live to 105 years old.

What did he do? It is said that about twenty years

old he sold all his possessions, gave the money to the poor and retired to live in a local community by ascetic, sleeping in an empty tomb. He then spent many years helping other hermits to direct their spiritual life in the desert, and later he was interning much more in the desert to live in absolute solitude.

Then…

His reputation as holy and austere man attracted many disciples, who organized a group of hermits with Pispas (a person) and another person in Arsinoe(is a place). Therefore, it is considered the founder of the Christian monastic tradition. However, despite the attraction exerted by his charisma. He never opted for community life and retired to Mount Colzim, near the Red Sea as a hermit. In 311 he got out of retirement to visit Alexandria and preach against Arianism (doctrines that express denial of the divine nature of Jesus).