Apostles Anglican Church
Fr. John A. Roop

Feast of St. Antony of Egypt (17 January 2024)
(1 Peter 5:6-11, Psalm 91, Mark 10:17-21)

Collect
O God, by your Holy Spirit you enabled your servant Antony to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil: Give us grace, with pure hearts and minds, to follow you, the only God; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Take a moment to read the following Gospel text slowly, reflectively, prayerfully — to immerse yourself in it — not simply because it is an important word from the Lord, but also because it is the beginning of the story I have to tell today, or rather of the story that St. Athanasius has to tell.

Mark 10:17–27 (ESV): 17 And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’ ” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 22 Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

What is our response to this account? Maybe a sense of sadness for the rich man — so close to the Kingdom of God but not quite able to grasp it? Maybe a bit of astonishment like the disciples: why should wealth be such an obstacle to eternal life? Maybe a twinge of discomfort realizing how wealthy even the least of us are in comparison with the poverty in our city, state, and nation and the true destitution throughout the third world?

And this raises even more questions: Who are you — who am I — in this story? and What will you — what will I — do, if anything, because I have heard it, not once but twice, today?

Now, I want to lay alongside this Gospel story another one that starts about two centuries later, circa 250. It is the story of Antony as recorded in The Life of Antony, by Saint Athanasius.

1. Antony was an Egyptian by race. His parents were well born and prosperous, and since they were Christians, he also was reared in a Christian manner. When he was a child he lived with his parents, cognizant of little else besides them and his home. As he grew and became a boy, and was advancing in years, he could not bear to learn letters, wishing also to stand apart from friendship with other children. All his yearning, as it has been written of Jacob, was for living, an unaffected person, in his home. Of course he accompanied his parents to the Lord’s house, and as a child he was not frivolous, nor as a youth did he grow contemptuous; rather, he was obedient to his mother and father, and paying attention to the readings, he carefully took to heart what was profitable in them. And although he lived as a child in relative affluence, he did not pester his parents for food of various and luxurious kinds, nor did he seek the pleasures associated with food, but with merely the things he found before him he was satisfied, and he looked for nothing more.

2. He was left alone, after his parents’ death, with one quite young sister. He was about eighteen or even twenty years old, and he was responsible both for the home and his sister. Six months had not passed since the death of his parents when, going to the Lord’s house as usual and gathering his thoughts, he considered while he walked how the apostles, forsaking everything, followed the Savior, and how in Acts some sold what they possessed and took the proceeds and placed them at the feet of the apostles for distribution among those in need, and what great hope is stored up for such people in heaven. He went into the church pondering these things, and just then it happened that the Gospel was being read, and he heard the Lord saying to the rich man, If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. It was is if by God’s design he held the saints in his recollection, and as if the passage were read on his account. Immediately Antony went out from the Lord’s house and gave to the towns people the possessions he had from his forebears (three hundred fertile and very beautiful arourae [approximately an acre of land]), so that they would not disturb him or his sister in the least. And selling all the rest that was portable, when he collected sufficient money, he donated it to the poor, keeping a few things for his sister (Athanasius (Robert Gregg, trans.), The Life Of Antony And The Letter To Marcellinus, Paulist Press (1980), pp.30-31).

Antony heard the same text that we heard this afternoon, but it moved him in a way that it has not yet moved us. Why? He heard the words of Jesus as spoken not just to the rich man, but to himself. The Spirit had already predisposed him to hear the text in this way; as he walked to the Lord’s house he was already pondering his life circumstances — his inheritance, his relationship to the property and his responsibility to his sister — in light of the lives of the saints, the practice of the apostolic church, and the words of Scripture. Then, when he heard in the Gospel the answer to the questions he had been pondering, he was ready to receive it as a word spoken directly to him. Now, there are two important notions that come to us from this: (1) we should always consider the details of our life and circumstances in light of the saints, the Great Tradition of the Church, and the words of Scripture, and (2) we must always be ready to hear the Scripture as God’s word spoken to us and respond accordingly. Now, I need to nuance that last statement a bit. We must approach the whole of Scripture as God’s word spoken for us and for our salvation, and we must always ask for the wisdom of the Spirit and the guidance of the Church in determining what that word to us means. A specific word of Scripture is always for us; that is, there is always meaning in it for us. But, it is not always to us; that is, it is not always determinative for our behavior in the same was as it was for that of the original hearer. I may not be called to sell all that I have and give the proceeds to the poor, or I may be. Only prayer, spiritual discernment, and the teaching of the Church can tell me whether that word is to me. But, I must always examine my relationship with wealth in light of the Gospel imperatives to follow Jesus and to care for the poor; that word is surely for me and for all of us. Let’s continue Antony’s story.

3. But when, entering the Lord’s house once more, he heard in the Gospel the Lord saying, Do not be anxious about tomorrow, he could not remain any longer, but going out he gave those remaining possessions also to the needy. Placing his sister in the charge of respected and trusted virgins, and giving her over to the convent for rearing, he devoted himself from then on to the discipline rather than the household, giving heed to himself and patiently training himself (ibid, pp. 31-32).

This probably seems strange to us, to abandon his responsibilities to his sister. But, it was not an abrogation of his duties, rather a faithful discharge of them. What could be more responsible than to entrust the welfare of his sister to the Church, to ensure that she was raised and formed by faithful women? Again, note the role hearing the Gospel played. This is a common theme throughout Antony’s life; the Gospel is not simply to be heard, but to be followed in the specifics of one’s life.

Antony moved into the Egyptian wilderness where there were already a few holy men living as hermits, seeking a life of complete devotion to God. For some time, Antony sought them out, sought to receive from each some word of instruction.

3. (Continued) At first he also began by remaining in places proximate to his village. And going forth from there, if he heard of some zealous person anywhere, he searched him out like the wise bee. He did not go back to his own place unless he had seen him, and as though receiving from him certain supplies for traveling the road to virtue, he returned. Spending the beginning stages of his discipline in that place, then, he weighed in his thoughts how he would not look back on things of his parents, nor call his relatives to memory. All the desire and all the energy he possessed concerned the exertion of the discipline. He worked with his hands, though, having heard that he who is idle, let him not eat. And he spent what he made partly for bread, and partly on those in need. He prayed constantly, since he learned that it is necessary to pray unceasingly in private. For he paid such close attention to what was read that nothing from the Scripture did he fail to take in — rather he grasped everything, and in him the memory took the place of books (ibid, p.32).

Here are two more vital lessons from Antony’s life: (1) he was humble enough to learn some aspect of faith and practice from any follower of Christ, and (2) he was single minded, relentless, and disciplined in his pursuit of virtue. Whatever command he received from Scripture, he obeyed. Whatever instruction in holiness he received from another he followed as provisions on the path to virtue. He was the exact opposite of the double-minded man that James mentions:

James 1:5–8 (ESV): 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

What is your life — what is my life — about? Toward what destination are you — am I — heading? Antony could easily answer these questions. Leon Bloy wrote this in his book The Woman Who Was Poor:

The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.

That is what Antony’s life was about.

Much of The Life of Antony is devoted to his lifelong battle against the demons; the witness of his power over the devil and his hoard of demons is a treasure of the Church and a great source of instruction and edification. I do not have time to explore that, but I encourage you to read the work for yourself. It is not long, and it is an inspiring text. But I do want you to hear this instruction that Antony gave to his fellow monks/ascetics in the latter years of his life.

30. We need, therefore, to fear God alone, holding them [the demons] in contempt and fearing them not at all. Indeed, the more they do these things, let us all the more exert ourselves in the discipline that opposes them, for a great weapon against them is a just life and trust in God. They are afraid of the ascetics on several counts — for their fasting, the vigils, the prayers, the meekness and gentleness, the contempt for money, the lack of vanity, the humility, the love of the poor, the almsgiving, the freedom from wrath, and most of all for their devotion to Christ. It is for this reason that they do all they do — in order not to have those monks trampling them underfoot. For they know the grace that has been given to the faithful for combat against them by the Savior, in his saying, Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (ibid, p.54).

Do you — do I — want to thwart the power of the enemy through the grace of Christ? Then the way is clear, St. Antony says: prayer, fasting, vigils, meekness, gentleness, contempt for money, humility, love of the poor, almsgiving, total devotion to Christ. Do these things and the enemy will have no power over you, neither to terrify nor to harm.

Well, there is much more to be said about the life of Antony: about his twenty years spent in isolation from men and in the presence of God; about his seminal role in the growth and development of monasticism; about his support of the confessors and martyrs and his own desire for martyrdom; about his staunch opposition to heretics who threatened the purity of the faith. Antony is one of the towering figures in the Church though he was amongst the humblest of men.

I will close with a portion of Antony’s final words.

91. “I am going the way of the fathers, as it is written, for I see myself being summoned by the Lord. Be watchful and do not destroy your lengthy discipline, but as if you were making a beginning now, strive to preserve your enthusiasm. You know the treacherous demons — you know how savage they are, even though weakened in strength. Therefore, do not fear them, but rather draw inspiration from Christ always, and trust in him. And live as though dying daily, paying heed to yourselves and remembering what you heard from my preaching (ibid, pp. 96-97).

Two last good words of instruction for us: (1) strive to preserve your enthusiasm as if you were making a beginning now, and (2) live as though dying daily.

May Christ be gloried in our lives as he surely was in the life of Antony. Amen.

(The text of The Life of Antony may be found at https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2811.htm).