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Today we continue with the story of Saint Anthony of Egypt of the 3rd and 4th centuries, widely regarded as the father of all monks. After his time alone in an empty tomb, he travelled deeper into the Egyptian wilderness, where he found a deserted fort. Tradition has it that he spent the next 20 years in solitude, praying, singing psalms, and resisting the temptations of the devil. 

 

Eventually, his friends and followers literally broke his door down, and he emerged, looking healthy, and enlightened. Anthony started working miracles for anyone who came by needing healing, and he settled disputes. He also offered wisdom, including today’s passage on the virtues of living a simpler, more austere life. He is speaking to fellow desert hermits, who given up all their worldly goods to live alone in the desert, contemplating God:

 

“And let us not think that the time is too long or what we do is (too hard), for the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. And let us not consider, when we look at the world, that we have given up things of some greatness, for even the entire Earth itself is quite small in relation to all of heaven. If now it happened that we were lords of all the Earth, and renounced all the Earth, that would amount to nothing as compared with the kingdom of heaven… 

 

For what benefit is there in possessing these (material) things that we do not take with us (when we die)? Why not rather own those things that we are able to take away with us – such things as prudence, justice, temperance, courage, understanding, love, concern for the poor, faith in Christ, freedom from anger, hospitality? If we possess these, we shall discover them running before us, preparing hospitality for us there in the land of the meek (heaven).”

 

Anthony’s words are directed at hermits who have given up pretty much all material goods. But for us, who live “in the world,” we should ask ourselves: how much long term joy does material consumption really give us? Our society promises fulfillment through consumption. However, the wisdom of Lent is that there can also be joy and personal development through living with less, while cultivating the virtues that Anthony mentions. Peace.

 

-Rev. Stephen Milton, Lawrence Park Community Church, Toronto

 

Quotation Source: Athanasius, The Life of Anthony, Forward by Scott Cairns, (Harper San Francisco, 1980), p.21.

 

 

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