St. Anthony the Great

the star of the wilderness , and the father of all monks .

he was born in the year 251 AD. In lower Egypt city of Bani Swaif , to rich parents who loved the church and the poor . they raised him up in fear of the lord . when he was twenty years old , his parents departed , and he had to take care of his sister .

once he entered the church and heard the words of the lord Christ in the Gospel , " if you want to be perfect , go , sell what you have and give the poor , and you will have treasures in heaven ; and come , follow me ."( Matthew 19:21) he returned to his house , decided to fulfill this commandment and considered it directed to him personally . he gave his wealth to the poor and needy , and he took his sister and placed her with some virgins . at that time , monasticism had not yet been established . all those who wanted to live a solitary life went and lived on the outskirts of the city . this was what St. Antony did as he dwelt alone , worshiping and living an ascetic life . the devil fought him there by afflicting him with boredom , laziness, and the phantoms of women . he overcame the devil's snares by the power of the Lord Christ .

he did not allow anyone to enter his cell ,and whoever came to him , stood outside and listen to his advice , he continued in this condition of solitary worship for 20 years . by the time lots of people came to visit him to hear his teachings . he saw that these visits kept him away from his worship . As a result , he went far away to the eastern desert . he traveled with some Bedouins to the inner wilderness for 3 days , until he found a spring of water and some palm trees , and then he chose to settle there . on this spot now stands the monastery of St. Antony the Great . the bedouins came to him with bread , and the Lord drove away all the wild beasts from this place , for his sake . his fame spread abroad and it reached Emperor Constantine . the emperor wrote him asked him to pray for him . St Antony wrote him a letter blessing him , and praying for the peace of the empire and the church .

One day , he was bored , and he heard a voice telling him , " Go out and see . " . He went out and saw an angel who wore a girdle with a cross , and on his head a cover . He was sitting while braiding palm leaves , then he stood up to pray , and again he sat to weave . A voice came to him saying , " Antony , do this and you will rest ."

Henceforth , he started to wear this tunic that he saw , and began to weave palm leaves , and never got bored again .

ST. Antony prophesied about the persecution that was about to happen to the church and the control of the heretics over it, the church victory and its return to its formal glory . In 355 AD. When St. Antony felt that the day of his departure had approached , he commanded his disciple to hide his body ( not known where is it till now ) . He stretched himself on the ground and gave up his spirit . The angels and the saints took his spirit .

This saint lived for 105 years , struggling in the way of holiness and purity . The Coptic church in Egypt celebrates his departure on 22 of Coptic month Toba