St. Anthony the Abbot, also called St. Anthony of Egypt, is celebrated at mass on Jan 17 this coming week. His story is fascinating and he is considered to be the founder of organized monasticism. Even though he was a hermit who went to live in the deserts of Egypt in the 3 ^rd century, we actually know a lot about Anthony because at the same time period, St. Athanasius was a bishop in Egypt. Athanasius was highly literate, a fantastic writer, and he was read very widely. One of his books happens to be The Life of Anthony. Athanasius was influential in saving the Church from heresy, and he often credits the example of Anthony and the other monks as both teaching him the right beliefs as well as giving him the courage to defend them.

Anthony grew up in a wealthy noble family in Egypt, which was a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. His parents had both died at about the time he was entering adulthood and he suddenly found himself in possession of great wealth. He knew exactly what to do, though. He set up an endowment for his sister so that she would always be taken care of, gave the rest of the money away to the poor, and fled into the desert to pray alone. There we no organized monasteries at that time, so monks lived as hermits alone in the wilderness. They didn’t have a rule of life (such as you might encounter at a Benedictine monastery today), these men only knew that they had a vocation to pray. They were praying for themselves, to avoid sin and attain perfection. They were also praying for the Church and for the world. Monks to this day do the hardest and most beneficial job in the world; they pray for us.

They also show enormous courage in facing themselves with no buffer. What I mean by this is that most of us are introspective occasionally, but when we often chat with friends or watch television or read. Not bad things, exactly, but distractions. Monks do not have these distractions. They are often solitary. They have no possessions to distract them. They are face to face with God, themselves, and their sins. If you want to experience reality unvarnished, spend a week in retreat at a monastery. Anthony would often find himself literally face to face with the Devil, who would tempt him and try to make him sin. Stories of his battles spread and amazed people.

So how did a solitary monk create a monastery? What happened with Anthony is that as he gained a wide reputation for holiness, other men who wanted to become monks followed him out to the desert and lived nearby. He didn’t necessarily like this. He ran away at least once and fled deeper into the desert, but his disciples found him. He wasn’t anti-social, but teaching disciples and organizing a monastery took time away from his prayers. He was also concerned that people would begin to honor him too much. It must have been a sacrifice for him to allow visitors. But he found a balance and did not abandon his fellow Christians. He even eventually went back to the city of Alexandria to help Athanasius defend the Church against heretics.

He was not a learned man. He didn’t have any university degrees or special training, and yet he influenced Athanasius and confounded the heretics with the truth and power of his argument. There is a lesson here for us all to learn. To be a good Christian you do not need to have special training or be particularly academic. The wisdom of God is not in the ability to read Latin and quote Aristotle, it is in the wonderment and joy of spending time in his presence and knowing Jesus. The saints were often not educated people, but their wisdom is evident. The closer they were to Jesus, the holier they became, the more they gaze upon the face of God, the more sensitive they were to the Holy Spirit, the more wisdom they were able to offer. Their wisdom is simple but profound. The people who are closest to God are the saints, so if you want to know more about Him, pay attention to what they have written.

Here we have an example of particular people with a vocation to monasticism. To this day God calls certain people to this way of life. Others he calls to marriage and family. Our duty is to discern God’s will for us and serve as best we can whether that be in the desert alone somewhere or surrounded by family. Our families provide unique joys and challenges, and God works through them to save us. If nothing else, we know that there are dedicated monks and nuns out there who are praying for us.