St. Anthony the Great

Anthony was the son of wealthy Christian farmers in Egypt. At about twenty he heard the Gospel read in church, “Go, sell what you have and give to the poor,” and did exactly that. He went into the desert to pray and fight the demons that attacked him, living for years in a tomb, then an old fort, then a cave on a mountain near the Red Sea. Thousands followed him into the desert, and he became the father of all monks. He said, “I saw the snares of the enemy spread over all the earth, and I said, ‘Who can get through them?’ And I heard a voice: ‘Humility.’” He lived to 105. His life was written by St. Athanasius.

• Feast: January 17 (New Calendar)
• Lived: 251–356
• Place: Eastern Desert, Egypt