St. Antony

Feast day of St. Antony the Abbott known as the Patriarch of Monks

"I fear you not; you cannot separate me from the love of Christ." St. Antony on being assaulted by the devils

St. Athanasius of Alexandria wrote the following in The Life of Saint Antony, which later served as an inspiration to Christian monastics in both the East and the West.

And he was constant in prayer, knowing that a man ought to pray in secret unceasingly For he had given such heed to what was read that none of the things that were written fell from him to the ground, but he remembered all, and afterwards his memory served him for books.

He at least gave no thought to the past, but day by day, as if he were at the beginning of his discipline, often repeating to himself the saying of Paul 'Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before.

St. Antony taught to, “Daily, therefore, let each one take from himself the tale of his actions both by day and night; and if he have sinned, let him cease from it; while if he have not, let him not be boastful. But let him abide in that which is good, without being negligent, nor condemning his neighbours, nor justifying himself, 'until the Lord come who searcheth out hidden things ,' as saith the blessed apostle Paul. For often unawares we do things that we know not of but the Lord seeth all things.”

St. Antony was an illiterate and holy man who through his existence in the desert had an absolute connection to the divine truth.

Here is another quote from him;

"The devil is afraid of us when we pray and make sacrifices. He is also afraid when we are humble and good. He is especially afraid when we love Jesus very much. He runs away when we make the Sign of the Cross."