The Life of Antony

It is Athanasius's biography of Antony of Egypt, the young man who heard the gospel read in church, sold everything, and walked into the desert to pray — becoming the most famous of the early Christian hermits. It follows his long life of solitude, spiritual struggle, and holiness, and it became the founding classic of Christian monasticism and one of the most influential books of the early church.

Antony was a wealthy young Egyptian of the third and fourth centuries who, hearing Christ's call to sell all and follow him, gave away his possessions and withdrew into the desert to a life of prayer and self-denial. He lived to a great age, drew many others to imitate him, and became known as the father of Christian monasticism.

Athanasius, the bishop of Alexandria and the great defender of Christ's deity, wrote it shortly after Antony's death. He knew Antony personally, and wrote as one who had seen the man and his influence firsthand, which gives the biography unusual authority and warmth — it is the portrait of a saint by one of the church's greatest theologians.

Because it launched the whole tradition of Christian monasticism and shaped ideals of holiness for centuries. Widely read and translated, it drew countless people to the monastic life; famously, it was partly through hearing of Antony's example that Augustine was moved toward his own conversion. Few early Christian books have had so wide an influence.

The book vividly describes Antony's spiritual battles in the desert against temptation and the forces of evil — struggles that later inspired much Christian art. Athanasius presents these not as mere legend but as the real warfare of a soul seeking God, and as evidence that Christ gives victory to those who resist evil through faith and prayer.

That the gospel call to leave all and follow Christ is to be taken seriously, and that a life of prayer, self-denial, and dependence on God brings real holiness and peace. Through Antony's example, Athanasius holds up wholehearted devotion, victory over temptation, and the reality of Christ's power in the believer's struggle.

No — while it is the founding text of monasticism, its deeper appeal is to anyone drawn to wholehearted devotion and the reality of the spiritual life. Readers of every tradition have valued it as a portrait of a man who took Christ's call utterly seriously, and as a window onto the faith and struggles of the early church.

At the beginning, with Antony's call and withdrawal to the desert, and on through his life of struggle and holiness. It is a short, continuous biography meant to be read straight through, and read that way it conveys both the drama of Antony's spiritual battles and the steady devotion that made him a pattern for centuries.