Section 49

Antony saw that crowds were surrounding him and that he was no longer able to withdraw in the way he intended. He feared that because of the signs the Lord worked through him, either he himself might become conceited or someone else might think more highly of him than was proper.

He therefore decided to leave for the Upper Thebaid, where no one knew him. After receiving loaves from the brothers, he sat beside the river and watched for a boat in which he might travel upstream.

While he was considering this, a voice came to him from above: “Antony, where are you going, and why?”

He was not disturbed. He had often become accustomed to being addressed in this way, so he listened and answered: “Because the crowd does not allow me to be quiet, I want to go to the Upper Thebaid. I am hindered by many things here, and above all people ask from me things that are beyond my ability.”

The voice replied: “Even if you go to the Thebaid, or even if, as you are thinking, you go down toward the Bucolia, you will have to endure still more labor—twice as much. But if you truly want to be quiet, go now into the inner desert.”

Antony said, “Who will show me the way? I do not know it.”

Immediately the voice pointed out some Saracens who were about to travel in that direction. Antony approached them and asked to accompany them into the desert. As though Providence itself had instructed them, they welcomed him willingly.

After traveling with them for three days and three nights, Antony came to a very high mountain. At its foot flowed a clear spring whose water was sweet and very cold. Beyond it lay a plain with a few neglected palm trees.