Section 65

Many monks have related, with remarkable agreement among themselves, that Antony experienced many other things of this kind. Yet some other events seem even more extraordinary.

Once, about the ninth hour, Antony rose to pray before eating. He became aware that he was caught up in spirit. Astonishingly, he seemed to stand outside himself and saw himself being led upward through the air by certain beings.

Then some harsh and terrifying beings stood in the air and tried to prevent his passage. Those who were guiding Antony opposed them. The hostile beings demanded an accounting, asking whether he was liable to them. When they tried to reckon up his life from his birth onward, Antony’s guides stopped them and said: “The Lord has wiped away the sins committed from his birth. You may make an accounting only from the time when he became a monk and dedicated himself to God.”

They then accused him, but they could prove nothing against him. His way became free and unobstructed.

Immediately Antony seemed to see himself returning and standing beside himself, and once again he was Antony as before. He forgot about eating and spent the rest of the day and the entire night groaning and praying.

He was astonished to see against what powerful opponents our struggle is directed and through what labors we must pass through the air. He remembered that this was what the Apostle meant by “the ruler of the authority of the air,” for there the enemy has power to fight and attempt to hinder those who pass through.

For this reason Antony earnestly urged people: “Take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day,” and so that “the enemy, having nothing evil to say against us, may be put to shame.”

We who have learned this should also remember the Apostle’s words: “Whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know; God knows.” Paul was caught up to the third heaven, heard things that cannot be spoken, and then came down. Antony saw that he had come only as far as the air and struggled there until his way was made free.