Section 84

Antony did not heal people by issuing commands in his own authority. He prayed and invoked the name of Christ. It was therefore clear to everyone that Antony himself was not the one performing the works. The Lord showed mercy through him and healed those who suffered.

Antony’s own work was prayer and ascetic discipline. For their sake he remained on the mountain, rejoicing in the contemplation of divine things and grieving when large crowds disturbed him and drew him down to the outer mountain.

All the judges used to ask him to come down, because they themselves could not enter the mountain on account of the crowds of litigants who followed them. Still, they begged him to come merely so that they might see him.

Antony avoided this and refused to visit them. But they persisted and increasingly sent prisoners under military guard to him, hoping that because of these people he would come down. Finally, compelled by necessity and seeing the prisoners lamenting, he came to the outer mountain.

Once again his labor was not without benefit. His coming helped many people and served the judges as well. He counseled them to prefer justice above everything else, to fear God, and to remember that “with the judgment you judge, you will be judged.”

Yet more than anything else, Antony loved his life on the mountain.