The holy Abba Anthony was once sitting in the desert when he fell into acedia and a deep darkness of thoughts. He said to God, ‘Lord, I want to be saved, but my thoughts do not let me. What shall I do in my distress? How can I be saved?’ A little later he got up and went outside. Anthony saw someone like himself sitting and working, then rising from his work to pray, then sitting again and braiding a rope, then rising again to pray. It was an angel of the Lord, sent to correct and reassure Anthony. He heard the angel say, ‘Do this, and you will be saved.’ When Anthony heard this, he was filled with joy and confidence; by doing this, he was saved.
The same Abba Anthony, gazing into the depth of God’s judgments, asked, ‘Lord, why do some die young while others live to extreme old age? Why are some poor while others are rich? Why are the unjust rich while the righteous are poor?’ A voice came to him saying, ‘Anthony, pay attention to yourself. These are God’s judgments, and it is not for your benefit to know them.’
Someone asked Abba Anthony, ‘What should I keep so that I may please God?’ The elder answered, ‘Keep what I command you: wherever you go, always keep God before your eyes; whatever you do, have the testimony of the Holy Scriptures for it; and wherever you settle, do not move away quickly. Keep these three, and you will be saved.’
Abba Anthony said to Abba Poemen, ‘This is the great work of a person: to lay the blame for one’s own fault on oneself before God, and to expect temptation until the last breath.’
He also said, ‘No one who has not been tested can enter the kingdom of heaven. Take away trials, and no one is saved.’
Abba Pambo asked Abba Anthony, ‘What should I do?’ The elder said to him, ‘Do not trust in your own righteousness; do not dwell in regret over what is past; and keep your tongue and your stomach under control.’
Abba Anthony said, ‘I saw all the snares of the enemy spread over the earth, and I groaned and said, “Who can pass through these?” Then I heard a voice say to me, “Humility.”’
He also said, ‘Some have worn down their bodies through ascetic practice, but because they have not acquired discernment, they have ended up far from God.’
He also said, ‘Life and death come to us from our neighbor. If we gain our brother, we gain God; but if we cause our brother to stumble, we sin against Christ.’
He also said, ‘Just as fish die when they stay too long on dry land, so monks who linger outside the cell or spend time with worldly people grow slack in the practice of stillness. Therefore, just as a fish hurries to the sea, we must hurry to our cell, lest by lingering outside we forget our inner watchfulness.’
He also said, ‘The one who remains in the desert and practices stillness is freed from three battles: hearing, speaking, and seeing. He has only one battle: against fornication.’
Some brothers came to Abba Anthony to tell him about visions they were seeing and to learn from him whether they were true or from demons. They had a donkey, and it died on the road. When they came to the elder, before they could speak he said to them, ‘How did the little donkey die on the road?’ They said, ‘How do you know that, Abba?’ He said, ‘The demons showed me.’ They replied, ‘That is why we came to ask you: we see visions, and often they come true. Could we be deceived?’ From the example of the donkey, the elder convinced them that the visions were from demons.
There was a man hunting wild animals in the desert who saw Abba Anthony being cheerful with the brothers. The elder wanted to show him that one must sometimes make allowances for the brothers, so he said, ‘Put an arrow to your bow and draw it.’ He did so. Anthony said, ‘Draw it again,’ and he drew it. Again he said, ‘Draw it.’ The hunter replied, ‘If I draw it beyond measure, the bow will break.’ The elder said, ‘So it is in the work of God. If we stretch the brothers beyond measure, they will quickly break. We must therefore make allowances for the brothers from time to time.’ When the hunter heard this, he was pierced to the heart and left greatly helped by the elder. The brothers, strengthened, returned to their own place.
Abba Anthony heard about a younger monk who had performed a miraculous sign on the road. He had seen some elders traveling with difficulty and commanded wild donkeys to come and carry them until they reached Anthony. The elders told Abba Anthony what had happened. He said to them, ‘This monk seems to me like a ship full of goods, but I do not know whether it will reach harbor.’ After some time Abba Anthony suddenly began to weep, pull out his hair, and lament. His disciples said, ‘Why are you weeping, Abba?’ The elder said, ‘A great pillar of the Church has just fallen’—he was speaking about the younger monk—‘but go to him and see what has happened.’ The disciples went and found the monk sitting on a mat and weeping over the sin he had committed. When he saw the elder’s disciples, he said, ‘Tell the elder to ask God to grant me just ten days, and I hope to make amends.’ But within five days he died.
A monk was praised by the brothers before Abba Anthony. When the monk came to him, Anthony tested him to see whether he could endure being dishonored. Finding that he could not bear it, he said to him, ‘You are like a village beautifully decorated in front but plundered from behind by robbers.’
A brother said to Abba Anthony, ‘Pray for me.’ The elder said to him, ‘Neither I nor God will have mercy on you unless you yourself make an effort and ask God.’
Some elders once came to Abba Anthony, and Abba Joseph was with them. Wanting to test them, the elder put before them a saying from Scripture and began with the youngest, asking what the saying meant. Each answered according to his ability, but the elder said to each one, ‘You have not yet found it.’ Last of all he said to Abba Joseph, ‘What do you think this saying means?’ He answered, ‘I do not know.’ Then Abba Anthony said, ‘Abba Joseph has certainly found the way, because he said, “I do not know.”’
Some brothers from Scetis came to Abba Anthony. They boarded a boat to go to him and found an elder who also wanted to go there. The brothers did not know him. As they sat in the boat, they spoke about sayings of the Fathers, passages from Scripture, and their handiwork, while the elder remained silent. When they reached the landing, they discovered that the elder too was going to Abba Anthony. When they came to him, Anthony said to them, ‘You found a good companion in this elder.’ Then he said to the elder, ‘You found good brothers with you, Abba.’ The elder said, ‘They are good, but their courtyard has no door: anyone who wants can enter the stable and untie the donkey.’ He meant that they said whatever came into their mouths.
Some brothers came to Abba Anthony and said, ‘Give us a word: how can we be saved?’ The elder said, ‘You have heard Scripture; that is enough for you.’ But they said, ‘Father, we want to hear from you too.’ The elder said, ‘The Gospel says, “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also.”’ They said, ‘We cannot do that.’ The elder said, ‘If you cannot turn the other cheek too, at least endure being struck on one.’ They said, ‘We cannot do that either.’ The elder said, ‘If you cannot do even that, do not give back what you received.’ And they said, ‘We cannot do that either.’ Then the elder said to his disciple, ‘Make them a little gruel; they are sick. If you cannot do this and you will not do that, what can I do for you? You need prayers.’
A brother renounced the world and distributed his possessions to the poor, but kept back a little for himself. He came to Abba Anthony. When the elder learned this, he said to him, ‘If you want to become a monk, go to this village, buy meat, wrap it around your naked body, and come back here like that.’ The brother did so, and the dogs and birds tore at his body. When he met the elder again, Anthony asked whether things had happened as he had advised. The brother showed him his torn body, and the holy Anthony said, ‘Those who renounce the world but still want to keep money are cut to pieces like this by the demons as they wage war against them.’
A brother was once tempted in the monastery of Abba Elias. After he was driven out, he went to the mountain to Abba Anthony. The brother stayed with him for a time, and Anthony sent him back to the monastery from which he had been expelled. When the brothers saw him, they drove him out again. He returned to Abba Anthony and said, ‘Father, they refused to receive me.’ So the elder sent them a message: ‘A ship was wrecked at sea and lost its cargo, and with great difficulty it made it safely to land; but you want to sink what has been saved on shore.’ When they heard that Abba Anthony had sent him, they received him at once.
Abba Anthony said, ‘I think the body has a natural movement innate to it, but it does not become active unless the soul wills it; it only manifests in the body as a movement without passion. There is also another movement, arising from feeding and warming the body with food and drink; through these, the heat of the blood stirs the body to activity. This is why the Apostle said, “Do not get drunk with wine, in which is debauchery.” And again the Lord, instructing his disciples in the Gospel, said, “Take care lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness.” There is yet another movement that comes upon those who struggle, arising from the schemes and envy of demons. So one must know that there are three bodily movements: one is natural, another comes from indiscriminate eating, and the third from demons.’
He also said, ‘God does not allow the same battles to come upon this generation as he did upon the ancients. He knows that they are weak and cannot bear them.’
It was revealed to Abba Anthony in the desert: ‘There is someone in the city who is like you, a physician by profession. He gives his surplus to those in need, and all day long he chants the Trisagion with the angels.’
Abba Anthony said, ‘A time is coming when people will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad they will rise up against him, saying, “You are mad,” because he is not like them.’
Some brothers came to Abba Anthony and put before him a passage from Leviticus. The elder went out into the desert, and Abba Ammonas secretly followed him, knowing his custom. After going a long way, the elder stood in prayer and cried out in a loud voice, ‘O God, send Moses, and he will teach me this saying.’ A voice came and spoke with him. Abba Ammonas later said, ‘I heard the voice speaking with him, but I did not understand the meaning of the words.’
Three of the Fathers had the custom of going each year to blessed Anthony. Two would ask him about their thoughts and the salvation of their souls, while the third remained completely silent and asked nothing. After a long time Abba Anthony said to him, ‘You have been coming here for so long, and you never ask me anything.’ He replied, ‘Father, it is enough for me simply to see you.’
They said that one of the elders asked God to let him see the Fathers, and he saw them all except Abba Anthony. So he said to the one showing them to him, ‘Where is Abba Anthony?’ He replied, ‘In the place where God is, there he is.’
A brother in a monastery was falsely accused of fornication. He got up and went to Abba Anthony. The brothers from the monastery also came to correct him and take him back, and they began accusing him, saying, ‘You did this.’ But he defended himself: ‘I did no such thing.’ Abba Paphnutius, called Cephalas, happened to be there and told this parable: ‘I saw a man on the bank of a river sunk in mud up to his knees. Some people came to give him a hand, but they pushed him down as far as his neck.’ Then Abba Anthony said to them about Abba Paphnutius, ‘Here is a true man, able to heal and save souls.’ Pierced to the heart by the words of the elders, they prostrated themselves before the brother in repentance. At the urging of the Fathers, they took the brother back to the monastery.
Some said of Abba Anthony that he had become a bearer of the Spirit, but he did not wish to speak of this because of people; for he disclosed both what was happening in the world and what was going to happen.
Once Abba Anthony received letters from Emperor Constantius asking him to come to Constantinople, and he considered what to do. He said to Abba Paul, his disciple, ‘Should I go?’ Paul said to him, ‘If you go, you will be called Anthony; but if you do not go, you will be called Abba Anthony.’
Abba Anthony said, ‘I no longer fear God; I love him. For love casts out fear.’
He also said, ‘Always keep the fear of God before your eyes. Remember the one who puts to death and gives life. Hate the world and everything in it. Hate every bodily comfort. Renounce this life so that you may live to God. Remember what you promised God, for he will require it from you on the day of judgment. Go hungry, go thirsty, go without clothing, keep vigil, mourn, weep, groan in your heart. Test whether you are worthy of God. Despise the flesh so that you may save your souls.’
Abba Anthony once visited Abba Amoun on the mountain of Nitria. After they had spoken together, Abba Amoun said to him, ‘Through your prayers the brothers have increased, and some of them want to build cells farther away so that they can practice stillness. How far should the new cells be from those here?’ Anthony said, ‘Let us eat at the ninth hour, then go out, cross the desert, and look for the place.’ They traveled through the desert until the sun was setting. Then Abba Anthony said, ‘Let us pray and set up a cross here, so that those who want to build may build here. Then when those living there come to visit the brothers here, they can eat their small meal at the ninth hour and then set out; and those leaving from here can do the same. In this way they can visit one another without distraction.’ The distance is twelve miles.
Abba Anthony said, ‘The one who hammers a lump of iron first considers what he intends to make—a sickle, a sword, or an axe. In the same way, we ought to consider what virtue we are pursuing, so that we do not toil in vain.’
He also said, ‘Obedience with self-control subdues wild beasts.’
He also said, ‘I know monks who, after many labors, fell and lost their reason because they had put their hope in their own work and had deceived themselves about the commandment of the one who said, “Ask your father, and he will tell you.”’
He also said, ‘If possible, a monk ought to be open with the elders about how many steps he takes and how many drops of water he drinks in his cell, in case he is going wrong even in these things.’