Anthony the Great

Father of All Monks and Desert Father

Anthony the Great was a Christian saint from Egypt who is known as the Father of Monasticism.^[1][2] Anthony was born in 251 in the village of Koma, located in Lower Egypt, to parents who owned substantial land.^[1][3] The spread of Christian monasticism, especially in Western Europe, was significantly advanced by Athanasius of Alexandria's biography of Anthony.^[1][4]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Born

12 January 251

Died

17 January 356

Birthplace

Koma, Province of Egypt, Roman Empire

Place of death

Mount Colzim, Province of Egypt, Roman Empire

Titles

Venerable and God-bearing; Father of Monasticism and All Monks

Canonized

Pre-Congregation

Attributes

bell
lamb
book
Tau Cross Tau cross with bell pendant

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

He gave away some of his family's lands to his neighbors, sold the remaining property, and donated the funds to the poor.^[3][1] After fifteen years, at age thirty-five, Anthony withdrew into the desert to an abandoned Roman fort for some twenty years.^[5] A colony of ascetics formed around him, and about 305 he emerged to guide them.^[6] He later withdrew again to a mountain near the Red Sea, where he spent the last forty-five years of his life.^[6]

Around age twenty, Anthony's parents died, leaving him responsible for his unmarried younger sister.^[3][7] Anthony spent fifteen years in that region, initially learning from a local hermit.^[8] Athanasius recorded that the devil tormented Anthony with lethargy, tedium, and female apparitions.^[6][1] During his desert journey, Anthony reportedly encountered a series of supernatural temptations.^[5][9]

What the cited sources add

According to one source, Anthony as a child was serious, respectful, and obedient to his parents.^[7] Miraculous healings from ergotism, a disease later called "St. Anthony's Fire," were attributed to Anthony's intercession.^[5][9] Two nobles, believing Anthony helped them recover from that disease, established the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony.^[5][9] The letters of Anthony are the earliest known original texts composed in the Coptic language.^[10]

The Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit holds Anthony in special veneration because of his close link to Paul of Thebes.^[11]

References

kostasadmin, "St. Antony the Great", The Orthodox Path, 17 January 2023. facts only, no text reused. orthodoxpath.org
"Liturgical Calendar", The Australian Province of the Order Of Saint Paul The First Hermit, 29 August 2022. facts only, no text reused. paulinefathers.org.au
Wikipedia, "Anthony the Great" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Athanasius, "Life of Antony", Penguin Books, 1998, p. 10 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony the Great" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Endsjø, "Primordial landscapes, Incorruptible Bodies", Peter Lang Publishing, 2008 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony the Great" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Butler's Lives of the Saints", HarperSanFrancisco, 1991 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony the Great" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
"Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the Great", oca.org. facts only, no text reused. oca.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony the Great" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Butler's Lives of the Saints", HarperSanFrancisco, 1991; Sax, "How Saint Anthony Brought Fire to the World" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Open Library record, ISBN 0060692995 ("Butler's lives of the saints"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony the Great" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Coptic Literature" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Anthony the Great" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Liturgical Calendar", The Australian Province of the Order Of Saint Paul The First Hermit, 29 August 2022 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Anthony the Great (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.