St. Anthony of Egypt
Feast day: January 7
Born in Egypt, Anthony was 20 when his parents died. Soon after inheriting the family estate, he gave away everything he owned, placed his sister in a convent and started a hermit’s life in an ancient tomb near his village. Anthony endured many assaults by demons and temptations but maintained a devout prayer life. Around 306, he began to accept disciples and founded his first monastery. Visitors sought his counsel, and bishops of Alexandria called on him to help refute Arianism. As one of the founders of Christian monasticism, his life is documented in a biography by St. Athanasius of Alexandria. Anthony died on Jan. 17, 356, and was buried in an unmarked grave, as he had requested.
Collect
O God, who brought the Abbot Saint Anthony
to serve you by a wondrous way of life in the desert,
grant, through his intercession,
that, denying ourselves,
we may always love you above all things.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
