LIFE OF ANTHONY OF EGYPT WITH COMMENTARY

This book was written by the great 4th-century apologist, Athanasius. Today, 165 Greek manuscripts of this work survive. The Life of Anthony of Egypt is a biography of Anthony. Scholars consider him the father of Christian monks, as it was through him that the practice of monastic life spread among Christians. The monastic ideal rests on the Christian vocation to dedicate oneself entirely to the worship and service of God, renouncing the world and mortifying the desires of the flesh. From a young age, Anthony displayed a tendency toward solitude and kept himself apart from social life, even refusing to attend school. Born into a Christian family, he was deeply committed to obedience to the Gospel. Early on, the Holy Spirit touched him and made him understand the necessity of abandoning and despising the riches and pleasures of this world in order to dedicate himself to prayer. Athanasius, a fervent Christian bishop, devoted himself to theology and dedicated his entire life to the fight against Arianism. In this struggle, he formulated, like no other before him, the theology of the Trinity, demonstrating unequivocally, through Scripture, that God is Triune.