This is the fifth in our serious on St. Antony the Great (AD 251-356) of Egypt. Last week we saw that he was physically beaten so badly by the demons that people thought he was dead. But he awoke, and upon returning to the tomb that was his cell at the time, he shouted out to the devil: "Here am I, Antony; I flee not from your stripes, for even if you inflict more, nothing shall separate me from the love of Christ!" (Romans 8:35.)
Antony's biographer, St. Athanasius (writing about AD 360), records a conversation [make believe? later told to him by Antony?] of the devil with his demons: "'You see,' said [the devil], 'that neither by the spirit of lust nor by blows did we stay the man, but that he braves us, let us attack him in another fashion.' But changes of form for evil are easy for the devil," wrote Athanasius, "so in the night they made such a din that the whole of that place seemed to be shaken by an earthquake, and the demons as if breaking the four walls of the dwelling [the tomb] seemed to enter through them, coming in the likeness of beasts and creeping things.
"But Antony, stricken and goaded by them, felt bodily pains severer still. He lay watching, however, with unshaken soul, groaning from bodily anguish; but his mind was clear, and as in mockery he said, 'If there had been any power in you, it would have sufficed had one of you come, but since the Lord has made you weak, you attempt to terrify me by numbers: and a proof of your weakness is that you take the shapes of brute beasts.'
"And again, with boldness he said, 'If you are able, and have received power against me, delay not to attack; but if you are unable, why trouble me in vain? For faith in our Lord is a seal and a wall of safety to us.'
"So after many attempts, they gnashed their teeth upon him, because they were mocking themselves rather than him.
"Nor was the Lord then forgetful of Antony's wrestling, but was at hand to help him. Looking up, [Antony] saw the roof as it were opened, and a ray of light descending to him. The demons suddenly vanished, the pain of his body straightway ceased, and the building was again whole.
But Antony, feeling the help, and getting his breath again, and being freed from pain, asked the vision which had appeared to him, saying, 'Where were You? Why did You not appear at the beginning to make my pains to cease?'
"And a voice came to him, 'Antony, I was here, but I waited to see your fight. And therefore, since you have endured, and have not been overcome, I will ever be a consolation to you, and will make your name known everywhere.'
"Having heard this, Antony arose and prayed, and received such strength that he perceived that he had more power in his body than formerly."
And how did St. Antony respond to this wonderful grace, and wonderful promise, from the Lord? He immediately sought greater asceticism, greater discipline, greater solitude, in order to strive further against the enemy and let Christ conquer in him further.
So now he set off, by himself - he asked a companion to join him, but the latter refused - to go more deeply into the barren Egyptian desert, then entirely unpopulated.
St. Antony is now about 35 years old. It is about AD 285.
Dibby Allan Green