January 17th, is the feast day of St. Antony (or Anthony) the Great who lived from AD 251-356 in Egypt. Last week we began a series of articles on his life. Much of our information comes from the biography of Antony written about AD 360 by St. Athanasius of Alexandria.    Antony was born in Koma in Lower Egypt to wealthy landowner parents. His parents were faithful Christians, raising him to be the same. He had just one sibling, a younger sister.    Athanasius writes, “But when he was grown and arrived at boyhood, and was advancing in years, he could not endure to learn letters, not caring to associate with other boys; but all his desire was ... to live a plain man at home.” Though living at home, he was never idle. And although Antony never learned to read, he had a fantastic memory from what he heard orally, especially from the Bible. He regularly attended the Liturgy at “the Lord’s House” (church) with his parents, “attentive to what was read, keepin...

January 17th is the feast day of St. Antony (or Anthony) the Great, also called Antony of Egypt, Antony the Abbot, Antony of the Desert, Antony the Anchorite, Antony the Hermit, Antony of Thebes, and also known as the Father of All Monks. St. Antony was born on January 12, 251, in Koma, Egypt, then a province of the Roman Empire. He died, at age 105, on January 17, 356, at Mount Colzim, Egypt. About four years after St. Antony’s death, about AD 360, his contemporary Egyptian, St. Athanasius of Alexandria (AD 295/298-373), wrote a biography of Antony called “The Life of Antony.” It became one of best-known works of literature in Christian world, and remains in print even still today. The reading of “The Life of Antony” influenced the conversion of many, including St. Augustine of Hippo (ad 354-430), St. John Chrysostom (AD 354-407), and this writer. In future articles we will go into the details of St. Antony’s life, but first, let’s just get a bit of a flavor of who this Third...

Praying the Psalms ... Mirror of a Person's Soul       In continuing our series on praying the Psalms of the Bible, we have mentioned St. Athanasius’ Letter to Marcellinus    (available online http://athanasius.com/psalms/aletterm.htm ), written in the first half of the Fourth Century. That Letter shows us how Christians used the Psalter, both privately as well as liturgically in worship.       St. Athanasius writes in that letter that the Psalms are a mirror of a person’s soul. “This peculiar marvel [is] that within [the Psalms] are represented and portrayed, in all their great variety, the movements of the human soul. It is like a picture in which you see yourself portrayed, and seeing, may understand and consequently form yourself upon the pattern given.”       “In the Psalms,” he says, “you learn about yourself” and “learn the way to remedy your ill.” And this is all done by the Holy Spirit...

Praying the Psalms ... Christ in the Psalms      In continuing our series on praying the Psalms of the Bible, we’ve mentioned that the Psalms speak of Christ prophetically, as Jesus also said of himself (Lk 24:44). St. Athanasius’ early Fourth Century “Letter to Marcellinus” (available online http://athanasius.com/psalms/aletterm.htm ), gives us some specifics:       “Of the coming of the Savior and how, although He is God, He yet should dwell among us, Psalm 50 says, ‘God shall come openly, even our God, and He shall not keep silence;’ and in Psalm 118 we read, ‘Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the House of the Lord. God is the Lord, and He has given us light.’ That He Who comes is Himself the Father's Word, Psalm 107 thus sings, ‘He sent His Word and healed them, and rescued them out of all their distresses.’ For the God Who comes is this self-same Word Whom the Father sends, and of this Word Who i...

Praying the Psalms ... the Divine Office Last week we began looking at the Psalms in the Bible as a way to pray always (Lk 18:1; 21:36; I Thes 5:17-18; Eph 6:18). Before our life might come to be continuous prayer, we need to make the effort to pray regularly. A time of prayer each day, with some Scripture reading and meditation, is a minimum for every Christian. Adding a Psalm to read and pray would join us to the universal practice of Hebrews, Jews and Christians since the Psalms were composed. In Jesus’ time, liturgical prayer accompanied the morning (3rd hour or 9 AM) and evening (9th hour or 6 PM) sacrifices (Ex 29:38-39) at the Temple in Jerusalem, which the Apostles continued to attend (e.g., Ac 3:1). In the synagogues, there is some but tentative evidence of regular prayer (which is part of Jewish practice today). In the early Church, there is clear evidence of the widespread practice of praying the Psalms in church liturgically as Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer. Over th...