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His
Death
89. It is worth while that I should relate, and that you, as you wish it,
should hear what his death was like. For this end of his is worthy of imitation.
According to his custom he visited the monks in the outer mountain, and having
learned from Providence that his own end was at hand, he said to the brethren,
“This is my last visit to you which I shall make. And I shall be surprised
if we see each other again in this life. At length the time of my departure
is at hand, for I am near a hundred and five years old.” And when they
heard it they wept, and embraced, and kissed the old man. But he, as though
sailing from a foreign city to his own, spoke joyously, and exhorted them
not to grow idle in their labours, nor to become faint in their training,
but to live as though dying daily. And as he had said before, zealously to
guard the soul from foul thoughts, eagerly to imitate the Saints, and to
have nought to do with the Meletian schismatics, “for you know their
wicked and profane character. Nor have any fellowship with the Arians, for
their impiety is clear to all. Nor be disturbed if you see the judges protect
them, for it shall cease, and their pomp is mortal and of short duration.
Wherefore keep yourselves all the more untainted by them, and observe the
traditions of the fathers, and chiefly the holy faith in our Lord Jesus Christ,
which you have learned from the Scripture, and of which you have often been
put in mind by me.”
90. But when the brethren were urging him to abide with them and there to
die, he suffered it not for many other reasons, as he showed by keeping silence,
and especially for this: The Egyptians are wont to honor with funeral rites,
and to wrap in linen cloths at death the bodies of good men, and especially
of the holy martyrs; and not to bury them underground, but to place them
on couches, and to keep them in their houses, thinking in this to honor the
departed. And Antony often urged the bishops to give commandment to the people
on this matter. In like manner he taught the laity and reproved the women,
saying, that this thing was neither lawful nor holy at all. For the bodies
of the patriarchs and prophets are until now preserved in tombs, and the
very body of the Lord was laid in a tomb, and a stone was laid upon it, and
hid it until He rose on the third day. And thus saying, he showed that he
who did not bury the bodies of the dead after death transgressed the law,
even though they were sacred. For what is greater or more sacred than the
body of the Lord? Many therefore having heard, henceforth buried the dead
underground, and gave thanks to the Lord that they had been taught rightly.
91. But he, knowing the custom, and fearing that his body would be treated
this way, hastened, and having bidden farewell to the monks in the outer
mountain entered the inner mountain, where he was accustomed to abide. And
after a few months he fell sick. Having summoned those who were there –
they were two in number who had remained in the mountain fifteen years,
practicing the discipline and attending on Antony on account of his age –
he said to them, “I, as it is written, go the way of the fathers, for
I perceive that I am called by the Lord, And do you be watchful and destroy
not your long discipline, but as though now making a beginning, zealously
preserve your determination. For ye know the treachery of the demons, how
fierce they are, but how little power they have. Wherefore fear them not,
but rather ever breathe Christ, and trust Him. Live as though dying daily.
Give heed to yourselves, and remember the admonition you have heard from
me. Have no fellowship with the schismatics, nor any dealings at all with
the heretical Arians. For you know how I shunned them on account of their
hostility to Christ, and the strange doctrines of their heresy. Therefore
be the more earnest always to be followers first of God and then of the Saints;
that after death they also may receive you as well-known friends into the
eternal habitations. Ponder over these things and think of them, and if you
have any care for me and are mindful of me as of a father, suffer no one
to take my body into Egypt, lest haply they place me in the houses, for to
avoid this I entered into the mountain and came here. Moreover you know how
I always put to rebuke those who had this custom, and exhorted them to cease
from it. Bury my body, therefore, and hide it underground yourselves, and
let my words be observed by you that no one may know the place but you alone.
For at the resurrection of the dead I shall receive it incorruptible from
the Saviour. And divide my garments. To Athanasius the bishop give one sheepskin
and the garment whereon I am laid, which he himself gave me new, but which
with me has grown old. To Serapion the bishop give the other sheepskin, and
keep the hair garment yourselves. For the rest fare ye well, my children,
for Antony is departing, and is with you no more.”
92. Having said this, when they had kissed him, he lifted up his feet, and
as though he saw friends coming to him and was glad because of them –
for as he lay his countenance appeared joyful – he died and was gathered
to the fathers. And they afterward, according to his commandment, wrapped
him up and buried him, hiding his body underground. And no one knows to this
day where it was buried, save those two only. But each of those who received
the sheepskin of the blessed Antony and the garment worn by him guards it
as a precious treasure. For even to look on them is as it were to behold
Antony; and he who is clothed in them seems with joy to bear his admonitions.
93. This is the end of Antony's life in the body and the above was the beginning
of the discipline. Even if this account is small compared with his merit,
still from this reflect how great Antony, the man of God, was. Who from his
youth to so great an age preserved a uniform zeal for the discipline, and
neither through old age was subdued by the desire of costly food, nor through
the infirmity of his body changed the fashion of his clothing, nor washed
even his feet with water, and yet remained entirely free from harm. For his
eyes were undimmed and quite sound and he saw clearly; of his teeth he had
not lost one, but they had become worn to the gums through the great age
of the old man. He remained strong both in hands and feet; and while all
men were using various foods, and washings and divers garments, he appeared
more cheerful and of greater strength. And the fact that his fame has been
blazoned everywhere; that all regard him with wonder, and that those who
have never seen him long for him, is clear proof of his virtue and God's
love of his soul. For not from writings, nor from worldly wisdom, nor through
any art, was Antony renowned, but solely from his piety towards God. That
this was the gift of God no one will deny. For from whence into Spain and
into Gaul, how into Rome and Africa, was the man heard of who abode hidden
in a mountain, unless it was God who makes His own known everywhere, who
also promised this to Antony at the beginning? For even if they work secretly,
even if they wish to remain in obscurity, yet the Lord shows them as lamps
to lighten all, that those who hear may thus know that the precepts of God
are able to make men prosper and thus be zealous in the path of virtue.
94. Read these words, therefore, to the rest of the brethren that they may
learn what the life of monks ought to be; and may believe that our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ glorifies those who glorify Him: and leads those who
serve Him unto the end, not only to the kingdom of heaven, but here also
– even though they hide themselves and are desirous of withdrawing from
the world – makes them illustrious and well known everywhere on account
of their virtue and the help they render others. And if need be, read this
among the heathen, that even in this way they may learn that our Lord Jesus
Christ is not only God and the Son of God, but also that the Christians who
truly serve Him and religiously believe on Him, prove, not only that the
demons, whom the Greeks themselves think to be gods, are no gods, but also
tread them under foot and put them to flight, as deceivers and corrupters
of mankind, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and
ever. Amen.
Preface
Part I: Antony's Youth and First Struggles with
Demons
Part II: He Dwells Among the Tombs
Part III: He Goes to the Desert
Part IV: His Sermon to the Young Men
Part V: His Life in the Desert
Part VI: He Goes to the Inner Desert
Part VII: Advice and Assistance for
Visitors
Part VIII: His Discourses Against Schismatics,
Arians, and Pagans
Part IX: His Growing Fame
Part X: His Death
This text is
from the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of
public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine
history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is
copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in
print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate
the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial
use.
© Paul Halsall Jan 1996, updated, November, 1998: halsall@fordham.edu
Reformatted with rubrics and U.S. spelling/punctuation by Richard Stracke,
Augusta State University |
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