Life of Antony 1 part 2/5

For just as if one should despise a single copper drachma, in order to gain a hundred gold drachmas, so he who is lord of all the earth, in renouncing it, gives up a little and receives a hundredfold.

But if not even all the earth is worthy of the heavens, then he who has left a few acres, as if leaving nothing, even though he gives up a house or considerable gold, ought not to boast or be despondent.

Besides, we ought to consider that, even if we do not give them up for virtue's sake, yet afterward, when we die, we leave them behind, often even to those whom we do not wish, as Ecclesiastes recalled.

For what profit is it to acquire these things which we cannot even take with us? Why do we not rather acquire those things which we are able to take with us—namely prudence, righteousness, temperance, courage, understanding, love, love of the poor, faith in Christ, freedom from anger, hospitality? Acquiring these, we shall find them gone before us there, preparing for us a welcome in the land of the meek.

So from such considerations let each one persuade himself not to be slack;

and especially if he reckons himself to be a servant of the Lord, and bound to serve his Master.

Just as, then, a servant would not dare to say:

'Since I worked yesterday, I do not work today';

nor, measuring the time that is past, will he cease from the days that follow, but day by day, as it is written in the Gospel, shows the same eagerness, that he may please his lord and not be in danger;

so let us too day by day persevere in the discipline, knowing that, if we are negligent one single day, He will not pardon us on account of the time that is past, but will be displeased with us because of the negligence.

So also we have heard in Ezekiel;

so also Judas, through one night, lost even the labor of the time that was past.

Let us then hold fast to the discipline, children, and not be despondent.

In this we have the Lord as fellow-worker, as it is written:

'For everyone who chooses the good, God works together for good.'

And to keep us from being slack, it is good to meditate on the saying of the Apostle: 'I die daily.'

For if we too live as those who die daily, we shall not sin.

And the meaning of the saying is this: that, rising each day, we should think we shall not remain until evening; and again, when about to sleep, we should think we shall not rise;

our life being by nature uncertain, and measured out daily by Providence.

Being thus disposed, and living thus each day, we shall neither sin, nor have desire for anything, nor cherish wrath against anyone, nor lay up treasure on the earth;

but, as expecting to die each day, we shall be without possessions, and shall forgive all men all things;

and as for desire for a woman, or for any other filthy pleasure, we shall not be mastered by it at all, but shall turn away from it as from a thing passing away;

ever striving and looking forward to the day of judgment.

For always the greater fear and the dread of the torments dissolves the smoothness of pleasure, and raises up the soul when it is inclining to fall.

Therefore, having begun and already set foot on the way of virtue, let us stretch forward the more, that we may attain to the things that are ahead.

And let no one turn back, like Lot's wife;

especially since the Lord has said:

'No one who puts his hand to the plow and turns back is fit for the kingdom of the heavens.'

And to turn back is nothing other than to repent of one's choice and again to set one's mind on worldly things.

But do not be afraid when you hear of virtue, nor be astonished at the name;

for it is not far from us, nor does it consist outside of us, but the work is within us, and the matter is easy, if only we will it.

The Greeks, indeed, go abroad and cross the sea to learn letters;

but we have no need to go abroad for the kingdom of the heavens, nor to cross the sea for virtue.

For the Lord said beforehand:

'The kingdom of the heavens is within you.'

Virtue, therefore, has need only of our willing, since it is within us and arises from us.

For it is within us, and is constituted out of ourselves.

For virtue is established when the soul keeps its rational part according to nature.

And it is according to nature when it remains as it was made; and it was made beautiful and altogether upright.

"Set right your hearts toward the Lord, the God of Israel,"

"Make straight your paths."

For the soul's being upright is just this: that its rational nature is as it was created.

But again, when it turns aside and becomes perverted from its natural state, then it is called the wickedness of the soul.

The matter, therefore, is not difficult.

For if we remain as we were made, we are in virtue;

but if we ponder base things, we are judged as evil.

If, then, this thing had to be procured from outside, it would indeed be difficult;

but since it is within us, let us guard ourselves from filthy thoughts, and, having received our soul as a deposit, let us keep it for the Lord;

so that He may recognize His own workmanship as being just as He also made it.

Let it be our struggle that anger may not tyrannize over us, nor desire master us.

For it is written: "The wrath of man does not work the righteousness of God";

and desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin;

and sin, when it is fully accomplished, brings forth death.

Living in this manner, let us keep watch securely;

and, as it is written, let us with all watchfulness guard our own heart.

For we have foes that are terrible and crafty—the evil demons;

and against these is our wrestling, as the Apostle said:

"Not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, and against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

They are in the air around us, and are not far from us;

and there is much diversity among them.

Now concerning their nature and their differences a long discourse would be needed, and such an account belongs to others greater than we are;

but what is pressing and necessary for us now is only to know their cunning wiles against ourselves. First, then, let us understand this: that the demons did not become so as being called demons by their very nature;

for God made nothing evil;

rather, they too were made good, but having fallen from heavenly wisdom and thereafter rolling about the earth, they deceived the Greeks with illusions, and, envying us Christians, they stir up everything, wishing to hinder us from our ascent into the heavens;

so that we may not ascend to the place whence they themselves fell.

[We must pray] that one, having received through the Spirit the gift of discerning of spirits, may be able to know their ways:

which of them are less wicked, and which are more wicked than those, and about what pursuit each of them is zealous, and how each of them is overthrown and cast out.

For many are their cunning devices and the movements of their plotting.

The blessed Apostle, then, and those like him knew such things, when they said:

"For we are not ignorant of his devices";

and we, from what we have experienced at their hands, ought to set one another right concerning them.

I, then, having in part experience of them, speak to you as to children.

Now these, if they see all Christians, and especially monks, laboring diligently and making progress, first attempt and test them, setting stumbling-blocks along the path;

and their stumbling-blocks are wicked thoughts.

But we must not fear their suggestions;

for by prayers and fastings and by faith in the Lord they straightway fall.

But even when they have fallen, they do not cease, but again come back craftily and deceitfully.

For when they cannot deceive the heart openly through filthy pleasure, they assail it again in another way;

and thereafter, fabricating illusions, they pretend to terrify, transforming themselves and imitating women, wild beasts, reptiles, huge bodies, and a multitude of soldiers.

But not even so must one be cowed by their illusions;

for they are nothing, and they quickly vanish away,

especially if one fortifies himself with faith and the sign of the cross.

They are bold and exceedingly shameless.

For if they are defeated even in this, they assail again in yet another manner.

And they pretend to prophesy and to foretell the things that will come after days, and to show themselves lofty, reaching to the roof, and broad in size;

so that those whom they could not deceive by thoughts they may at least carry off through such illusions.

But if even so they find the soul made secure by faith and by the hope of the mind, they then bring on their own chief. And he said that they often appear in such forms as the Lord revealed the devil to Job, saying:

"His eyes are like the appearance of the morning star."

"Out of his mouth proceed burning torches, and hearths of fire are scattered abroad;

from his nostrils proceeds the smoke of a furnace burning with coals of fire;

and a flame proceeds out of his mouth."

Appearing in such a form, the ruler of the demons strikes terror, as I said before, the crafty one uttering great boasts, just as the Lord again confuted him, saying to Job:

"For he counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood;

he counts the sea as a salve-box, and the depths of the abyss as a captive;

he reckoned the abyss as a walking-place."

"I will lay hold of the whole inhabited world with my hand, as a nest, and I will take it up as eggs that have been left behind."

And in general they attempt to boast of such things and make such promises, in order to deceive the godly.

But not even so ought we who are faithful to fear his illusions, nor to give heed to his utterances.

For he lies, and speaks nothing at all that is true.

Indeed, though speaking such and so many things and behaving so insolently, he was, like a dragon, drawn up with the hook by the Savior; like a beast of burden he received a halter about his nostrils; like a runaway slave he is bound by a ring through his nostrils, and his lips are pierced with a clasp.

And he is bound by the Lord like a sparrow, that he may be mocked by us;

and he himself and the demons with him are set, like scorpions and serpents, to be trodden underfoot by us Christians.

And the proof of this is that we now live our lives in opposition to him.

For he who promised to wipe out the sea and to lay hold of the inhabited world—behold, he now cannot hinder your ascetic discipline, nor even me as I speak against him.

Let us, then, not give heed to whatever he may say (for he lies), nor let us be cowed by his illusions, which are themselves false.

For the light that appears in them is not true light;

rather, they bring the preludes and images of the fire that has been prepared for them;

and with the very things in which they are about to be burned, with these they attempt to terrify men.

Indeed they appear, and again at that very moment they vanish away,

having harmed none of the faithful, but bearing with themselves the likeness of the fire that is destined to receive them.

Wherefore it is not fitting even so to fear these beings;

for through the grace of Christ all their devices come to nothing.

Often, then, they pretend, without appearing, to chant with singing, and they recite words from the Scriptures;

and there are times when, as we are reading, they at once, like an echo, repeat the very same things that have been read;

and they rouse us from sleep to prayers;

and this they do continually, scarcely allowing us even to sleep.

And there are times when, fashioning themselves into the appearance of monks, they pretend to speak as devout men, in order that by the similar guise they may deceive, and thereafter drag those whom they have deceived wherever they wish.

But we must not heed them, even if they rouse us to prayer, even if they counsel us not to eat at all, even if they pretend to accuse and reproach us in matters wherein they once sided with us.

For they do these things not out of piety or truth, but in order to bring the simple to despair, and to say that the ascetic life is useless, and to make men sick of it as though the solitary life were burdensome and most grievous, and to hinder those who live in opposition to them.

Now the prophet sent by the Lord pronounced woe upon such, saying:

"Woe to him who gives his neighbor a turbid drink to overthrow him."

For such pursuits and devices are subversive of the road that leads to virtue.

But the Lord Himself, by His own act, though the demons were speaking the truth (for they spoke truly:

"You are the Son of God")—nevertheless muzzled them and forbade them to speak, lest along with the truth they should also sow their own wickedness, and so that He might also accustom us never to give heed to such beings, even though they seem to speak the truth.

For it is unseemly that we, who have the Holy Scriptures and the freedom that is from the Savior, should be taught by the devil, who did not keep his own rank, but turned his mind to one thing instead of another.

"Why do you declare My ordinances, and take up My covenant by your mouth?" For they do everything—they talk, they create uproar, they play the hypocrite, and they throw things into confusion—for the deception of the simple.

They make noises, indeed, and laugh senselessly and hiss;

but if no one gives them heed, they then weep and lament as though defeated.

The Lord, then, as God, muzzled the demons;

but we, having learned from the saints, ought to act as they did and to imitate their courage.

For they too, beholding these things, said:

"When the sinner stood up against me, I was struck dumb, and was humbled, and kept silence from good things;

but I was like a deaf man who does not hear, and like a dumb man who does not open his mouth.

And I became like a man who does not hear."

Let us therefore, too, neither hearken to them, as being strangers to us, nor obey them, even if they rouse us to prayer, even if they speak about fastings;

but rather let us give heed to the purpose of our own ascetic discipline, and not be deceived by those who do everything with guile.

We must not fear them, even though they seem to assail us, even though they threaten death;

for they are weak, and can do nothing but threaten.

Now I have already spoken of this in passing;

and now we ought not to shrink from speaking more fully about them;

for the reminder will be a safeguard for you. When the Lord came among us, the enemy fell, and his powers were enfeebled.

And let each one of you reckon on this, and he will be able to despise the demons.

If, then, they were bound to bodies such as we are, they could say: "We do not find men when they are hidden, but when we find them we harm them."

And we too, by hiding, could escape their notice, shutting doors against them.

But if they are not so, but can enter even when the doors are shut, and are present in all the air, both they and the devil their chief;

and if they are malevolent and ready to do harm, and, as the Savior said, the devil, the father of wickedness, is a manslayer from the beginning;

yet we now live and even more order our lives in opposition to him;

it is plain that they have no power at all.

For neither does place hinder them from plotting, nor do they look upon us as their friends, that they should spare us, nor are they lovers of the good, that they should reform;

but rather they are exceedingly wicked;

and nothing is so eagerly sought by them as to harm those who love virtue and worship God.

For if they were able, they would not delay, but would at once work the evil, having a will ready for this, and especially against us.

Behold, then, even now we have assembled together and speak against them, and they know that, as we advance, they grow weak.

If, then, they had authority, they would have let none of us Christians live;

for godliness is an abomination to the sinner.

But since they can do nothing, for this very reason they wound themselves the more;

because they can accomplish none of the things they threaten.

Then we ought to reckon on this too, toward not fearing them:

if it were within their power, they would not come with a crowd, nor produce illusions, nor go about their business by transforming themselves;

but it would suffice for only one to come and to do what he can and wishes;

and especially because everyone who has authority does not destroy with illusions, nor terrify with crowds, but at once uses his authority as he wishes.

From all this they ought rather to be despised as weak.

Indeed, the true angel, sent by the Lord against the Assyrians, had no need of crowds, nor of outward illusion, nor of noises, nor of clappings;

but quietly he used his authority, and at once slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand.

But the demons, who can do nothing, such as these are, attempt to terrify even with illusions.

Indeed, being able to do nothing, he asked, and having received [permission] he acted.

So that from this too the enemy is the more to be condemned, because, although he wished it, he had no strength even against one righteous man;

for had he had strength, he would not have asked;

but having asked not once but even a second time, he is shown to be weak and able to do nothing.

And it is no wonder that he had no strength against Job, since not even against his cattle would destruction have come, had God not given permission;

but he has no authority even over swine;

for, as it is written in the Gospel, they besought the Lord, saying:

"Permit us to go away into the swine."

But if they have no authority even over swine, much less do they have it over men who have been made according to the image of God.

God alone, therefore, must be feared;

but these we must despise, and not be afraid of them at all.

But rather, the more they do these things, let us the more intensify our ascetic discipline against them.

For a great weapon against them is an upright life and faith toward God.

They fear, indeed, the ascetics' fasting, the vigil, the prayers, meekness, quietness, freedom from love of money, freedom from vainglory, humility, love of the poor, almsgiving, freedom from anger, and above all their piety toward Christ.

For they know the grace given against them to the faithful by the Savior, who says:

"Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy."

If, then, they pretend even to foretell, let no one give heed to it.

For often, days beforehand, they tell of the brethren who will arrive days later;

but they do this not out of care for those who hear, but in order to persuade them to believe them, and then, having them in subjection, to destroy them;

wherefore one must not give heed to them, but even when they speak one ought to refute them, [saying] that we have no need of these things.

For what is so marvelous, if, using bodies more subtle than those of men, and having seen those who have started on a journey, they outrun them in the course and announce it? A man riding a horse also does this, foretelling by outrunning the one who travels on foot;

so that not even in this need one marvel at them.

For they have no foreknowledge of things that have not yet happened;

but God alone is the one who knows all things before they come to be.

But these, like thieves, run ahead and announce the things they see.

To how many do they now signal our affairs—that we have come together and are conversing against them—before any one of us goes out and announces it!

But this even a swift-footed boy can do, by outrunning the one who is slow.

What I mean is something like this.

If someone begins to travel from the Thebaid, or from some other country, before he begins to travel they do not know whether he will travel;

but having seen him traveling, they run ahead, and before he arrives they announce it;

and so it comes about that these arrive after some days.

So too concerning the river's water they sometimes prattle;

for having seen many rains occurring in the regions of Ethiopia, and knowing that from these the flooding of the river comes about, before the water arrives in Egypt, they run ahead and tell of it.

But this men too would have said, if they had been able to run as far as those [demons].

And the very one who ran ahead would tell, before the others, not the things that have not happened, but the things already on their way and coming to pass;

so these too choose to labor and signal to others, only in order to deceive;

if, however, Providence in the meantime determines something otherwise concerning the waters or the travelers (for it is within His power), the demons have lied, and those who gave heed to them have been deceived.

Thus the oracles of the Greeks were established, and thus in former times they were led astray by the demons;

but thus too has this deception now at last ceased.

For the Lord came, who, together with their very cunning, brought the demons to nothing.

For of themselves they know nothing;

but like thieves, the things they see in others' possession, these they pass on;

and they are guessers rather than foreknowers.

For physicians too, having experience of diseases, when they observe the same disease in others, often, conjecturing from familiarity, foretell.

And again, pilots and farmers, observing from experience the state of the air, foretell that there will be either a storm or fair weather;

and one would not on that account say that they foretell from divine inspiration, but from experience and familiarity.

Wherefore, if the demons too sometimes say the same things by conjecture, let no one marvel at them on this account, nor give heed to them.

For what profit is it to those who hear, to know from these beings, days beforehand, the things that are coming? Or what eagerness is there to know such things, even if one truly knows them? For this is not productive of virtue, nor is it at all a token of good character.

For none of us is judged for what he does not know, and none is counted blessed because he has learned and known;

but in these things each one has his judgment: whether he has kept the faith and sincerely guarded the commandments.

Wherefore one must not make much of these things;

nor for the sake of these practice asceticism and toil, that we may foreknow, but that, living rightly toward God, we may please Him.

And one ought to pray, not that we may foreknow, nor to demand this as the wage of asceticism;

but that the Lord may become our fellow-worker for the victory over the devil.

And if it ever concerns us also to foreknow, let us be pure in mind.

For I believe that a soul that is pure on every side, and stands according to nature, is able—having become clear-sighted—to see more and farther than the demons, having the Lord who reveals to it;

such as was the soul of Elisha, which saw the things concerning Gehazi, and beheld the powers standing beside it.

When, therefore, they come to you by night, and wish to speak of things to come, or say things;

do not give heed, for they lie.

And if they also praise your asceticism and call you blessed;

neither obey them, nor take any notice of them at all;

but rather seal yourselves and the house, and pray;

and you will see them become invisible;

for they are cowardly, and they greatly fear the sign of the Lord's cross;

since in it the Savior, having stripped them, made a public example of them.

But if they stand their ground more shamelessly, capering and elaborating their illusions;

do not be afraid, nor cower, nor give heed to them as though they were good.

For the vision of the holy ones is not troubled.

For "He will not strive, nor cry out, nor will anyone hear their voice."

But it comes about so quietly and gently, that at once joy and exultation and confidence arise in the soul;

for the Lord is with them, who is our joy and the power of God the Father;

and its thoughts remain undisturbed and unruffled;

so that, being illuminated by them, it beholds those who appear.

For a longing for divine and future things comes upon it, and it would altogether wish to be joined to these, if it could depart with them.

And if, as men, some are afraid at the vision of the good ones, those who appear take away the fear forthwith by their love;

as Gabriel did to Zacharias, and the angel who appeared at the divine tomb to the women, and the one who in the Gospel spoke to the shepherds;

For that fear of theirs is not from cowardice of soul, but from recognition of the presence of beings greater than themselves.

Such, then, is the vision of the holy ones.

But the onslaught and apparition of the wicked ones is troubled, with noise and din and shouting;

such as might be the commotion of undisciplined youths and robbers.

From these straightway arise cowardice of soul, confusion and disorder of thoughts, dejection, hatred toward the ascetics, listlessness, grief, remembrance of one's kinsfolk, and fear of death;

and thereafter desire for evil things, indifference toward virtue, and instability of character.

When, therefore, having beheld some being you are afraid, if the fear is at once taken away and in its stead there comes unspeakable joy, and cheerfulness, and confidence, and recovery, and tranquility of thoughts, and the other things I mentioned before, both courage and love toward God—take heart and pray;

for the joy and the settled state of the soul show forth the holiness of the one who is present.

Thus Abraham, seeing the Lord, rejoiced;

and John, when the voice came from Mary the Mother of God, leaped for joy.

But if, when certain beings appear, there arises trouble, and din from without, and a worldly apparition, and threat of death, and all that I mentioned before;

know that this is the onset of the wicked ones.

For let this also be a token for you;

when, therefore, the soul continues in cowering fear, it is the presence of the enemies.

For the demons do not take away the fear of such things, as the great archangel Gabriel did for Mary and for Zacharias, and the one who appeared at the tomb to the women;

but rather, when they see men cowering, they increase the illusions, in order the more to terrify them;

and thereafter, falling upon them, they make sport of them, saying:

Now the Greeks they deceived in this manner;

for thus were the falsely-named gods reckoned among them;

but the Lord did not allow us to be deceived by the devil, when, rebuking him as he made such illusions, He said:

"You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve."

More and more, then, let the crafty one be despised by us for these things;

for what the Lord said, this He did on our behalf;

so that the demons, hearing such words even from us, might be overthrown on account of the Lord, who rebuked them with these.

We must not boast over casting out demons, nor be lifted up over healings;

nor admire only the one who casts out demons, while despising the one who does not cast them out;

but let one carefully learn each person's asceticism, and either imitate and emulate it, or set it right.

For the working of signs is not ours;

this is the work of the Savior;

for to His disciples He said:

"Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you;

but that your names are written in heaven."

[this] belongs to our virtue and our manner of life;

but the casting out of demons is this grace of the Savior who has given it.

Wherefore, to those who boast not in virtue but in signs, and who say:

"Lord, did we not in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many mighty works?" He answered: