Oblate Program at Belmont Abbey, NC

Tag: Antony

Can you go the distance?

Abba Antony once went to visit Abba Amoun in Mount Nitria and when they met, Abba Amoun said, ‘By your prayers, the number of the brethren increases, and some of them want to build more cells where they may live in peace. How far away from here do you think we should build the cells?’… Read More ›

Share

You know not the day nor the hour

Abba Antony heard of a very young monk who had performed a miracle on the road. Seeing the old men walking with difficulty along the road, he ordered the wild asses to come and carry them until they reached Abba Antony. Those whom they had carried told Abba Antony about it. He said to them,… Read More ›

Share

Which is the greatest of all virtues?

Some elders came to St. Antony and asked him, “Which is the greatest of all virtues?” Each one then gave an opinion, some saying that “fasting and keeping of vigils” best help one come near to God; others said “voluntary poverty” and “detachment”; others said “compassion.” Last of all, Anthony gave his reply: “All that… Read More ›

Share

Top Ten Saints For Sinners

If you’re struggling with sin, if temptations are half-killing you, if all seems lost – maybe have a word with one of the following in prayer, and ask for a little help. After all, as my parish priest always reminds me, we are a community. 1. St. Margaret of Cortona Formerly a mistress and rather… Read More ›

Share

The Teachings of Pithyrion

After this we returned to the Thebaid to see a rugged mountain, overhanging a river, a very menacing, rocky apparition, fearful to look at, and in this precipitous place there were caves which were terribly difficult to approach. Many monks dwelt here, the leader of whom was a father called Pithyrion. He had been a… Read More ›

Share

The beginings of repentance

Abbot Sisois, sitting in his cell, would ever have his door closed. But it was told of him how in the day of his sleeping, when the Fathers were sitting round him, his face shone like the sun, and he said to them, “Look, the abbot Antony comes.” And after a little while, he said… Read More ›

Share

That one ought not judge any man

It happened that temptation fell upon a brother in the monastery of abbot Elias, and they cast him out: and he came to the mountain, to abbot Antony. After he had been with him for some time, Antony sent him back to the community whence he had come out. But when they saw him, they… Read More ›

Share

The enemies will do nothing to us

Let us likewise understand and take it to heart that while the Lord is with us, the enemies will do nothing to us. For when they come, their actions correspond to the condition in which they find us; they pattern their phantasms after our thoughts. Should they find us frightened and distressed, immediately they attack… Read More ›

Share

What is evil?

Abba Antony … learned that evil is the scattering of mind and spirit away from God’s presence. When the monk’s focus is deflected away from God he or she becomes subject to the demons. The demonic influences do not drive out God; they mask the awareness of God’s presence and transformative power. Patient endurance in… Read More ›

Share

Moderation in Our Work

A hunter in the desert saw Abba Antony enjoying himself with the brothers, and he was shocked. Wanting to show him that it was necessary sometimes to meet the needs of the brothers, the old man said to him, “Put an arrow in your bow and shoot it.” So he did. And the old man… Read More ›

Share