☦
Saint / historical person
Saints & Martyrs
History & Councils
Church Fathers

Saint Anthony the Great

Saint Anthony the Great, also known as Antony of Egypt, was a third–fourth-century hermit traditionally called the “Father of the Monks.” His feast day is 22 Tubah.[^1]

Also known as: Saint Antony the Great · Antony of Egypt · Father of the Monks · Anthony of Egypt

Published 10/2/2026Updated 3 revisionsPage history

Identity and significance

Saint Anthony the Great, also called Antony of Egypt, was a third–fourth-century hermit traditionally known as the “Father of the Monks”; his feast day is 22 Tubah.12 This title does not mean that he was the first Christian ascetic: ascetics already lived outside Egyptian villages when he adopted their way of life, and his increasingly remote withdrawal into the desert was his distinctive contribution.3

Life and desert withdrawal

Anthony was born about 251 to Christian parents in Qiman, identified with modern Qiman al-‘Arus in the region of al-Wastah.4 After his parents died, when he was about twenty, he heard the Gospel teaching on renunciation in Matthew 19:21, gave away his possessions, entrusted his younger sister to a community of virgins, and began living as a hermit outside his village.4

He subsequently withdrew to a tomb in the mountainous region, where he lived in seclusion for about ten years; his biographer describes this period as marked by violent demonic assaults.5 Seeking greater isolation from visitors, he crossed the Nile and settled in a ruined Roman fort, around which disciples gathered to form the community of Pispir.5

About twenty years later, guided by Bedouins, Anthony moved into the Eastern Desert and established a hermitage near Mount Qulzum, approximately 20 miles from the Red Sea.6 He lived there for about forty years, supporting himself through manual work, gardening, and supplies brought by disciples, while continuing to visit the community beside the Nile.6

Anthony made two journeys to Alexandria in support of Athanasius against the Arians, and a journey in 338 is associated with Anthony’s advice to Amun about founding Kellia.7 Conflicting dates are given for his death: 356 is given as his death date, whereas his lifespan is also given as 251–336.18

Spiritual portrait and writings

Anthony is portrayed as answering Greek philosophers through an interpreter, challenging them to imitate his Christian life and distinguishing sound understanding from knowledge of letters; he is also described as gracious and civil toward visitors.10 His prayer included a psalm before his evening meal, twelve prayers followed by twelve psalms, and psalmody from midnight until dawn.8

An Arabic collection preserves twenty letters under Anthony’s name.9 The first seven are distinguished from the remainder, which largely correspond to letters attributed elsewhere to his disciple Ammonas, while the authenticity of the seven remains uncertain.9 Anthony’s letters were translated from Coptic into Arabic at his monastery in 1070.11

Sources and remembrance

The principal biography of Anthony’s life is attributed to Athanasius and was written shortly after Anthony’s death.1 Its authorship and historical value have been challenged by scholars, while ancient testimony supports its attribution and it has been argued that Athanasius knew Anthony personally.12 Thirty-eight sayings appear under Anthony’s name in the alphabetical collection of sayings of the Desert Fathers.12

The Monastery of Saint Antony stands at the southern end of the Jalalah mountain range near the Red Sea; its historical account places the establishment of a monastic settlement after Anthony’s death, during the reign of Julian, 361–363.13

References

Sources

  1. 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 382)
    ANTONY OF EGYPT, SAINT (feast day, 22 T?ubah), third-fourth-century hermit. The principal source of our knowledge of the life of the man whom an ancient tradition calls "the Father of the Monks" is the biography written shortly after Antony's death (356) by Saint ATHANASIUS, patriarch of Alexandria.
  2. 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia — Index — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 28)
    Antony the Great. See Antony of Egypt, Saint
  3. 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 775)
    Normally Saint ANTONY is considered to be "the father of the monks," but the Life of Antony bears witness that when he was converted to the ascetic life in 270, there were already ascetics who withdrew from the villages. The new feature with Saint Antony—unless he was preceded in this way of life by PAUL OF THEBES—is that, instead of remaining near the village as the other ascetics did, he went into the interior of the desert and practiced there an ANACHORESIS that grew ever greater.
  4. 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 383)
    Antony was born of Christian parents in the village of Qiman (modern-day Qiman al-‘Arus, in the region of al-Wastah) about 251. After experiencing the death of his parents when he was some twenty years old and being mindful of the words of Jesus on renunciation (Mt. 19:21) read in the church, he gave away his goods, entrusted his young sister to a community of virgins, and lived as a hermit outside the village, following the example of other ascetics at this time.
  5. 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 383)
    Then he moved away, reaching the mountainous region where the tombs were, and shut himself up in one of them, where he lived as a recluse for about ten years, heroically enduring, according to his biographer, the most violent assaults of the demons. Harassed by visitors, he went off to the other bank of the Nile and installed himself in the ruins of a Roman fort. Disciples then came to live around him, thus forming the first community of the monastery of Pispir, situated in proximity to the river.
  6. 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 383)
    Some twenty years later, he desired to live in greater solitude, and so, under the guidance of bedouins, he penetrated into the Eastern Desert and established himself in a hermitage situated about 20 miles (30 km) from the Red Sea at the foot of Mount Qulzum, near the place where today stands the monastery of Saint Antony (DAYR ANBA ANTUNIYUS). It was there that he lived for about forty years, until his death, maintaining himself with the work of his hands and the produce of his garden or with what his disciples brought him. Quite frequently, according to the account of Cronius reported by Pal
  7. 7.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 383)
    On two occasions he went to Alexandria to support Athanasius in his struggle against the Arians; it was in the course of one of these journeys, in 338, that he stopped at Nitria and counseled AMUN to undertake the founding of the monastic settlement of KELLIA.
  8. 8.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 2 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 342)
    The life story of Saint Antony the Great (251-336) bears ample evidence of this custom. When he broke his fast at sunset, he would say a Psalm before his meal and then offer twelve prayers, followed by twelve Psalms, before he retreated for a few hours of rest. At midnight he would rise to sing Psalms until dawn.
  9. 9.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 384)
    There has come down to us, in an Arabic version, a corpus of twenty letters bearing his name (Latin translation by Abraham Ecchellensis in PG 40, cols. 963-1066; the Arabic text published in Cairo, 1899). Only the first seven should be retained under the name of Antony. The others, as F. Klejna (1938) has shown, correspond for the most part to the letters otherwise known in Greek and in Syriac under the name of AMMONAS, a disciple of Antony. ... The authenticity of the letters is questionable.
  10. 10.Coptic Church Review, Volume 5, Number 3 (p. 16)
    He was in the outer mountain at the time, and knowing what the men were from their appearance, he went out to them and said through an interpreter, 'Why did you go to so much trouble, you philosophers, to visit a foolish man?' ... 'If I had come to you I would have imitated you; but since you came to me, become as I am; for I am a Christian.' ... After their reply that the mind is first, and an inventor of the letters, Antony said: 'Now you see that in the person whose mind is sound there is no need for the letters.' ... Instead he was gracious and civil, and his speech was seasoned with divin
  11. 11.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 155)
    1070: The letters of Saint Antony are translated from Coptic into Arabic at his monastery (Garitte, 1939, p. 29).
  12. 12.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 382)
    Its authenticity as a work of Athanasius was contested first by Weingarten (1877) and again by Draguet (1980), the editor of the Syriac version, but it seems firmly established. It was attested in ancient times, in the first Greek life of Saint PACHOMIUS (Halkin, 1932, p. 66) and in Latin by Rufinus (Historia ecclesiastica I, 8) and by Saint Jerome (De viris illustribus 87). ... Several modern critics have called the work's historical value into question ... The influence of these models is beyond dispute, but it does not impair the value of the testimony of Athanasius, who knew Antony persona
  13. 13.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 151)
    The Monastery of Saint Antony is situated 30 miles (45 km) southwest of the Red Sea lighthouse of Ras Za’faranah (100 miles, or 290 km, from Cairo via Suez) at the foot of the south end of the Jalalah mountain range. After the death of Saint ANTONY, a monastic settlement was established in the reign of JULIAN THE APOSTATE (361-363), which included merely the most necessary buildings—a church, cells, a kitchen, and a bakehouse.

Explore

Related articles

  • Cronius of Nitria

    Cronius of Nitria was a saint and ascetic associated with Scetis who later served Saint Antony of Egypt and met Palladius in Alexandria.[^1][^2]

  • Saint Verena

    Saint Verena was a fourth-century Egyptian holy woman associated with the Theban Legion, remembered in Switzerland for asceticism, healing, religious instruction, and care for the poor and sick.[^1]

  • Coptic alphabet

    The Coptic alphabet combines predominantly Greek letters with signs derived from demotic Egyptian. Its several varieties reflect the writing traditions of different Coptic dialects.[^1][^2]

  • Islamization of Nubia

    Nubia’s transition from Coptic Christianity to Islam was gradual and regionally varied, involving weakened church institutions, political change, migration, intermarriage, and Sufi teaching.[^1][^5][^7][^8]

  • Pope Mark II

    Saint Mark II was the forty-ninth patriarch of the See of Saint Mark (799–819), a preacher and writer commemorated on 22 Baramudah.[^1]

  • Bohairic Coptic

    Bohairic is a dialect of Coptic attested in Gospel manuscripts, saints’ lives, and liturgical texts, including the Anaphora of Saint Cyril.[^1][^2][^3]

This article was drafted from the sources listed above with AI assistance and reviewed by an editor before publication.