About life in Christ. Instructions of St. Anthony the Great

Listen to God through Scripture

When attending church services, try to understand what is happening. In addition to the visit itself, it is worth studying the structure of the service and liturgical texts. This may take our whole life, but it is given to us for this reason, to grow spiritually. And, of course, the most important book will be the Holy Scripture. After all, it is through him that God’s will for us is revealed to us. In the past, people did not have the opportunity to go online and in two clicks find the text of the Bible, or the beginning of the day, get acquainted with different points of view of interpretation... Today this is possible. Therefore, in some ways it has become easier to get answers to your questions.

Even before he became a hermit, Saint Anthony often attended divine services. Listening to the Holy Scripture, he was imbued with its words. So, one day he heard that to achieve spiritual perfection it is necessary to leave everything and follow Christ. In this the ascetic saw the Providence of God, which he immediately followed. And eventually he became one of the greatest saints of the Church.

In moments of temptation, pray

Of course, Christian life is associated with such a concept as temptation - that is, the test of our inner man through external events and actions. Temptations can be different in form, but in content their essence is always to turn us away from the good deeds that we undertake. On Sunday morning, instead of going to church, I want to sleep. I want to leave prayer in the evening because I’m tired. There is no desire to immerse yourself in reading holy books, because there is no time. This is the simplest thing - the list can be endless. Pray - and the Lord will help you overcome temptations, send you strength and help you overcome a difficult situation.

For example, the devil tempted St. Anthony in his feat with all possible means: he sent melancholy and despondency to him, and inclined him to carnal sin, and appeared in the form of wild beasts, and threw gold in front of him... Once it came to the point that demons attacked to the saint! But he endured this test, as in the past, calling on God for help.

About life in Christ. Instructions of St. Anthony the Great

(Matt. 6:25).
– And you do not look for what you eat or what you drink, and do not be exalted.
The pagans of this world are looking for all of these; your Father knows that you demand these. But seek first
His kingdom, and all these things will be added to you
(Luke 12:29-31).

Believe in the Lord and love Him; keep yourself from unclean thoughts and carnal pleasures, and as it is written in parables, do not be tempted by the satiation of the belly

(Prov.24:15);
avoid vanity, pray unceasingly, sing psalms before sleep and after sleep; Study the commandments given to you in Scripture, keep in your memory the deeds of the saints, so that your soul, remembering the commandments, has the zeal of the saints as a model. Try especially to fulfill the Apostolic instruction: let not the sun go down on your anger
(Eph. 4:26) - and think that this is said generally in relation to every commandment, so that the sun does not go down not only on anger, but also on our other sins, For it is good and necessary that we should not be condemned, neither by the sun for a daytime transgression, nor by the moon for a nighttime sin, or even for an evil thought.

To keep yourself from this, it is good to listen and preserve the Apostolic word: tempt yourself

(2 Cor. 13:5).
Therefore, let everyone give themselves an account of their daily and nightly actions. And if he has sinned, let him stop sinning; if he has not sinned, let him not boast about it, but let him remain in goodness and not indulge in negligence - and without condemning his neighbor, and without considering himself righteous, until the Lord comes
(1 Cor. 4:5), testing the secret.
– It is often hidden from ourselves what we do. But although we do not know this; but the Lord sees everything. – Therefore, having left judgment to the Lord, let us be compassionate towards one another, let us bear each other’s burdens
(Gal. 6:2), and torment ourselves, and where we are deficient, we will try to make up for it.

To protect ourselves from sin, let us observe the following. Let each of you notice and write down your actions and mental movements, as if with the intention of communicating this to each other; and rest assured that, being ashamed of fame, we will certainly stop sinning and even containing anything bad in our thoughts. For who, when he sins, wants to be seen? Or who, having sinned, would not rather lie, just to hide the sin? Just as by watching each other we will not commit fornication, so if we write down our thoughts with the intention of communicating them to each other, we will more easily keep ourselves from unclean thoughts, being ashamed of fame. “So let writing replace the eyes of our companions for us, so that, when we write down, we feel the same shame that we feel when they look at us, and we do not hold anything bad in our thoughts. If we educate ourselves in this way, we will come to the state of enslaving our body, pleasing the Lord and trampling on the machinations of the enemy.

Leading the repentant to the feat, the Spirit of God, who called him to repentance, gives him His consolations and teaches him not to turn back and not to cleave to any of the things of this world. – For this, He opens the eyes of the soul and allows it to see the beauty of purity achieved through the labors of repentance, and through this kindles in it a zeal for the complete purification of itself along with the body, so that both become one in purity. “For this is the purpose of the teaching guidance of the Holy Spirit, to cleanse them completely and raise them to that primitive state in which they were before the fall, destroying in them everything mixed with envy of the devil, so that nothing of the enemy remains in them. – Then the body will begin to obey in everything the dictates of the mind, which will powerfully determine it in food and drink, and sleep and in every other action, constantly learning from the Holy Spirit, following the example of the Holy Spirit. Apostle Paul , to mortify one's body and enslave

(1 Cor. 9:27).

It is necessary to carry out the labors of repentance consistently and equally with both soul and body, striving for perfect purity. And when the mind is worthy of such grace as to enter into the struggle against passions without self-pity and indulgence, then it is inherent in the suggestions, instructions and reinforcements of the Spirit, with the help of which it successfully begins to repel from the soul all unclean attacks emanating from the lusts of the heart. This spirit, combined with the mind (or spirit of a person), for the sake of determination to strictly fulfill the learned commandments, directs it to drive away from the soul all passions, both those mixed with it from the body, as well as its own, which are in it independently from the body. He teaches him to keep his body in order - everything, from head to toe: his eyes, so that they look with purity; ears, so that they listen in peace (or peaceful) and do not delight in slander, gossip and reproach; - a tongue that speaks only good things, weighing every word, and not allowing anything impure or passionate to interfere with speech; hands, so that they are first set in motion only for lifting in prayers and for deeds of mercy and generosity; the belly, so that it stays within proper limits in the consumption of food and drink, as much as is necessary only to maintain the body, without allowing lust and voluptuousness to carry itself beyond this measure; feet, so that they step right and walk according to the will of God, heading towards serving good deeds. In this way, the body becomes accustomed to every good thing, and changes, submitting to the power of the Holy Spirit, so that it finally becomes, to some extent, a participant in those properties of the spiritual body that it has to receive at the resurrection of the righteous.

The soul, as indicated, has its own passions, which are: pride, hatred, envy, anger, despondency and others like that. When a soul surrenders itself to God with all its strength, then the All-Bountiful God gives it the spirit of true repentance, and cleanses it from all these passions, teaching it to follow them, and giving it the strength to overcome them and defeat enemies who do not cease to put obstacles in its way, trying to temptations to kidnap her again for himself. And if she remains firm in her conversion and in good obedience to the Holy Spirit, who teaches her repentance, then the merciful Creator will take pity on her, laboring for her sake, with all the distress and need she endures - in long fasts, frequent vigils, in teachings in the Word of God, in unceasing prayer, in renunciation of all worldly pleasures, in serving everyone from a pure heart, in humility and poverty of spirit - if he remains steadfast in all this, the All-Bountiful One, looking with a merciful eye on her, will deliver her from all temptations and snatch her from the hands of her enemies by His mercy.

God the Father, in His goodness, did not spare

(Rom.8:32) His only begotten Son, but he gave Him up to deliver us from our sins and iniquities.
And the Son of God, having humbled Himself for our sake, healed us from our spiritual illnesses and arranged for us salvation from our sins. I ask you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to know and always keep in your thoughts this great dispensation of God, i.e. that God the Word, for our sake, became like us in everything except sin. It is fitting for those who are gifted with reason to know this rationally, being zealous to become free (from sins) by the very act of doing so, by the power of the Lord’s coming to us. Those who have taken advantage of this dispensation as they should are His servants. But this title does not yet mean perfection. Perfection leads into sonship - and there is sanctification that comes in due time. So, when our Lord Jesus Christ, seeing that His disciples had already approached sonship and knew Him Himself, having been taught by the Holy Spirit, said to them: “I no longer call you slaves, but friends and brothers, because I have told you everything, what I heard from the Father
(John 15:15).
And those who knew what they had become in Christ Jesus lifted up their voices, saying: We did not receive the spirit of work through fear, but the Spirit of sonship for whom we cry: Abba, Father
(Rom. 8:15).
Whoever does not show complete and diligent readiness to rebel (from sin), let him know that the coming of the Lord the Savior will be his condemnation. Why did Simeon sing at the beginning: Behold, this one is set for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, and is to be despised as a sign
(Luke 2:34).
And then the Apostles proclaimed :
we
smell the stench of death into death, and we smell the stench of animals into the belly
(2 Cor. 2:16).

Holy Venerable Anthony the Great. Complete collection of creations. Part 1.

Set a strict routine

Probably, this point is not worth explaining: any business requires a certain order. Of course, it happens that it is impossible to adhere to a clear schedule in spiritual life. Nevertheless, you need to note some main milestones and points for yourself (and you already know them) and try to stick to them. Fortunately, there is a calendar of the life of the Church with a clear schedule of when and what to do, as well as the instructions of the holy fathers. Everything, of course, is individual.

But the Monk Anthony ate food once a day, and sometimes once every two or three days; He spent all his nights in prayer, indulging in a short sleep only on the third or fourth night after continuous vigil. He did all this to get away from the temptations sent by the devil and to get closer to God.

On curbing the tongue

Let us therefore bridle our tongue, so as not to utter any evil words. A bad word is more harmful than any poison. A wound caused by poison can be healed, but a bad word, once spoken, cannot be returned.

The tongue of a dragon is less harmful than the tongue of a person who loves to murmur or slander, for such a person creates discord and quarrels between people living peacefully, sows evil among neighbors and destroys very many useful societies. Whoever accepts such a person, he involves him in many sins. Whoever communicates with him communicates with the murderer.

Be firm in the feat you have taken upon yourself

A feat does not necessarily mean going into the desert or a thousand bows a day. Any systematic spiritual work that you have undertaken is already a feat. Make it a good habit and try to move forward over time. Don’t give up prayer, and if it’s hard, relax a little, but never give up doing this.

Saint Anthony instructed numerous disciples in this way, commanding them constancy in the feat they had undertaken, an unremitting desire to please the Lord, a generous and selfless attitude towards the labors incurred earlier. He urged not to be afraid of demonic attacks and to drive away the enemy with the power of the Life-giving Cross of the Lord. It is not for nothing that a real network of monasteries soon formed around the places where the monk settled.

Vladimir Basenkov