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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring, November 15, 2002
Although the preface is a bit lacking, the two works by St. Athanasius translated here are worth not only reading, but contemplating and wrestling with as well.The first work, The Life of Antony, is a work about the father of Christian asceticism, St. Antony of Egypt. It contains both narrative and doctrinal content; the doctrinal content is presented in the forms of discourses by Antony, usually to groups of monks. He teaches much on demons and the discernment of spirits, the fate of souls after death, the importance of staying within the Church and staying away from schismatics and heretics. The discourses are, at a few points, a bit polemical - like many works from the early Church - but not excessively overbearing. The uniqueness of the story is not just in Antony's doctrinal discourses, though. The narrative teaches things all its own. One of these things is that by separating one's self from the world the holy person becomes so much more indespensible to the world. Although Antony lived as a monk separate from the world, he was never separated from the world; in geographically and spiritually separating himself from the world, Antony became that much more involved in his world. He taught, healed, exorcised demons and engaged in debates with philosophers, all of this because of his reputation as a holy man. From this follows something else taught by the narrative: the pursuit of God truly transforms one and causes one to become a conduit for God's healing and redemption of the world. Antony received visions and words of knowledge about people and things about to occur and more people were converted to the Christian faith. The work of Antony, as the book repeatedly emphasizes, is the work of God. The second work contained in this volume, The Letter to Marcellinus, is a delightful exposition on praying the Psalms of David. St. Athanasius writes that regardless of one's experience, the Psalms provide words to express where one is at - whether in sorrow and despair or in joy. He also shows (through some rather creative interpretation) that the whole of Scripture is contained within the Psalter. It would have been nice if a translation of Psalm 151 (found only in the Greek Bible, which is what Athanasius used) had been included, as Athanasius references it in his Letter to Marcellinus. The work is found in the New Oxford Annoted Apocrypha: New Revised Standard Version, though, so if you don't have one, buy one (isbn: 0195288009)! All in all, both works are absolutely charming.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Bestseller in its day, A book that made people stop, think and act, September 8, 2007
"You have entered upon a noble rivalry with the monks of Egypt by your determination either to equal or surpass them in your training in the way of virtue... in answer to your prayers God will give its fulfillment." Athanasius, 'to the brethren in foreign lands'
"Athanasius's biography was not only a bestseller in its day, but a book that made people stop and think--and act." David Wright
Antony the Anchorite:
Third century persecutions in Egypt drove many Christians, into the desert -- but some didn't just use the wilderness as a refuge, but embraced it in the spirit of mortification and after the example of St. John the Baptist, whom they followed to triumph, over the two unavoidable enemies of human salvation, the flesh and the devil, by depriving them of their catalytic milieu, the world. The greatest among these pioneers was St. Anthony of Egypt (A.D. 251-356), who was made known as the Father of Monasticism, and Role Model by St. Athanasius. St. Anthony was born in upper Egypt, to rich Egyptian parents whose inheritance he gave up at age of twenty, after hearing the sermon on Our Lord's words to the young man in verses 19:21 Matt. He came to live in a tomb in the outer banks of his village, near the outskirts of the western desert. He assumed poverty and spent fifteen years studying the lives of other ascetics and practicing the virtues. He retreated further into the desert, living as a solitary in a deserted fort, seeing no one, conversing with no one for two decades, where he was tormented mentally, and brutalized physically by demons that illusively appeared as wild beasts, or seductive women. He was ultimately recognized, sought as virtuous, and disciples, to be flocked to the fort, beseeching him to come out and assume their spiritual advise, which he eventually did, teaching and directing them, for about five years before he resumed retreat again for the remainder of his life, though now receiving visitors and occasionally leaving his seclusion in order to help Christians who were being persecuted by Pagan or Arian emperors, support the Bishop of Alexandria, who later wrote his biography, and to seek out St. Paul the Hermit
Coptic Life of Antony:
"The life and conversation of our holy Father, Antony, written and sent to the monks by our Father among the Saints, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria to the brethren in foreign lands. "You have entered upon a noble rivalry with the monks of Egypt by your determination either to equal or surpass them in your training in the way of virtue. For by this time there are monasteries among you, and the name of monk receives public recognition. With reason, therefore, all men will approve this determination, and in answer to your prayers God will give its fulfillment. Now since you asked me to give you an account of the blessed Antony's way of life, and are wishful to learn how he began the discipline, who and what manner of man he was previous to this, how he closed his life, and whether the things told of him are true, that you also may bring yourselves to imitate him, I very readily accepted your behest, for to me also the bare recollection of Antony is a great accession of help. And I know that you, when you have heard, apart from your admiration of the man, will be wishful to emulate his determination; seeing that for monks the life of Antony is a sufficient pattern of discipline."
Life of Antony, Changing Lives:
News of Antony of Egypt, of his heroic wrestling with the demonic powers, and eventually his edifying solitude, spread around the Christanized empire long before he died. At Rome, Marcella, a noble wealthy widow, heard about him, and responded by turning her mansion into a holy community devoted to Bible study and prayer, with many others following her example. But when Athanasius, the heroic defender of nicene orthodoxy, who told Marcella about the anchorite, got time to compose Antony's story during his third exile (355-362), that Antony's overwhelming influence became even greater. As Athanasius persuaded his readers in the introduction of his Life of Antony prophesying, "I perceive that, once you have heard his story, you will not only admire the man but will strive to emulate his dedication as well." Within a decade of its publication, a Latin version of Athanasius original in Greek had been published, amazing and even on occasions setting readers on holy fire. It was a biography that made people stop and think--and act. Some turned back to the book in turmoil as they experienced an inner edifying conversion. David Wright described it masterfully, "He was filled with holy love and sobering shame. Angry with himself, he turned his eyes on his friend and said to him: 'Tell me, I beg you, what do we hope to achieve with all our labors? What is our aim in life? ... Can we hope for any higher office in the palace than to be friends of the emperor? If I wish to become God's friend, in an instant I may become that now."
Life of Antony's Controversy:
In 1877 Weingarten denied the historical character of the Life, and the Athanasian authorship describing as a mere romance. He claimed that until 340 there was no Coptic monks, and that the dates of a "real" Anthony should be pushed later, about a century. Some English writers even questioned, and few denied, Antony's existence. The Catholic Encyclopedia's comments, "To anyone conversant with the literature of monastic Egypt, the notion that the fictitious hero of a novel could ever have come to occupy Anthony's position in monastic history can appear nothing less than a fantastic paradox. As a matter of fact these theories are abandoned on all hands; the Life is received as certainly historical in substance, and as probably by Athanasius, and the traditional account of monastic origins is reinstated in its great outlines. The episode is now chiefly of interest as a curious example of a theory that was broached and became the fashion, and then was completely abandoned, all within a single generation."
Letter to Marcellinus:
Athanasius praises with admiration Marcellinus steadfastness in Christ in the latter trialsand suffering, but in his illness attempt to study the Holy Scriptures and especially the Psalms. The Letter to Marcellinus is an introduction, in the Alexandrine tradition of biblical exegesis, to the spiritual dimension of the Psalms. The Psalms, the core of Coptic monastic and liturgical praying traditions, the book of hours, or Agpya, since expounded by Origen, and canonized by Pachomius as the unceasing doxology of the Coptic monastics are presented by Athanasius as a collective variety of praying attitudes which covers the seven times of contemplation, in a harmonious and colorful sense of prayer.
Athanasius gracefully wrote, "Of every one of those, he says, you are trying to grasp the inner force and sense. Splendid! I myself am devoted to the Psalms, as indeed to the whole Bible; and I once talked with a certain studious old man, who had bestowed much labor on the Psalter, and discoursed to me about it with great persuasiveness and charm, expressing himself clearly too, and holding a copy of it in his hand the while he spoke. So I am going to write down for you the things he said."
Abot the Author:
Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, was an uncompromising defender of Christian Orthodoxy of Nicaene faith. Of his early life, or education little is known, other than he was born at Alexandria around the year 297. Coptic tradition iterate, a legendary story that has been preserve by Rufinus of Aquileia on how while yet a boy, came under the notice of his patron, Papa Alexander, who took him with his two younger brothers as a youth into his patriarchal residence, educated them, employing Athanasius as his deacon, about 313. Since then Athanasius has been consecrated to the Christian ministry. He became a student in the Didascaleion, the famous catechetical school of Alexandria, which preserved the teachings of Clement and Origen. In the museum, the ancient seat of the Alexandrian university, he may have learned grammar, logic, and rhetoric. He was certainly well disciplined, training as a novice monk in Sketes, and became trained in ecclesiastic debates on theology in questions common to both in philosophy and religion. When persecution broke, under which the Church of Alexandria severely suffered at this time, and his discipleship to abba Antony of which he has recounted, had a lasting impact upon his character, and instated in him the undaunted fortitude in defending Christian truth, and his unrelenting faith by which he became known as the thirteenth disciple of the Lord. Before the outbreak of the Arian controversy, in 319, Athanasius became known as the author of two essays, 'Against the Gentiles,' and 'On the Incarnation of the Word,' addressed to a convert. Both apologetical treatises, argue fundamental questions on monotheism, necessity of divine the role in salvation of the world; and thus elaborated on the essential divinity of Christ as the God in man. Alexander has been strengthened in his theological position against Arius by the young learned deacon who has expounded the nature of the divine Incarnation, and at this time may have become St. Mark church archdeacon, the Alexandrine papal heir apparent. He was elected in the sight and amidst the acclamations of the people, when about 30 years of age, and is spoken of as remarkable as a mental genius. He was small in stature, but his face was radiant with intelligence, as 'the face of an angel, as expressed by Gregory of Nazianzus, who has written an elaborate panegyric upon his friend, describing him as fit 'to keep on a level with common-place views yet also to soar high above the more aspiring...'
The Life of Anthony: The Coptic Life and the Greek Life
The Agpeya, being the Coptic Orthodox book of hours according to the present-day usage in the Church of Alexandria
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Athanasius: The Life of Antony, February 4, 2009
This is a seminal work for any interested in Patristics and the early Christian Church. The work itself is really a keystone of Christianity and the translation is very accessible, but the introduction is not very helpful and seems to be written by someone who clearly does not understand the Faith in its context. Read the text, skip the preface and introduction, and instead track down C.S. Lewis' intro to Athanasius' On the Incarnation.
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