God Speaking Through Scripture
In the year 270 AD, a young Egyptian named Anthony walked into a church in his village of Koma. He was about twenty years old, recently orphaned, and burdened with the care of his younger sister and the management of a substantial family estate. That Sunday, he would hear words that would launch a movement that changed Christianity forever.
As Anthony entered, the Gospel was being read: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
The words struck Anthony like lightning. He had been reflecting on the early Christians in Acts who sold their possessions and laid the proceeds at the apostles' feet. Now here was Christ Himself, speaking directly to him through the ancient text.
Radical Obedience to God
"Anthony received it as if the reading had been directed especially to himself," wrote his biographer Athanasius. He walked out of that church and never looked back.
He immediately distributed his family's considerable landholdings—over three hundred fertile acres—to his neighbors. He sold the rest and gave the money to the poor, keeping only enough to provide for his sister, whom he entrusted to a community of consecrated virgins.
But God was not finished. Some time later, Anthony entered a church again and heard the words of Jesus: "Do not be anxious about tomorrow." This time, he gave away even the small amount he had kept back and withdrew into the desert.
Wrestling With Demons
For the next twenty years, Anthony lived in complete solitude in an abandoned fort, barricaded against the world, sustained only by bread delivered twice a year. There he wrestled with demons—not metaphorically, but in visions and encounters so vivid that Athanasius records them in terrifying detail. Yet through prayer and the name of Jesus, Anthony emerged victorious, achieving what he called "perfect calm."
Father of All Monks
When he finally emerged from his fortress, the crowds who had gathered expected to see a man destroyed by isolation. Instead, they found someone radiantly whole—healthy in body, balanced in soul, neither depressed nor elated, but filled with a peace that transformed everyone who encountered him.
"The desert had become a city," Athanasius wrote. Thousands followed Anthony into the wilderness, seeking the same transformation. The man who had heard one Gospel reading and obeyed became the Father of All Monks, whose example would spread from Egypt to Palestine, Syria, and eventually to every corner of Christendom.
Anthony lived to be 105 years old, spending over eighty years in the desert pursuing the God who had called him through those simple words: "Come, follow me."
