The Christian Hedonist

Today in the Church Calendar we celebrate the life of St Anthony, St Anthony, known as Tone or Tony, to his bezzie mate’s. He was one of the famous desert fathers who following the institutionalization of Christianity by Consantine in 300 ad fled to the desert to live a life of radical obedience to Christ. Anthony fled to the Libyan Desert to go to war with the devil. He gave away all his possessions in response ot Christ’s call and they were significant as his parents were wealthy people. Athenasius of Alexandra wrote about him as he is allegedly illiterate. He was later martyred for his faith but his lifestyle had a huge influence on Cuthbert and Aiden of Lindisfarne causing the Celtic saints to live at times in isolation so they could give themselves to warrior prayer against the devil. He is called the first monk but in fact there were people before him who gae themselves to the hermitic life. Today there are those who chose isolation to be shut in with God. It was Anthony who said, “go into your cell and it will tell you all you need to know” The fervency of his prayer and worship, worked wonders and he was known for his battle against demons and prevailing against them. Quite a dude ....