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| Of his sickness and his last will. PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP
91. But he, knowing the
custom, and fearing that his body would be treated this way, hastened,
and having bidden farewell to the monks in the outer mountain entered
the inner mountain, where he was accustomed to abide. And after a few
months he fell sick. Having summoned those who were there—they
were two in number who had remained in the mountain fifteen years,
practising the discipline and attending on Antony on account of his
age—he said to them, ‘I, as it is written1143 , go the way of the fathers, for I perceive
that I am called by the Lord. And do you be watchful and destroy not
your long discipline, but as though now making a beginning, zealously
preserve your determination. For ye know the treachery of the demons,
how fierce they are, but how little power they have. Wherefore fear
them not, but rather ever breathe Christ, and trust Him. Live as though
dying daily. Give heed to yourselves, and remember the admonition you
have heard from me. Have no fellowship with the schismatics, nor any
dealings at all with the heretical Arians. For you know how I shunned
them on account of their hostility to Christ, and the strange doctrines
of their heresy. Therefore be the more earnest always to be followers
first of God and then of the Saints; that after death they also may
receive you as well-known friends into the eternal habitations. Ponder
over these things and think of them, and if you have any care for me
and are mindful of me as of a father, suffer no one to take my body
into Egypt, lest haply they place me in the houses1144
1144 Cf.
St. Aug. Serm. 361. 12, D.C.A. p. 251. | , for to avoid this I entered into the
mountain and came here. Moreover you know how I always put to rebuke
those who had this custom, and exhorted them to cease from it. Bury my
body, therefore, and hide it underground yourselves, and let my words
be observed by you that no one may know the place1145
1145 The
body of Antony was discovered ‘by a revelation’ in 561, and
translated to Alexandria. When the Saracens conquered Egypt it was
transferred to Constantinople, and lastly in the tenth century was
carried to Vienne by a French Seigneur. The first and last links of
this history are naturally precarious. The translation to Alexandria is
vouched for by Victor of Tunis (Chron.) who was in the
neighbourhood at the time. | but you alone. For at the resurrection of
the dead I shall receive it incorruptible from the Saviour. And divide
my garments. To Athanasius the bishop give one sheepskin and the
garment whereon I am laid, which he himself gave me new, but which with
me has grown old. To Serapion the bishop give the other sheepskin, and
keep the hair garment yourselves1146
1146 Jerome, in his life of Paul of Thebes, relates that Antony
received from Paul, and ever afterwards wore on festivals, his tunic of
palm-leaves. If this ‘legacy more glorious than the purple of a
king’ (Vit. Paul. c. 13) had any existence, it would
certainly not have been forgotten by Antony in disposing of his worldly
goods. The silence of the Life of Antony throws discredit on
Jerome’s whole account of Paul. | . For the rest
fare ye well, my children, for Antony is departing, and is with you no
more.’E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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