Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

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Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

Of meat and wine it is unnecessary even to speak, since no such thing was found with the other earnest men. A mat served him to sleep upon, but for the most part he lay upon the bare ground. He would not anoint himself with oil, saying it is good for the young to be earnest in training and not to seek what would exhaust the body; but they must accustom it to labor, mindful of the apostle’s words, “For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10). “For,” he said, “the fiber of the soul is then sound when the pleasures of the body are diminished.” And he had come to this truly wonderful conclusion, “that progress in virtue, and retirement from the world for the sake of it, ought not to be measured by time, but by desire and permanence of purpose.” He at least gave no thought to the past, but day by day, as if he were at the beginning of his discipline, applied greater pains for advancement, often repeating to himself the saying of Paul, “Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead” (Phil 3:13). He was also mindful of the words spoken by the prophet Elijah, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand” (1 Kgs 18:15). For he observed that in saying “today” the prophet did not consider the time that had gone by: but daily, as though ever beginning, he eagerly worked to make himself fit to appear before God, being pure in heart and ever ready to submit to his counsel and to him alone. And he used to say to himself that from the life of the great Elijah the ascetic* ought to see his own as in a mirror. §8 – Seeking Solitude Thus tightening his hold upon himself, Antony departed to the tombs, which happened to be at a distance from the village; and having told one of his friends to bring him bread at intervals of many days, he entered one of