Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

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Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

with the Arians, 12 for their ungodliness is clear to all. Nor be disturbed if you see the judges protect them, for it shall cease, and their seeming success is temporary and of short duration. Therefore, keep yourselves all the more untainted by them and observe the traditions of the fathers, and chiefly the holy faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, which you have learned from the Scripture and of which you have often been reminded by me.” §91 – Antony’s Last Words But he, knowing the custom, 13 and fearing that his body would be treated this way, hurried and, having said farewell to the monks in the outer mountain, entered the inner mountain where he was accustomed to live. And after a few months, he fell sick. Having summoned those who were there—there were two in number who had remained in the mountain fifteen years, practicing the discipline and attending on Antony on account of his age—he said to them, “I, as it is written, go the way of the fathers, for I perceive that I am called by the Lord (Josh 23:14). Be watchful and do not destroy your long discipline, but as though now making a beginning, zealously preserve your determination. For you know the treachery of the demons, how fierce they are, but how little power they have. Therefore, fear them not, but rather ever breathe Christ, and trust him. Live as though dying daily (Luke 9:23). Watch yourselves carefully and remember the admonition you have heard from me. Have 12 Arians – People who followed the teachings of Arius: namely, that Jesus had not eternally existed as God. 13 A custom developed in early monastic communities of preserving the bodies of revered monks in order to be displayed as relics for veneration by others. While this had become a common practice in the early church, Antony wanted to be remembered by his spiritual legacy, not his physical remains.