In the Spirit of Saint Anthony the Abbot – III Classis
“Beloved of God and men, whose memory is in benediction.” (Ecclus. 45:1)
“Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He cometh shall find watching.” (Luke 12:37)
The liturgical commemoration of Saint Anthony the Abbot, the great desert father and founder of Christian monasticism, provides a fitting frame for meditating upon these two readings: from Ecclesiasticus, which extols the greatness of Moses as a type of Christ and a model of holiness, and from the Gospel of St. Luke, which exhorts us to be watchful servants, ever ready for the coming of the Lord.
Saint Anthony, though he lived centuries after both Moses and Christ, embodied in himself the virtues of the faithful steward and the holy prophet. The sacred texts chosen for his feast, classified in the traditional Roman Rite as a III Classis feast, highlight the intimate bond between divine calling, ascetic discipline, and faithful perseverance.
I. Moses, the Chosen Friend of God (Ecclus. 45:1–6)
“He was beloved of God and men: whose memory is in benediction… He gave him commandments in his sight, and a law of life and instruction.”
Moses, here praised by the inspired writer of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), is a figure elevated by divine election. He is “beloved of God and men,” not by virtue of earthly nobility, but because he was “sanctified in his faith and meekness” (cf. Num. 12:3). Saint Gregory the Great, commenting on the virtues of the saints, writes:
“True greatness in the sight of God is measured not by power but by humility. Moses, though mighty in works and wonders, is chiefly praised for being the meekest of men.” (Moralium, Book 5)
Saint Anthony, like Moses, withdrew from the world to receive divine instruction. But instead of Sinai, it was the silence of the desert that became his sanctuary. There, he communed with God not by hearing thunder and fire, but in the stillness of prayer and fasting. As Moses received the Law on tablets of stone, Anthony received it written on the tablet of his heart.
Saint Athanasius, in his Life of Anthony, recounts how the young Anthony, upon hearing the Gospel read in church (“If thou wilt be perfect… go, sell all that thou hast and give to the poor,” Matt. 19:21), took the words as spoken directly to him. Thus began a life of radical obedience, shaped by divine instruction – a “law of life and discipline.”
II. Watchful Servants (Luke 12:35–40)
“Let your loins be girt, and lamps burning in your hands… And you yourselves like to men who wait for their lord, when he shall return from the wedding.”
Christ speaks in parables of vigilance: a readiness that is not passive, but active, full of the light of charity and the girded strength of temperance. This readiness is not for some abstract moment, but for the sudden hour when the Lord returns to claim His own.
Saint Anthony practiced this vigilance in the extremest form. For him, every day in the desert was lived as if it might be the Day of Judgment. Saint John Cassian writes:
“The blessed Anthony always kept his soul in such a state of recollection and readiness, as though every hour were the last; and he used to say that nothing so helps the soul to progress in virtue as the constant meditation on the hour of death.” (Conferences, I, ch. 14)
Such “loins girt” represent the ascetical discipline of a soul that has renounced the entanglements of the world. The “burning lamp” is faith illuminated by charity, a flame kindled by prayer and fed by grace.
The Church Fathers often interpreted this Gospel in eschatological terms. Saint Cyril of Alexandria writes:
“To be girt signifies promptness in God’s service; to have lamps burning is to possess the light of the Gospel, illumined by good works… For we must not only have faith, but a life that shines.” (In Lucam, Sermon 92)
Anthony, who spent nearly nine decades in solitude and struggle, showed us that true readiness is a daily thing. Not an emotional fear of Christ’s coming, but a loving watchfulness. He was not idle; he labored with his hands, prayed without ceasing, and gave wise counsel to pilgrims and monks alike.
III. The Desert as a Place of Preparation
In Anthony’s life, we find a fulfillment of both readings: chosen by God, and ever vigilant in spirit. The desert, far from being a place of death, became for him a school of sanctity, a place where man learns to wait for the Bridegroom.
Saint Augustine beautifully expresses the interior reality of this watchfulness:
“He who watches is one who has withdrawn his heart from the darkness of the world, and stands upright in the light of eternity.” (Sermon 93)
This is the legacy of Anthony: not merely a flight from the world, but a pressing forward toward the Kingdom. In the silence of the desert, the voice of Christ is heard more clearly. In the mortification of the body, the soul finds greater freedom to rise to God.
Conclusion: A Call to Desert Wisdom
On this feast of Saint Anthony, the Church calls us to look beyond the noise of the present age, to cultivate in our own souls the virtues of Moses and the watchfulness of the Gospel servants.
May we, too, receive “a law of life and discipline” (Ecclus. 45:5), and keep our “lamps burning” (Luke 12:35), as did the holy abbot of the desert. For the same Lord who called Moses to the mountain, and Anthony to the cave, calls us—here and now—to holiness. Let us answer as he did, with the humility of faith and the fire of love.
“Let us arise, for the hour is at hand.” – Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue