The Perfection of St. Anthony and Glory in Heaven

Explanation of some sayings of St. Anthony the Great

PART 2

Questions of St. Sylvester and Answers of St. Anthony

PART 3

A Word on the Vanity of the World and the Resurrection of the Dead (reprint edition of 1825)

Letters (reprint edition of 1826)

1. On Withdrawal from the World

2. About the Sinai legislation, about the incarnation of God the Word and the obligation to fulfill the commandments of God.

3. That we must testify to gratitude to God for the redemption granted to us by fulfilling God's commandments.

4. That strict observance of the law of God does not mean slavery, but true freedom.

5. That both the Angels and the souls of the Saints rejoice in heaven when a person fulfills the commandments of God.

6. That the spirits of wickedness always try to deceive pious people from the path of virtue, and that humility is necessary for salvation.

7. That God's blessings to man are innumerable, and that man can testify to God his gratitude only by exercising his virtues to the best of his ability.

8. That the grace of the Holy Spirit must be acquired by purity of heart and strict Christian life.

9. That difficult feats of piety are made easier by the grace of God, which God sends down to those who are truly devoted to Him.

 PART 1

A few words about the life and writings of St. Anthony the Great

St. Anthony the Great, who laid the foundation for solitary asceticism in the wilderness, by his life represents the ideal of this kind of pleasing God, and at the same time the path by which every soul, if it wishes, must go to the perfection possible for us on earth, given by Christianity.

The life of St. Anthony is described by St. Athanasius the Great (see his works, vol. 3), and is placed almost without abbreviations in our Chet Menaion under January 17. Whoever wants to know it in detail, let him go there.