Teachings on good morals and the holy life by the holy father Anthony the Great (1–40)

1. Usually, when people say of a man that he is intelligent, they use the word in a wrong sense. The intelligent man is not the one who has learned the sayings and writings of the ancient sages, but truly intelligent is the man who has an intelligent soul and is able to judge rightly what is good and what is evil; and with this, one who always flees from what is evil and harmful to the soul, and who intelligently and diligently strives and labours to gain what is good and profitable for the soul, so that he always gives thanks to God. Truly, only the man who acts in this way should be called intelligent.

2. The truly intelligent man has only one care — to submit with his whole being to God and to please Him. To Him alone the intelligent man offers his soul, and he teaches himself only this: how to please the Creator, to whom he always gives thanks for His good providence in every circumstance of life. As it would be unseemly not to thank the physician who healed us for the health of our body, even though he gave us bitter, unpleasant medicine and caused us pain, so it is unbecoming to be ungrateful to God for all that seems joyless to us, because we are not able to judge intelligently that everything is accomplished by His providence for our own good. It is in such judgement and such faith in the just providence of God that the only salvation and the only peace of our souls consists.

3. Self-restraint, freedom from anger, reverence, firmness, patience and the other like virtues we have received from God the Creator as a warrior’s strength, so that by them we may fight against every trial that meets us in this earthly life, and so that these very virtues of our soul may help us in the time of hardship. Thus, if we train these powers and always have them ready, then nothing that befalls us will be grievous and painful to our souls, unbearable and destructive, for we overcome all this by the virtues that are in us. Not so thinks the man who has no intelligent soul, for he does not believe that every trial comes to us for our own good, so that our virtues may shine out and by them we may be crowned by God.

4. If you count riches and all the pleasures that come from them to be only a phantom, a matter of a moment, and everything earthly is vanity for you, since you know firmly that a life full of virtue is better than all riches — and if this knowledge is firm in you and always remembered, then you will not begin to sigh and groan in time of need, nor complain of anyone, nor blaspheme and blame anyone, but will always give thanks to God in every trial and every hardship. And your soul will not be grieved even when you see that people beneath you in worth are exalted for eloquence, learning or wealth. The insatiable, never-satisfied desire to gain riches and to receive bodily pleasures, the striving after vain glory and self-conceit, come from ignorance of the truth and are the most evil passions of the human soul.

5. The intelligent man, having looked into himself, knows what it is needful and profitable to do for his soul, what is akin to him and what is saving for him, and what is alien, unfitting and destructive. And knowing all this, the intelligent man always flees from what is alien and harmful to his soul.

6. The more moderate and self-restrained the life a man leads, the more peaceful he is, since he does not care for many things — neither for servants, nor for cattle, nor for acquiring property or keeping what he has acquired. But when we lay hold of all these things, we also receive the troubles and cares that come from them, and sometimes we go so far that, weighed down by cares, we begin to blaspheme God. So the desire for many things, which comes from our own will, fills us with turmoil and disorder, and because of this we wander, having lost our way, in the abyss of the sinful darkness of this earthly life, so that we do not even know ourselves.

7. It cannot be asserted that it is impossible for a man to live in virtue; rather we should say that such a life, pleasing to God, is not easy. Of men, only those partake of the virtuous life who are godly, who fear God and have a God-loving mind. The ordinary human mind is a worldly and passing mind, which brings forth both good thoughts and evil ones; it is changeable and inclined to everything material. But the God-loving mind is the punisher of the evil which exists in a man by reason of any negligence of his.

8. To unenlightened and coarse people the sciences seem a laughable thing, and they do not wish to listen to learned men, because these show up their ignorance. Therefore coarse people want everyone to be like themselves. In the same way, people who are without restraint in their life and morals want others to be the same and even worse, for by this they wish to justify and establish themselves, so as to have something to say: there are many evil people in the world. So the human soul is corrupted and perishes from the evil of sin, which has many forms and contains in itself fornication, pride, greed, anger, licentiousness, insolence, frenzy, murder, blasphemy, love of gain, acquisitiveness, the leading of others astray, forgetfulness of God and much else of the kind, by which the wretched soul of the man who has departed from God is tormented.

9. Whether one of the brethren truly labours, whether he lives a virtuous and wholly praiseworthy life or not, must be judged neither by the customs which the labouring brother keeps for others to see, nor by the outward, deceptive appearance of his life; but this must be concluded from how each one shows forth his virtuous life, like skilled painters and sculptors, by turning away in deed from every sweetness — from the net cast out by the devil to catch him.

10. A rich man of noble birth who has not received the spiritual light and does not live a virtuous life is pitiable in the eyes of those endowed with true intelligence; and on the contrary, a poor man born into slavery is happy in their eyes, if he is adorned with spiritual enlightenment and lives in a way pleasing to God. As travelling strangers sometimes lose the way on their journey and perish, so also those people perish who are enslaved to their own desires and do not care to live a life pleasing to God.

11. He among the ascetic fathers should be called a maker of men who succeeds in softening the manners of the unenlightened and makes them love true knowledge and light. And those should be called by this name too who lead people distinguished by a life of restraint to a virtuous life pleasing to God, for by this they as it were create the man anew. Meekness and self-restraint are the happiness and the good hope of human souls.

12. Truly, people should order their life in this world as they ought and spend it in good ways. When this is done, then conditions favourable to the knowledge of God will be created. The person who worships God with his whole heart and with full faith receives, by God’s providence, unseen help to bridle wrath and foul desires, which are the cause of every evil.

13. A man may be called one who is truly intelligent, as we said above (chapter 1), or one who has set about correcting himself. But one who is incorrigible in his wickedness should not be called a man, because this quality (incorrigibility) is not a human quality. From such we should keep away. A person who has agreed with evil and lived in it will never be among the immortal (that is, will never gain the immortality of the blessed).

14. And therefore only the true intelligence that is in us makes us worthy to be called human. But if we have no such intelligence, then only the gift of speech and the arrangement of the parts of the body will distinguish us from the beasts. So let the truly intelligent man know that he is immortal. And let him hate every shameful desire, which becomes for a man the cause of death!

15. As every craftsman shows his craft by working suitable matter into a beautiful form — for instance by working wood, copper, gold or silver — so we too must show beautifully that we are human beings, not because our body is so made, but because we have a truly intelligent soul; because we truly obey the laws of a reverent life. The truly intelligent and God-loving soul knows all that should be done in life, and by its true love draws God to look mercifully upon it, sincerely giving Him thanks and hastening toward Him with all its desire and all its mind.

16. As helmsmen steer a ship at sea so as not to be dashed against hidden rocks and sunk, so those who are zealous for the life pleasing to God should carefully consider what they ought and ought not to do, what they should accept and what they should shun; and with this, let them count profitable for themselves and accept only what the divine law truly teaches and impresses upon us.

17. Helmsmen and charioteers accomplish their work successfully by their carefulness and diligence; so also those who are zealous for a righteous life pleasing to God ought to consider attentively and take care what kind of life they should live, in order to become worthy of divine grace; for whoever truly desires such a life and is convinced that what he desires can be attained will, by that faith, without fail attain incorruption (that is, a holy life).

18. We should count as free not those who are free by their position in society, but those people who are free by their way of life and their morals. So, for example, a distinguished and rich man should not be called truly free if he is evil and irreverent, because such a man is a slave of the passions and desires of the senses. The true freedom and blessedness of the soul consist in real purity and in disregard for all that is temporary and vain.

19. Always remind yourself to be intelligent and to show yourself intelligent by a godly life and good deeds. So too the sick acknowledge physicians as their healers and benefactors not for words alone but for their deeds.

20. If a person really has an intelligent, virtuous and good-loving soul, this is seen in his every step — in his glance, in his walk, in his voice, in his smile, in his talk and in his dealings with others. In such a soul everything has been changed for good and has taken on a comely look, and its God-loving mind, like a watchful doorkeeper, shuts every entrance against evil and shameful thoughts.

21. Look around you at everything, and know that the princes and rulers of this world have received power over bodies only, and cannot touch the souls of people; and always remember this. Therefore, when such men command us to do something unseemly — say, to kill someone, or to do some other evil and unseemly deed, wicked and very harmful to the soul — we ought not to obey their command, even if they torture our bodies and threaten us with death! God created the soul of man free, made it to have power over itself; and it, the soul of man, has free will granted by God, and has the choice to act as it wishes — for good or for evil, to save itself or to perish.

22. The intelligent soul always tries to keep away from unseemly conduct, haughtiness, pride, the leading of others astray, envy, rapacity and many like evil deeds, which are the works of the demons and come from an evil will. But everything that a person, with careful diligence and after careful thought, accomplishes successfully, and which is not directed to the getting of low, bodily pleasures — all this is a good work, coming from God.

23. Those who spend their life in a small and unexalted labour wish to avoid danger and do not feel the need to act with particular care and watchfulness. But when they overcome their desires in everything, then they truly set out on the road that leads to God.

24. A truly intelligent man should not listen to every kind of talk, but only to such as can bring profit to the soul and help us in the knowledge of God; for the hearing of profitable talk is the way by which people return again to the true life and to the eternal light.

25. Whoever wishes to live virtuously and in the love of God must put self-conceit away from himself and renounce vain self-exaltation and empty, futile strivings; and with this he must try to turn his life and his heart toward the good. On the road that leads to God, a God-loving and unchanging mind is the best guide.

26. If a person’s soul does not live a godly life pleasing to God, the study of the sciences will be of no profit to him. And the cause of every evil is error, temptation and ignorance of God.

27. Deep thought about a godly life and unceasing care for the salvation of the soul bring forth God-loving fathers. He who seeks God will find Him, putting away from himself every desire by unceasing prayer. Such a person will never have any fear of demons.

28. People enslaved to earthly goods, who know only in word what should be done for a godly life, are like those who have acquired medicines and medical instruments but do not know how to use them. And they do not care to learn this either. Therefore let us not blame our origins for our sins, nor anyone else, nor anything outside us, but let us blame only ourselves if we become enslaved to sin; for if our soul of its own will gives itself to sloth and loses diligence and zeal for God, then it cannot but be overcome by the demons, the enemies of the human race.

29. Whoever cannot tell good from evil should not say: this man is evil and that one is good. The person who has come to know God is good; but if he is not good, then he has not come to know God, and God does not know him, since the only means for a person to come to know God is goodness.

30. Good and God-loving fathers reprove sinners for some evil only when those sinners are present and hear them; but behind a person’s back they will never say a word of judgement or blame about others, and neither will they give another the right to speak ill of a neighbour or an enemy.

31. In the talk of brethren with one another there should be no coarseness and no angry word, for humility and reverence usually adorn an intelligent person more than they adorn a young maiden. The God-loving mind is that light which illumines the soul, as the visible sun sheds light on the body.

32. When some evil passion rises up in your soul and begins to torment you, remember that righteous, godly people, who speak with wisdom and wish to lay a true foundation for all that has fallen to their lot in this life, count as the sweetest thing for themselves not the gaining of corruptible riches but true glory in the heavens. This is what makes a person blessed! Riches may be stolen from you, and the mighty of this world may take them away; but spiritual riches — virtue and good deeds — are the only earthly gain that no one can steal from you or take by force. Moreover, these riches have such power that they deliver from death the one who has gained them. Whoever thinks this way and intends to gain only spiritual riches will not be carried away by the seeming splendour of earthly riches, nor enslaved by other bodily comforts and pleasures.

33. Inconstant and ignorant people should not put intelligent people to the test. And the intelligent man, as we have already said, is the one who seeks to please God alone and is for the most part silent; and if he speaks, he says little, only what is necessary and pleasing to God. To put to the test is the devil’s work.

34. Every person who strives after a virtuous and God-loving life is also diligent in gaining spiritual goods, as a possession that is his own inseparable property at all times and that gives eternal consolation. And such people make use of everything passing and earthly only so far as is necessary for their bodily existence, and use corruptible riches as God gives them, that is, as God wills — with joy and with thanksgiving, even if it is very little. For the rich man feeds and pleases only the body with his riches, pampering the material with the material; whereas for the intelligent person every good work — the knowledge of God, self-restraint, comeliness, the doing of good deeds, humility and other like spiritual works — pleases and feeds the soul alone.

35. Princes and lords who force people to do unseemly things harmful to the soul do not rule over a person’s soul, which God created free and mistress of its own will. They dispose of earthly matters, but have no hand over a person’s free will, which God has granted him. Free will is a gift given by the Creator to the intelligent person, which makes him higher than all authority, all compulsion and all force.

36. Those people who count the loss of property — of money or of servants — a great misfortune should know that we must always be content with what God gives us, and above all give thanks to God for everything. And when the time comes to return everything that was given to us, this too must be done with readiness and magnanimity. So we should not torment ourselves with grief for what we have lost by the will of God, or rather, what we have given back. And this is like a man using someone else’s thing, or making use of someone else’s property, and then returning the debt. The same may be said of children, whom God gives to a person and whom God Himself takes, if it is His will.

37. A person of good character should on no account sell his freedom in order to gain property, however great that property may be. For earthly riches are like a dream that fades, and the good things of this life have only a seeming splendour, short-lived and passing.

38. Intelligent people adorned with true human worth should strive after a God-loving and virtuous life in such a way as to shine out among other people, like bright purple sewn on a white garment and drawing everyone’s eyes; for through such diligent striving their zeal in the spiritual struggle will become more secure.

39. Sensible people should always use their own powers and always have their virtues at the ready, so as to be able at every moment to withstand evil passions; and they should do this with those powers which they have gained in their souls, that is, with the army of virtue granted them by God by nature. These powers are as follows: against bodily beauty and every desire harmful to the soul — self-restraint and reverence; against hardship and poverty — patience; against wrath and offence — freedom from anger; against the judging and reviling of others — silence, and other powers like these, which every true ascetic can acquire.

40. A person cannot become godly and wise all at once; this is attained by deep reflection, by practice, by long labour and, most of all, by the doing of good deeds; and with this a person must be moved by a sincere desire. The good and God-loving person, who truly knows God, gives himself no rest and does everything in order to please God. But, sadly, such people are rare in our sinful life.