Antony on What Keeps a Monk Safe

And so I remember that while I was still a boy, in the region of the Thebaid, where the blessed Antony lived, the elders came to him to inquire about perfection. Though their conference lasted from evening till morning, the greatest part of the night was taken up with this question. They discussed at great length what virtue or observance could keep a monk always unharmed by the snares and deceits of the devil, and carry him forward on a sure and right path, with firm step, to the heights of perfection. Each one gave his opinion according to the bent of his own mind. Some placed it in zeal for fasting and vigils, because a soul brought low by these, and so having gained purity of heart and body, will more easily be united to God. Others placed it in despising all things, since a mind utterly stripped of them would come more freely to God, as though there were no snares left to entangle it. Others thought that withdrawal from the world was what was needed, that is, solitude and the seclusion of the hermit’s life, living in which a man may more readily commune with God and cling to him more closely. Others laid it down that the duties of love, that is, of kindness, should be practiced, because in the gospel the Lord promised to give the kingdom especially to these, when he said: “Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink,” and so on. In this way they declared that by means of different virtues a surer approach to God could be gained. The greater part of the night had been spent in this discussion when at last the blessed Antony spoke and said: [a]

All these things you have mentioned are indeed necessary, and helpful to those who are thirsting for God and long to come near him. But countless mishaps and the experience of many people do not allow us to place the most important of gifts in them. For often, when men are most strict in fasting or in vigils, nobly withdraw into solitude, aim at stripping themselves of all their goods so completely that they do not allow even a day’s food or a single penny to remain to them, and carry out all the duties of kindness with the greatest devotion, we have still seen them suddenly deceived. They could not bring the work they had begun to a fitting close, but brought their lofty fervor and praiseworthy way of life to a terrible end. So we will be able to recognize clearly what it is that chiefly leads to God if we trace with greater care the reason for their downfall and deception. While the works of the virtues just mentioned abounded in them, discernment alone was lacking, and it did not let them continue to the end. No other reason for their falling away can be found except this: since they were not sufficiently instructed by their elders, they could not gain judgment and discernment. It is discernment that avoids excess on either side and teaches a monk always to walk along the royal road. It does not let him be puffed up on the right hand of virtue, that is, from excess of zeal to overstep the bounds of proper moderation in foolish presumption. Nor does it let him fall in love with slackness and turn aside to the vices on the left hand, that is, under the pretext of governing the body, to grow slack with the opposite spirit of lukewarmness.

For this is discernment, which in the gospel is called the “eye” and “the light of the body,” according to the Savior’s saying: “The light of your body is your eye; if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness.” For since it discerns all the thoughts and actions of men, it sees and looks over everything that should be done. But if in any man it is “evil,” that is, not fortified by sound judgment and knowledge, or deceived by some error and presumption, it will make our whole body “full of darkness.” That is, it will darken all our mental sight and our actions, since they will be wrapped in the darkness of vices and the gloom of disturbances. “For,” he says, “if the light that is in you is darkness, how great will that darkness be!” For no one can doubt that when the judgment of our heart goes wrong and is overwhelmed by the night of ignorance, our thoughts and deeds, which come from deliberation and discernment, must be wrapped in the darkness of still greater sins.