Antony on Gathering the Virtues

There is an ancient and excellent saying of the blessed Antony. When a monk, following the plan of the monastic life, is striving to reach the heights of a more advanced perfection, and has learned to weigh things with discernment, so that he is now able to stand on his own judgment and to arrive at the very summit of the anchorite’s life, he should by no means seek every kind of virtue from one man, however excellent. For one is adorned with the flowers of knowledge; another is more strongly fortified with the methods of discernment; another is established in the dignity of patience; another excels in the virtue of humility, another in that of self-control; another is decked with the grace of simplicity. This one excels all others in greatness of soul, that one in compassion, another in vigils, another in silence, another in diligence at work. So the monk who wants to gather spiritual honey should, like a very careful bee, draw out each virtue from those who especially possess it, and store it up carefully in the vessel of his own heart. He should not look into what anyone lacks, but only notice and gather whatever virtue he has. [a]

For if we want to gain all the virtues from some one person, we will find suitable examples to imitate only with great difficulty, or perhaps never at all. For though we do not yet see even Christ made “all things in all,” as the apostle says, still in this way we can find him bit by bit in all. For it is said of him, “who was made by God for you wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” So while wisdom is found in one person, righteousness in another, sanctification in another, kindness in another, chastity in another, humility in another, patience in another, Christ is at present divided, member by member, among all the saints. But when all come together into the unity of faith and virtue, he is formed into the “perfect man,” completing the fullness of his body in the joints and properties of all his members.

Until that time comes when God will be “all in all,” God can for the present be “in all” in the way we have described, through particular virtues, even though he is not yet “all in all” through the fullness of them. For though our religion has only one end and aim, there are different ways by which we approach God, as will be shown more fully in the Conferences of the Elders. So we must seek a model of discernment and self-control especially from those in whom we see these virtues flow most abundantly through the grace of the Holy Spirit. It is not that anyone can acquire by himself alone the things that are divided among many, but that, in those good qualities we are capable of, we may advance toward imitating those who have especially acquired them.