Demons Cast Out

Afterward, on another occasion, when he had come down to the outer cells, he was asked to go on board a boat and pray with the monks, and he alone noticed an extremely unpleasant smell. Those on board said that the stench came from the fish and salted meat in the boat. But he answered that the smell was something different. While he was speaking, a young man with an evil spirit, who had come and hidden himself in the boat, cried out. The demon, rebuked in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, came out of him, and the man became well. And they all knew that the evil smell had come from the demon.

Another man, a person of rank, came to him possessed by a demon, and the demon was so terrible that the possessed man did not know he was coming to Antony. He even ate the excrement from his own body. So those who brought him begged Antony to pray for him. Antony, pitying the young man, prayed and kept watch with him all night. About dawn the young man suddenly attacked Antony and gave him a shove. When those who had come with him were angry, Antony said, “Do not be angry with the young man, for it is not he who did it, but the demon that is in him. Being rebuked and ordered to go into dry places, the demon became raging mad and did this. So give thanks to the Lord, for his attacking me like this is a sign that the evil spirit is leaving.” As soon as Antony had said this, the young man was made well. At last he came to his right mind, knew where he was, greeted the old man, and gave thanks to God. [a]