(“Saint Anthony” or “Antony”)
(greek: Ἀντώνιος, Antṓnios; Latin: Antonius, Coptic: Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ ; c. 251–356)
(Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a ‘saint’)
(he is distinguished from other saints named ‘Anthony’ by various epithets: Anthony the Great, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, and Anthony of Thebes)
(for his importance among the “Desert Fathers” and to all later Christian monasticism, he is also known as the Father of All Monks)
(his “feast day” is celebrated on January 17 among the Orthodox and Catholic churches and on Tobi 22 in the Egyptian calendar used by the ‘Coptic Church’)
(the biography of Anthony’s life by “Athanasius of Alexandria” helped to spread the concept of Christian ‘monasticism’, particularly in Western Europe via its Latin translations)
(he is often erroneously considered the first Christian monk, but as his biography and other sources make clear, there were many ascetics before him)
(‘Anthony’ was, however, the first to go into the wilderness (about ad 270), a geographical move that seems to have contributed to his renown)
(accounts of ‘Anthony’ enduring supernatural temptation during his sojourn in the Eastern Desert of Egypt inspired the often-repeated subject of the “temptation of Saint Anthony” in Western art and literature)
(“Anthony” is appealed to against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases)
(in the past, many such afflictions, including ‘ergotism’, ‘erysipelas’, and ‘shingles’, were referred to as St. Anthony’s fire)