St. Anthony the great (ca. 251-356), or "the great St. Anthony" or "the great St. Anthony". Egyptian Christians in the Roman Empire. He is the pioneer of the Christian hermit life and the famous leader of the desert Godfather.

Early life
St. Anthony grew up in a wealthy Christian family. He was quiet and quiet since childhood, and often went to church with his family, which was different from the young people who despised faith at that time. When Saint Anthony was about 18 to 20 years old, his parents died one after another, and he gave him his huge property and his only sister. Once, when St. Anthony was walking on the road, he thought repeatedly about how the apostles gave up everything and followed the Lord. While Saint Anthony was thinking about these things, he went into the church. At that time, someone was reading the gospel. Jesus said to the rich young man, "if you want to be a perfect man, go and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; you will follow me." This sentence deeply inspired St. Anthony to reserve part of his property to his sister and sell the rest to the poor. Not long after, I heard another saying: "therefore, don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow has its own worries; one day's difficulties are enough." St. Anthony gave up all his possessions and entrusted his sister to the respected and reliable virgins, and then entered the hermit life.
Hermit period
At that time, the hermit culture was not yet flourishing, so everyone who expected to pay attention to spiritual life mostly practiced alone near his hometown. St. Anthony first retired near his home for 15 years, and learned from the hermits who lived nearby how to live a good life. When Saint Anthony was in his thirties, he crossed the Nile River and went to a mountain called Mt. pispir in the desert. He lived in a military castle that had been abandoned for many years, and pursued prayer and a life of independent practice. When St. Anthony first moved, there were many snakes in the castle, so he drove them out first. This is true in the living environment and in the spiritual aspect. Saint Anthony locked himself in the castle for twenty-five years. One of his friends gave him bread for half a year twice a year, because the local weather was dry and the bread was not easy to deteriorate; In addition, there are springs in the castle to supply drinking water. For St. Anthony, as long as God is with him, water and bread are enough.
According to the records in the biography of St. Anthony of St. Athanasius, during this period, apart from meditating on God, St. Anthony did only two things in the rest of the time: first, he fought against his inner desires; 2、 Fight the devil's power. It can be seen that in these 25 years, he spent two-thirds of his time fighting crime. Nevertheless, San Antonio was not haggard because of his solo practice and war. Since Saint Anthony lived in the castle for 25 years, his friends always cared about his health, so they broke into the castle after 25 years. They thought they would see a weak old man, but they saw that Saint Anthony's appearance was more calm and healthy than twenty-five years ago. This incident also attracted the attention and appreciation of the people of the time.
Therefore, Saint Anthony's character and wisdom attracted many people to ask him for advice, which affected his independent life. At that time, the people who followed San Antonio followed his example, and also practiced alone in the caves or huts near the mountain of pisbil. San Antonio regularly met and guided them, which lasted for five to six years.
Subsequently, Saint Anthony retired to the wilderness of Mt. colzim between the Nile River and the Red Sea, where he spent the last 45 and a half years of his solitary life. Although St. Anthony attaches great importance to independent cultivation, he also cares about the lives of other Christians. Therefore, he often travels between his own small room and mount pisbil. In 311, when the Roman Emperor Maximinus raised the church, Saint Anthony went to Alexandria twice, wishing to die with the persecuted Christians at that time. He visited and comforted the imprisoned Christians. When the governor saw St. Anthony preaching his faith regardless of life and death, he ordered St. Anthony to leave Alexandria, even to impose punishment. However, St. Anthony still firmly debated with the governor. Finally, the matter subsided, and St. Anthony returned safely to the fortress where he was hiding. Later, Saint Anthony no longer needed to live alone, so he organized his followers into a hermit group. He became the abbot of this early monastery and connected similar groups into a network.
Die
In about 355, St. Anthony and St. Athanasius devoted themselves to fighting against the heretical Asian flow prevailing at that time. The following year, Saint Anthony died. At that time, the burial custom in Egypt was to bury the corpse with spices, so that the corpse could be preserved for a long time without deterioration. St. Anthony was very opposed to this, so before he died, he ordered that his body should be buried in the earth by the two disciples of megalivos and Amadeus; The burial place shall be kept secret and shall not be disclosed to outsiders. St. Anthony ordered to present a sheepskin coat and a coat to St. athanas, indicating that he and St. athanas would always be united in faith. Another sheepskin coat was presented to the bishop of shanraben. The bitter clothes he wore were kept by the members as a memorial.
St. Anthony's hermit style influenced Christians of later generations, especially St. Augustine. In his confessions, St. Augustine describes the impact on him when he saw the life of St. Anthony (at that time, St. Anthony had passed away for 30 years). St. Augustine said: "we are astonished to hear that in such a recent era, at the time of our union, your miraculous signs have shown firm evidence in the pure faith and in the church." Although Saint Anthony was not the first hermit, his example promoted the prosperity of monastic life, and later generations honored him as the "father of monastic movement".

Saint Anthony's spiritual thought focuses on dealing with the body and sin, as well as dealing with loneliness.
Saint Anthony believes that only by belittling the body can the soul be preserved. Therefore, we should devote all our time to the soul, reduce the care for the body, and refrain from suffering. However, dealing with the body alone can not make the spiritual life complete, and we need to go further to deal with evil. Saint Anthony believes that the way to deal with sin is to meditate on his own sin and God's judgment.
While dealing with the body and crime, the loneliness of the soul is also a dimension that can not be ignored. St. Anthony advocates self-cultivation. Only by being alone for a long time can we see the darkness in our hearts more deeply. Nevertheless, Saint Anthony also urged his brothers to confess their sins to each other. Therefore, St. Anthony's spiritual thought of dealing with sin not only attaches importance to personal examination, but also stresses that only by facing each other with his brothers can he have a sound spiritual life.