This Sunday we'll celebrate the feast day of Antony of Egypt, the saint for whom our church is named. From what I understand, we've never really made a big deal of our saint's day, but I'd like to raise our consciousness level about Antony.
Many Episcopal churches are named after saints, and many churches celebrate the feast day of their namesake as a way of celebrating their parish life and history. I hope that we might work in that direction in years to come.
When I've asked why we are named after Antony of Egypt, no one seems to know. "It seemed like a good name." Apparently the name was chosen from a list and submitted to the bishop. The bishop approved the choice, but he wrote back specifically saying that the spelling of the name is Antony, not Anthony. Antony is in our calendar of saints, but not Anthony.
Antony lived at the time when Christianity ceased being a persecuted minority religion and was embraced by Emperor Constantine in 312 AD as the religion of the Roman Empire. Antony and others felt that being a Christian ought to involve some struggle and sacrifice, so he sold everything he owned and went into the desert as a hermit.
He lived a solitary life and fasted and prayed. The story is that he experienced many temptations, and the devil himself tested Antony. After many years, he emerged from the desert a saintly man, sought by many for his healing power and his wisdom.
Others wanted to join him in his quest for spiritual purity, and he eventually became the abbot of the first monastery of monks who gathered around him.
I wonder what characteristics of Antony are also characteristics of our parish. We're not a monastery, and we don't live a severe life like Antony, and yet there may be some things about him for us to emulate: his life of contemplative prayer, his purity, his willingness to follow the call of God, his resolve not to be conformed to his culture. Because Antony was a North African, we have a model for diversity and variety.
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