Feast Day of Anthony the Great Date in the current year: January 17, 2024

Saint Anthony is celebrated in many churches: both Orthodox and Catholic Churches have his feast days (30 January and 17 January respectively). He is honored for the spread o the concept of monasticism in Western Europe.

Saint Anthony was born in Coma, Lower Egypt, in 251 to the family of wealthy landowners. His parents died when he was 18 and left him with his unmarried sister. Shortly afterward Anthony decided to follow Jesus' teachings and sold some family estate to his neighbors.

Anthony dedicated his life to prayers and he is considered as the first monk and ascetic going into wilderness, into the dessert, to be exact. Anyway, the sources make clear, that there were many monks and ascetics before him, but Saint Anthony is the first know. The region of his move seems to have contributed to his renown and his further influence on often-repeated subject of the temptation of St. Anthony in Western art and literature.