Friend of God

‘When he went into church he heard what the Lord said in the gospel, “Do not be anxious about tomorrow”. He could not wait any longer, but went out and gave away even what he had kept back to the poor. He left his sister in the care of some well-known, trustworthy virgins, putting her in a convent to be brought up, and he devoted himself to the ascetic life not far from his home, living in recollection and practising self-denial.
 
He laboured with his own hands, for he had heard that “If anyone will not work, let him not eat”. And of what he earned, part he spent on food, and part he gave to the poor.
 
He prayed frequently, for he had learned that one ought to pray in secret, and pray without ceasing. He was so careful in his reading of scripture that nothing escaped him, but he retained it all; so that afterwards his memory served him in place of books.
 
And so all the people of the village, and the good men with whom he associated saw what kind of man he was and they called him “The friend of God”. Some loved him as a son, and others as though he were a brother’.
 
From the ‘Life of St Anthony’ by St Athanasius, 296-373

Most gracious God, who didst call thy servant Anthony to sell all that he had and to serve thee in the solitude of the desert: grant that we, through his intercession and following his example, may learn to deny ourselves and to love thee before all things; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen. – Divine Worship: The Missal.