Welcome to the Round of the Saintly Sixteen! After sixteen bruising, gut-wrenching, heart-pounding battles, we have cut the field of 32 saints in half. We’ve already seen our fair share of hotly contested match-ups, blow-outs, and Cinderellas and we’re only half-way through the bracket. Lent Madness, like Lent, is part endurance race and we encourage those who have come thus far -- both voters and contestants -- to buckle down for the duration and, in the words of Saint Paul, “Run with perseverance the race that is set before you.”
In this round, we move past basic biographies and delve into what we like to call “Quirks and Quotes.” We’ll learn some unusual facts about our saints and hear about them, either in their own words or in words uttered or written about them. Some of our holy men and women are quirkier than others and some are more quotable. As always, remember these match-ups are neither fair nor for the faint of heart. If you want a bland Lenten devotion you’ve come to the wrong place.
Yesterday's Round of 32 ended with the biggest rout of 2014 with Charles Wesley throttling his brother John 80% to 20%. As you make your informed and never irrational choices from here on out, you can always refresh your memory with the first round bios conveniently housed under the bracket tab by Bracket Czar Adam Thomas. Just click the appropriate links for the first round match-ups. Adam has also updated the Match-Up Calendar so you can see precisely when all the Saintly Sixteen action will take place. Print it out and staple it to your refrigerator!
We kick thing off with Basil the Great vs. Antony of Egypt. In the last round Basil defeated Christina the Astonishing while Antony turned back Mary of Egypt. Away we go!
Basil the Great
Basil (330-379) was a prolific writer and preacher. His numerous writings included a treatise on the Holy Spirit; a Lenten series on Creation; writings on the Psalter; sermons on living the Christian life; liturgies and prayers; and hundreds of letters. Essentially, he was a one-man Forward Movement Tract* Rack. A few selections include:
How to Pray
Prayer is a request for what is good, offered by the devout of God. But we do not restrict this request simply to what is stated in words. We should not express our prayer merely in syllables, but also through the attitude of our soul and in the virtuous actions we do in our life. This is how you pray continually — not by offering prayer in words, but by joining yourself to God through your whole way of life, so that your life becomes one continuous and uninterrupted prayer.
Praying Daily
When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking God for being so generous to you. If you drink wine (or coffee), be mindful of God who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank God for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who ordered things this way. When the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator.
On Attachment to Possessions
The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot; the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you commit.
Basil lived what he preached. He ate a bare minimum of food, just enough to survive. He owned only the clothes on his back and used any money he acquired to help the poor and needy.
Lest anyone think Basil was all sweetness and light, he challenged an entire faction of the Church, including an emperor. When the Emperor's prefect demanded Basil support the Arian heresy or risk torture, exile, and death, Basil’s response was essentially, “Hit me with your best shot,” although much more eloquent. When the prefect, stunned by Basil’s defiance, said he’d never heard a bishop speak like that to him, Basil simply replied, “Perhaps you’ve never met a real bishop before.”
Drop. Microphone.
And forever inspire the Church.
*Tracts are small pamphlets that offer insight and information about all things Episcopal. The quotes are not verbatim, either.
-- Laurie Brock
Antony of Egypt
In our first encounter with Antony we saw him sell all of his inheritance, ensure the safety of his younger sister (who later became a “guiding spirit” to other virgins), move out to the desert, wage intense battle with demons, and staunchly defend orthodoxy before his death as an old man.
St. Antony’s biographer, the bishop Athanasius, tells us that when Antony addressed would be monks, he reminded them that “The whole of [a person’s] life is very short measured by the ages to come, so that all our time is as nothing compared to eternal life.” Antony himself lived by this code. It was not enough to give up all he owned, he had to be a “martyr to his conscience” daily (Martin Luther would be proud). To aid in this “[Antony] fasted continually, his clothing was hair on the inside while the outside was skin” and “he never bathed his body in water to remove filth.”
In the Sayings of the Fathers it is reported that a man wished to become a monk. After selling all his possessions but keeping some of the proceeds for himself, he came to Antony. Antony instructed him to go to the local village, buy meat, and attach it to his bare body. The man did so and was hounded by birds and wild animals the entire walk back, his body in tatters from the beasts. Antony looked at him and declared, “Those who have renounced the world but wish to have money are thus attacked and massacred by the demons.”
Speaking of demons, Antony’s many nights in the tombs resisting devils produced a demonology that puts Frank Peretti to shame. Space only allows a brief mention of his battle with an enormously tall demon named Providence. Although demons appear full of confusion, crashing, roaring, and shouting, all Antony had to do to banish his foe was blow a breath at it, speak the name of Christ, and make an effort to strike it. The enemy, along with his fellow demons, vanished in a jiffy.
Antony also had a way with animals. Once when he had planted a garden, wild animals continued to damage the beds. With tact that would make Francis of Assisi jealous, Antony gently caught one of the animals and announced to the other beasts, “Why do you do harm to me when I harm none of you? Go away, and in the Lord’s name do not come near these things again!” He was never bothered by the vermin again. Not even a ferret.
Antony firmly believed in the inherent goodness of human beings. He reminds us, “When you hear the word virtue mentioned, do not be afraid of it or treat it as a foreign word. Really it is not far from us, nor is its home apart from us; no the thing is within us, and its accomplishment is easy if we but have the will.”
Finally, I leave you with the little known fact about Antony’s diet. It is reported by his biographer Davidicus that, in addition to his simple meals of bread and water, he used to eat basil for breakfast.
-- David Creech
Vote!
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130 comments on “Basil the Great vs. Antony of Egypt”
Love the quotes from Basil! Got my vote right away - and then when I read that Antony never bathed ... well ... even if he did eat basil for breakfast I can't vote for filth.
Thank you for the wonderful quotes from Basil. No wonder he's "the great." He so closely models Christ's messages. And very Benedictine, too. Today's write up was truly inspiring to me. Again, thanks. And if anyone says that Lent Madness is trivial and silly, this should put the kibosh on that nonsense.
It is easy to to be turned off by Antony's strangeness but I wonder what we would say of John the Baptist, depending on how he were described? I appreciate Snacktime's insight about ascetics' intensity. T0day the beauty of Basil's words gets my vote.
I'm beginning to think that it's Lent Hygiene this time. I'm going with Basil, but not as you say it's his words and teachings, not because of Antony's bathing habits. Enough already about that.
Um, sorry, I meant "antony" not "anthony". Dadblame persnickety.
This time, I'm afraid Vasil's going to have Antony for breakfast.
Antony today (despite Basil's wonderful 'best of' write-up) for the great visual -- talk about "Where the Wild Things Are"!
Also his commitment to water resource conservation and his 'green' approach to pest eradication.
Basil the Great is great! Antony is NASTY!
Phew! Two days in a row when the choice has been easy..... But I don't expect it to last. Go Basil!
Basil the Great? I'm going to call him Basil the Snarky! Wise words, wonderfully modeled - and always with a great retort - he gets my vote!
Poor Antony. If he had only bathed and gotten some help for his demon issues, he'd be more honored as a holy person. Taking care of his sister like he did was enough of a saintly act. Basil's teachings, especially on prayer, have won my vote.
Glad I wasn't the only one who thought Antony must have been crazy as a bed bug in addition to being covered with them!!
I still can't believe that Anthony beat Mary in the first round. Glad that Basil is winning this round. Love what he says about praying without ceasing.
Wikipedia says this about Antony: "Anthony is appealed to against infectious diseases, particularly skin diseases." He probably was quite familiar with wirh this subject due to not bathing, and wearing his clothes hair side in. One might assume he didn't exactly keep a clean house and had plenty of critters around. If so, was hen in touch with fellow saint, Dominic Silos, patron saint of insect infestations? I'm voting for Basil. Antony is too close to, if not over, the edge.
Oops, "he", not "hen". If he ever had a hen she was probably smart enough to leave with the critters he cast out of his garden.
Just remembering Anthony from Athanasius's Life of St Anthony and recounting of the same in Invitation to Love by Thomas Keating. I think Anthony may have a perpetual minority following but is worth considering, not least for his sense of humor, a trait he shared with the other "desert dwellers."
Yes Amy, I agree. One can pray anywhere, anytime. I've prayed in the shower, doing laundry, doing dishes, taking out the trash, etc. Etc.etc etc!
If you wanna refrain from bathing, that's your choice but to do a Lady gaga and tell someone else to wear a meat suit and then look on as they struggle back nearly eaten alive.....??? Too much ! And I never recovered from the treatment of his sister...she had no choice in his decision supposedly on her behalf for her own good. PUH-LEESE !! Basil all the way.
I'm still not sure if we actually know that "she had no choice in his decision." Unless someone has cited something stating otherwise, why assume she had no part in it? Just as easy to assume she felt that as a call as well and preferred to freedom of service to God from having to marry and being under the subjugation of her husband.
Yes, and the idea of vocation is not too well understood in our century. Follow your dream is a constant refrain these days. The notion of seeking what God wants you to do is not even on the table . For some people, vocation is important, but for many, vocation is absent from the cultural landscape . So, that is to say, it's difficult for us to get into the centuries old cultural mindsets.
In response to Aleathia and Jonathan:
Type in "Antony Internet History Sourcebooks". That will lead you to Antony's bio by Athanasius. In paragraph 54 of this bio it says "Antony also rejoiced when he beheld the earnestness of the monks, and his sister grown old in virginity, and that she herself also was the leader of other virgins."
So she did indeed feel a call to the monastic life herself and said "Yes" to that call.
Also, those were good observations, Ginny. Getting into a mindset even a century old is difficult, much less almost two thousand years.
well we don't know how old she was, other than knowing that she was very young. She could have been 3 or 8 or 13. Best not to impugn with little information.
I talk to my cat all the time, but he is a Siamese cat and they "talk"! But a ferret, I doubt if a ferret would be so completely understanding .... I voted for Basil!
Hilarity and snarkiness abound today ... who says Lent can't be fun?
As I've already said earlier (multiple comments are OK, right? just not multiple votes?), it's Basil for me.
The meat suit and the sister deal still have me confounded by Antony.
Antony had my vote with "Antony firmly believed in the inherent goodness of human beings." But eating basil for breakfast just cracked me up, too! 🙂
Agreed, on both counts! People tell me that war, lying, etc. are "just human nature" and can't be changed, and I say we have Good in us too, and the free will to choose it! I voted for Antony because of that quote, otherwise I don't know how I would have chosen between them.
Something about that story of Antony's directing the would-be monk to attach meat to his bare body reminded me of Lady GaGa and the meat dress. Although I get the point of the metaphor, that image is really disgusting and undercuts Antony's emphasis on not being wasteful.
Part of my work at the church is to provide financial and other assistance to those in need. That includes people who's hygiene does not meet my standards. It seems that I tend to learn the most about myself and caring for others when I the time to talk to these folks...even though I have to open a window when they leave. I suspect that I would learn a lot from Anthony if he stopped by my office!
He would be blessed to you know, as are those with whom you work.
Amen.
But Antony defeated demons by breathing the name of Christ! That is some serious Holy Spirit.
What's the big deal over Antony not bathing? In his day it was a common practice of Christians wishing to live the ascetic life. Antony was living in the culture of his times, and that doesn't make him a freak.
That being said, I voted for Basil. His care for the poor, his courage, and his spirituality are truly inspiring.
I'll take quotable over quirky, though I loved hearing about Anthony.
Super Spiritual Snark
I felt just the opposite of a couple others. *Basil* had my vote with “Antony firmly believed in the inherent goodness of human beings.”
you did not give any of the astounding things anthony said. approached by a young monk who wanted to find a master he agreed with, anthony responded something to the effect of you do not want to worship God but your own image of God. find a man who is orthodox but differs and you may actually get close to God. at one time or the other we all get stuck with our own version of God.
[…] the vote is between Basil the Great and Antony of Egypt. I really liked a few quotes of Basil about prayer, which I am posting […]
I voted for Basil because he has been a favorite guide and mentor to me for a long time.
Was tempted to vote for Antony just to be contrary though.
I know it's Lent Madness, and any reason for a vote is reason enough, but I am a little distraught over the disrespect and (in my opinion) trite critiques of Antony.
I'd invite anyone put off by him to spend some time studying the desert fathers and mothers. Christian faith looked a little different then and it was a critical time for the growth of our faith. Exaggerated hagiographies or not (and another thing I'm distraught over is some people's concerns that a story or act was "factual," which is beside the point in these stories,) these Saints of God were giants in the faith and we have so much to learn from them. Especially those of us Christians who are so privileged (i.e., most of us voting and posting,) with lives that often look very "secular" in spite of our professions and the teachings of the Gospel...it was a society like ours that the fathers and mothers sought to critique by their retreat to the desert!
Thank you, Jonathan for expressing my thoughts so well!
Hear, hear!
Well-said.
Holiness of life, Jonathan, is counter-cultural, and it may be too hot for The Episcopal Church to handle. HWHM diluted the concept. Forward Movement plays it for here laughs and publicity. Sybarites post nervous snark about lives that subvert their dependence on popularity and comfort. Still, it is heartening to read the comments of those who get it. You know who you are-- thank you.
Well said
Yes regarding the difficulty of understanding the mindset of earlier times.
Also realize that not only were anthony and his sister raised in pious Christian homes, but living in a nunnery or monastery was a good option considering the era.
A roof over one's head, food on the table, like minded companionship, a garden to tend,
time to spend on worship, prayer, and scripture reading, etc
Why are so many people on this site treating it like a prison sentence?
I like my saints like I like my men: erudite, bathed, and not off fighting demons all night.