Today we go back to the Egypt of the III and IV centuries (250-356). There San Antonio Abbot was a pioneer of the Christian hermitic movement. After giving up his property, he did not "take refuge" in the desert to "flee" from the people, but to give himself to God and, in God, to give himself to men. There where many who came to him to share his way (and / or receive his guidance). He is considered as the illustrious father of the monks.

He was full of ascetic spirit and endowed with a deep religious knowledge. St. Athanasius, a contemporary friend of St. Anthony, describes his life of praying without interruption: "He was so attentive in reading that he did not miss anything from the Scriptures, and he retained everything: memory was his book." St. Anthony lent a good help to Bishop Athanasius in the fight against arianism and suffered for the Church, encouraging the confessors who suffered the persecution of Diocletian.

-Oh Lord, grant us by the merits of Saint Anthony that, renouncing to ourselves, we love you above all things.