8/2/25, 6:53 PM The Seven Great Letters of Saint Anthony the Great (Letter 7)

The Seven Great Letters of Saint Anthony the Great

Letter VII

Now, therefore, what shall we answer Him in the day of judgment, or what good is
lacking from Him to us, that He has not done for us? Did the patriarchs not suffer for
us, or the priest not teach us, or judges and kings not fight for us? Did not the
prophets die for us? Or were not the apostles persecuted for us? Or did not His
beloved Son die for us all? And now we ought to prepare ourselves to go to our
Creator in holiness. For the Creator saw that His creatures, even the saints, were not
able to heal the great wound of their own members. Therefore, being the Father of
the creatures, He knew the infirmity of all their minds, and showed mercy towards
them according to His great love, and spared not His only-begotten Son for the
salvation of us all, but delivered Him up for our sins. (Rom 8:32). And our iniquities
humbled Him, and with His stripes we all are healed. (Isa. 53:5.) And He gathered us
from all regions by the word of His power, till He should make the resurrection of our
minds from the earth, teaching us that we are members one of another. (Eph. 4:25.)

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8/2/25, 6:53 PM The Seven Great Letters of Saint Anthony the Great (Letter 7)

Therefore it behooves us all, approaching our Creator, to exercise our minds and
senses to understand the distinction between good and evil, and to know the whole
dispensation of Jesus which He made in His advent; how He was made in all things
like unto us, apart from sin only. (Heb. 4:15.) But by reason of our great wickedness
and stirring up of evil, and the grievousness of our inconstancy, the advent of Jesus
was to some foolishness, and to some a stumbling-block; but for others, gain; and for
some, wisdom and power; and for some, resurrection and life. (1 Cor. 1:23-24.) And
let this be clear to you, that His advent is made a judgment for all the world. For it
says, ‘Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and they shall all know me, from the
least of them unto the greatest of them; and they shall teach no more every man his
neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; and I will make my name
heard unto the ends of the earth: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may be brought under the judgment of God; because that when they knew God they
glorified Him not as their Creator’ (Jer. 31:34; Rom. 3:19, 1:21), through their
unintelligence, whereby they were unable to apprehend His wisdom, but each one of
us sold himself to his own will for evil, and became slave to it.

Therefore, also, Jesus emptied himself of His glory, and took upon himself the form of
a slave (Phil. 2:8), that His bondage might make us free. And we were become
foolish, and in our foolishness committed every kind of evil; and again He took the
form of foolishness, that by His foolishness we might be made wise. And we were
become poor, and in our poverty lacked all virtue; therefore again He took the form of
poverty, that by His poverty He might make us rich in all wisdom and understanding.
(2 Cor. 8:9.) Not only this, but He even took upon himself the form of our weakness,
that by His weakness He might make us strong. And He became obedient to the
Father in everything unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8), that by His
death He might work the resurrection of us all, that He might destroy him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil. (Heb. 2:14.) And if indeed we set ourselves free
through His advent, we shall be found disciple of Jesus, and receive in Him the divine
inheritance.

Truly, my beloved in the Lord, I am greatly troubled and vexed in my spirit: for we
wear the habit and have the name of saints, and boast of this before unbelievers. And
I fear lest the word Paul be fulfilled in us, which says, ‘having the form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof’. (2 Tim. 3:5.) And out of the love which I have towards
you, I pray to God for you, that you may consider your own life, and inherit things
unseen. Truly, my children, though we should give ourselves with all our power to
seek the Lord, what thanks do we deserve? For we are only seeking our own reward;
we are only seeking what is natural to our substance. For every man who seeks God
or services Him, does what is natural to our substance. For every man who seeks
God or serves Him, does what is natural to his substance. But every sin of which we
are guilty, is foreign and unnatural to our substance.

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Truly, my dear children in the Lord, who have prepared to offer yourselves a sacrifice
to God in holiness, we have hid from you nothing needful, but testify unto you that we
have seen, that the enemies of virtue are always meditating evil against the truth. Of
this also be advised, that he who is after the flesh always persecutes him who is after
the spirit (Gal. 4:29), and all who will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution. (2
Tim. 3:12.) Therefore Jesus, knowing all the tribulations and temptations were
coming in the world upon the apostles, and that by their patience they would destroy
all the power of the enemy, that is, idolatry, comforted them and said, ‘In the world ye
shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.’ (John 16:33.)
And He taught them saying, ‘Fear not the world: for all the evils of the world are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed. If they persecuted the
prophets which were before you, they will also persecute you: if they hate me, they
will hate you also. But fear not: for by your patience you will destroy all the power of
the enemy.’ (Rom. 8:18; Matt. 5:12; John 15:20; Luke 21:19.)

Of the details of the word of liberty wherewith we are west free, I have much to tell
you. But vie occasion of wisdom to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. (Prov. 9:9.)
Yet we have need of mutual consolation in our paltry words. But if the mind has
attained true perception, it needs no more the falsehood of bodily speech. But I
rejoice in you all, beloved in the Lord, holy Israelite children in your intellectual
substance. For first the rational man needs to know himself, and then to know the
things of God, and all the bounties which His grace is ever showing towards him; and
then to know that all sin and guilt is foreign to the nature of his intellectual substance.
For at last our Creator seeing that by our own free choice we possess these
unnatural things in which here we were dying, and being for this reason moved with
compassion towards us, of His goodness wanted to bring us back to that beginning
without end, and visited His creatures, not sparing Himself for the salvation of us all.
He gave Himself up for our sins (Gal. 1:4); and our iniquities humbled Him, but with
His stripes we were healed. (Isa. 53:5.) And by the word of His power He gathered us
out of all lands, from one end of the earth to the other end of the world, and taught us
that we are members one of another. (Eph. 4:25.) Therefore, if indeed we have
prepared to set ourselves free through His advent, let us examine ourselves to see
what as rational men we can ‘render unto the Lord for all the benefits that He hath
done unto us.’ (Ps. 116:11.) And so I also, the poor wretch who writes this letter,
being roused from the sleep of death, have spent most of the time that I have been
upon earth mourning and weeping, saying ‘What can I render unto the Lord for all the
benefits that He hath done unto me?’ For nothing is lacking to us, which He has not
done for us in our humiliation. He made His angels minister to us. He bade His
prophets to prophesy, and His apostles to preach the Gospel to us. And as the
greatest of all His ordinances, He made His Only-begotten Son to take upon Himself
the form of a slave for us.

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I beseech you therefore, my beloved in the Lord, you who are joint heirs with the
saints, to rouse up your minds in the fear of God. For let this word be clear to you,
that John the Forerunner of Jesus baptized unto remissions of sins for our sakes, but
by the Spirit we were sanctified in Christ. Let us now prepare in all holiness to
cleanse the senses of our mind, that we may be clean by the baptism of Jesus, so as
to offer ourselves a sacrifice to God. And this Paraclete Spirit comforts us and brings
us back to our beginning, to recover our inheritance and the dominion of that same
comforting Spirit. Therefore, ‘as many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on
Christ; there is neither male nor female, there is neither bond nor free.’ (Gal. 3:27-
28.) And every bodily tongue fails them, when they receive the doctrine of the Holy
Spirit, at the time when they take up the holy inheritance, and worship the Father as
is right, in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24.) And let this word be clear to you; and do not
wait for a future judgment in that coming of Jesus. For already His advent is judgment
to all of us.

Now therefore know that the saints and the righteous, clothed in the Spirit, pray for us
always that we may be humbled before God, and put on again the garment that we
had put off, in our intellectual substance. For often also has that voice come from
God the Father to all who are clothed in the Spirit, saying to them, ‘Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith the Lord: priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem.’ (Isa.
40:1-2.) For God always visits His creatures, and bestows His goodness upon them.

Truly, my beloved, of the details of the word of liberty with which we are set free,
there are very many other things to tell you. But it says, ‘Give occasion of wisdom to
a wise man, and he will be yet wiser.’ (Prov. 9:9.) But may the God of peace give you
grace and the spirit of discernment, to know that what I write to you is the
commandment of the Lord. May the God of all grace keep you holy in the Lord to
your last breath. I pray God always for the salvation of you all, my beloved in the
Lord. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Source

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