Biography of St. Anthony

Saint Anthony the Great also know as the Father of All Monks was as his name suggests one of the first great desert fathers of Christianity. Anthony was born in 251 to rich parents who died when he was 18. At 34, Anthony decided to become a monk, and so gave away everything he had, gave his sister into the care of what was in essence an early monastery, and went into the desert. There he lived for 71 years until his death at the age of 105. Most of what we have on his life comes from Athanasius who lived around the same time and wrote a biography of him. Attributed to St. Anthony are 38 sayings which have been said to contain all the instructions and lessons necessary for a Christian.