Commontide
Liturgical Color: White/Gold
The 2nd Sunday of Epiphany
Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ’s glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Epiphany
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who took on our mortal flesh to reveal his glory; that he might bring us out of darkness and into his own glorious light.
Most liturgical texts are from the Book of Common Prayer (2019) of the Anglican Church in North America.
The New Coverdale Psalter, © 2019 by the Anglican Church in North America. Used by permission.
Monastic Father and Desert Ascetic
Ecumenical Commemoration
Antony of Egypt, born in Middle Egypt about the middle of the third century and dead at the age of a hundred and five, gave away a large inherited estate after hearing the Gospel read aloud in church, and spent the rest of his life in the Egyptian desert. He did not invent the solitary life; he learned it from older ascetics near his own village and then carried it further than anyone before him. His biographer, Athanasius of Alexandria, knew him personally, and the book he wrote made Antony the father of Christian monasticism.
Antony was born around 251 in Coma in Upper Egypt into a wealthy Coptic Christian family. At around twenty, he heard the Gospel passage 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me' (Matthew 19:21). Moved by this call, he gave away his wealth and withdrew to the desert near his village.
As ascetic practice became more demanding, Antony moved progressively deeper into the desert — first to the outskirts, then to abandoned tombs, finally to the Inner Mountain (Pispir) where he lived in isolation for twenty years, supported by food brought by villagers. These years were marked by intense spiritual struggle — Athanasius describes a warfare with demons that Antony endured through prayer and the invocation of Christ's name.
Despite seeking solitude, Antony became famous. Seekers came to the desert to receive his spiritual guidance. Rather than turning them away, he established a loose monastic community in the valley below his mountain — monks lived in scattered cells, gathering only for Sunday worship but consulting Antony regularly for spiritual direction. This emerged naturally into the first form of organized monastic life: the eremetical community.
Athanasius's Life of Antony, written around 357, depicts him as a man of deep discernment, spiritual power, and practical wisdom. Though uneducated in Greek philosophy, Antony confounded learned pagans through spiritual insight. He endured poverty, fasting, and ceaseless prayer, yet his demeanor was characterized by gentleness and joy. Antony lived to the age of 105, maintaining his ascetic vigor to the end.
Antony's influence was immense and immediate. Monks flocked to Egypt, Syria, and Palestine to pursue the eremetical life. Jerome, Evagrius, and other early Christian writers made pilgrimage to see him. His way of life — voluntary poverty, intense prayer, spiritual combat — became the template for Christian monasticism throughout the world. He is the patron of monks and the symbolic founder of an entire spiritual tradition.
Traditionally, Antony's desert dwelling was a place of extraordinary spiritual warfare. Athanasius recounts visions in which Antony encountered demons in grotesque and terrifying forms — beasts, giants, armies of adversaries — all attempting to break his resolve. Yet through prayer and the invocation of Christ, Antony repeatedly prevailed. These accounts exemplify the early monastic conviction that the desert was the site of cosmic spiritual combat between Christ and the powers of darkness.