Vigils Reading – St Anthony

BY HIS STRIPES

WE ALL WERE HEALED

From the letters of St Anthony the Great

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The Creator saw that the wound in human nature was grown great, and

needed the care of a physician – and Jesus Himself is their Creator, and Himself

heals them, – and He sent forerunners before His face. And we are not afraid to

say of Moses the Lawgiver that he is one of His forerunners, and that the same

Spirit which was with Moses worked also in the choir of the saints; and they all

prayed for the Only-begotten Son of God.

John again is one of his forerunners: and for this cause the Law and the

Prophets were until John, and ‘the Kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the

violent take it by force.’ And being clothed with the Spirit, they saw that none

among the creatures was able to heal that great wound, but only the bounty of

God, that is to say His Only-begotten, whom He sent to be the Saviour of all the

world; for He is the great physician, who is able to heal the great wound.

And they asked God, and of His bounty the Father of creatures spared not

His Only-begotten for our salvation, but delivered Him up for us all and for our

iniquities. And he humbled Himself, and by his stripes we all were healed. And

by the word of His power He gathered us out of all lands, from one end of the

world to the other end of the world, and raised up our hearts form the earth, and

taught us that we are members one of another.

I beseech you, dearly beloved in the Lord: understand that this Scripture

is the command of God. For it is a great thing for us to understand the form that

Jesus accepted for us: for He became in all things like unto us, apart from sin.

Now therefore it is right that we also should set ourselves free by His advent,

that by His foolishness He may make us wise, and by His poverty may enrich us,

and by His weakness strengthen us, and confer resurrection upon us all,

destroying him that had the power of death…

The advent of Jesus helps us to do what is good, until we have destroyed

all our vices. Then Jesus will say to us, ‘Henceforth I call you not servants, but

friends.’ When therefore the Apostles attained to receiving the Spirit of

Adoption, then the Holy Spirit taught them to worship the Father as they ought.

And to me, this poor prisoner of Jesus, this time to which we have come

has brought joy and lamentation and weeping. For many of our generation have

put on the robe of religion but denied its power. As for those who have prepared

themselves to be set free through the advent of Jesus, over them I rejoice. But

those who do business in the name of Jesus, and do the will of their heart and

their flesh – over such I lament. Those who have looked at the length of the time,

and their heart has failed them, and they have put off the robe of religion, and

are become beasts – for them I weep.

Know therefore that for such as these the advent of Jesus becomes a great

judgment. But do you, my beloved in the Lord, know yourselves, that you may

also know this time, and prepare to offer yourselves as a sacrifice acceptable to

God.