Anthony, St.
A great demon of enormous stature is said to have approached
Anthony one day to offer his services. In response,
the saint looked at him sideways and spat in his face. The
demon vanished without a word and did not dare to appear on
Earth for a long time afterward. In response to this encounter
St. Anthony once said I fear the demon no more than I fear
a fly, and with the sign of the cross I can at once put him to
flight.
St. Athanasius, who wrote the biography St. Anthony, mingled
his heros adventures with the devil and certain other incidents
that contrast strangely. Some philosophers, astonished at
the great wisdom of Anthony, asked him in what book he had
discovered his doctrine. The saint pointed with one hand to the
Earth, and the other to the sky. There are my books, said he,
I have no others. If men will design to study as I do the marvels
of creation, they will find wisdom enough there. Their spirit
will soon soar from the creation to the Creator.
