Some of the brothers came to Abba Anthony to tell him the dreams they had seen, and to learn from him if they are true, or from demons. Now they had a donkey, and it died on the way. When they finally came to the elder, he said to them first, How did the little donkey die on the way? They said to him, How did you know that, Abba? And he said to them, The demons showed me. And they said to him, That is why we came to ask you, lest we be led astray, because we have seen dreams, and many times they are true. And the elder fully convinced them by the example of the donkey, that they are from demons.
Saint Anthony the Great — 38 Sayings
It is interesting to note that this saying from Abba Anthony comes from an area of the world which in later medieval times had the idea of a donkey-headed Duke of Hell. See above for one possible illustration of this demonic appearance. I am unable to verify whether at the time of Saint Anthony the Great there was an existing idea of such a demon, but given Saint Anthony’s fights against demons, I would tend to say that the idea was there. If so, it adds an interesting fillip to this saying from Saint Anthony.
The other interesting part of this story is that Saint Anthony uses an apparent demonic vision or insight that he had to counter demonic dreams that the monks were having. That is, at first sight, it appears as though Saint Anthony does the very same thing that he tells the monks to avoid. But, you need to know that part of the tale of Saint Anthony is his fight against demons. He was intimately acquainted with them in the sense that they were always fighting him and tempting him.
The great Saint Athanasius wrote on the life of Saint Anthony the Great in his The Life of St. Anthony. In it he comments on what a visitor might hear as they approached his abode, “they heard tumults, many voices, and, as it were, the clash of arms. At night they saw the mountain become full of wild beasts, and him also fighting as though against visible beings, and praying against them.” Of one epic fight with demons, Saint Athanasius records:
“In the night they made such a din that the whole of that place seemed to be shaken by an earthquake, and the demons as if breaking the four walls of the dwelling seemed to enter through them, coming in the likeness of beasts and creeping things.
And the place was on a sudden filled with the forms of lions, bears, leopards, bulls, serpents, asps, scorpions, and wolves, and each of them was moving according to his nature. The lion was roaring, wishing to attack, the bull seeming to toss with its horns, the serpent writhing but unable to approach, and the wolf as it rushed on was restrained; altogether the noises of the apparitions, with their angry ragings, were dreadful.”
The Life of St. Anthony by Saint Athanasius
The demons would also speak to Saint Anthony and try to tell him things, in order to deceive him and/or lead him astray. This is the same thing that the devil did to Adam and Eve, and tried to repeat during the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Apparently, this is how he knew about the death of the monks’ donkey.
We need to remember that Satan loves to show up as though he were an angel of light. Demons love to deceive by using truth that has poison within it. In the case of the monks, the demons were giving the monks true information in dreams. Yet, it is likely that this was so that the monks would begin to either depend on the dreams, only to be eventually led astray by some untruth, or to have them begin to turn away from their devotion to the Lord because they became caught up in the apparently miraculous manifestations. Either way, it would be the use of truth to lead them to a bad end. Saint Anthony put a quick stop to that.
There is a warning for us there. It is easy for any of us to be caught up in happenings rather than in our devotion to the Lord. Particularly if the events appear to be miraculous or revelatory, they can move our focus from the Lord to the events. It is well for us to examine ourselves anytime we find ourselves talking about “great” events that we may not be beginning to stray. It is also well to have a bit of skepticism when faced with what appear to be supernatural events. The skepticism should not be about whether miraculous events can occur, but from where those events originate.
As Joshua said to the Israelites, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Leave a Reply