Essay Paper on The Lives of St. Antony and St. Benedict Compared

This paper considers the lives of two saints – Benedict and Antony – and we are supposed to compare their lives and deeds and to make a conclusion as for the similarities and differences of their life journeys.

In the 20th century St. Benedict was proclaimed the heavenly patron of the entire Europe. He lived in Italy some-when between 408 and 547. From the very young age he felt that his live was supposed to be devoted to religion and development of monasticism in Italy. Accordingly he managed to create some monasteries and inspire the monks living there with his Rule which contained spiritual wisdom which told about the monastic movement in the Catholic Church. The Rule taught the monks basic virtues of meekness, silence, obedience and instructions for daily living. Benedict was able to do miracles, and these miracles resemble those of Jesus (which may mean that our world is still being visited by holy people even after Christ’s death).

When St. Antony is considered, his life is even more over-endowed with miracles. He lived in Egypt between 251 and 356. The life of Antony resembles Benedict’s living. He had similarly simple existence of hermit in the desert (while Benedict lived in the mountains). Antony was visited by Devil who afflicted him with laziness, boredom and various phantoms. Antony was strong enough not to be afraid and tempted by the Devil. But his entire life was righteous and ascetic.

The similarities between these two saints lie in their ascetic lifestyles, the miracles they did, and their ability to inspire people to follow Christian religion and to live a godly life. They both were born into prosperous families but abandoned their welfare in favor of the poor and their faith. The difference between them may consist in the fact that Antony is considered to be the founder of Christian monasticism but Benedict simply promoted and embedded this apprenticeship by creating monasteries and teaching the friars the Rule. Another difference is that Benedict developed the Rule but Antony just had many followers whom he taught his faith…

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