Editing Anthony the Great (section)

==''Life of Anthony''==
Most of what is known about Anthony comes from the ''Life of Anthony''. Written in Greek {{Circa|360}} by [[Athanasius of Alexandria]], it depicts Anthony as an illiterate and holy man who, through his existence in a primordial landscape, has an absolute connection to the divine truth, which is always in harmony with that of Athanasius as the biographer.<ref name="Endsjo2008" />

A continuation of the genre of secular [[Ancient biography|Greek biography]],<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2012/2012.07.45/|title=Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography. Volume I: Periods and Places. Ashgate research companions – Bryn Mawr Classical Review|journal=Bryn Mawr Classical Review }}</ref> it became his most widely read work.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/vita-antony.asp | title=Athanasius of Alexandria: Vita S. Antoni [Life of St. Antony] (written between 356 and 362) | publisher=Fordham University | access-date=14 July 2016 }}</ref> Sometime before 374 it was translated into Latin by [[Evagrius of Antioch]]. The Latin translation helped the ''Life'' become one of the best-known works of literature in the Christian world, a status it would hold through the [[Middle Ages]].<ref>McGinn, Bernhart (12 December 2006). ''The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism''. Modern Library. {{ISBN|0-8129-7421-2}}.</ref>

Translated into several languages, it became something of a "best seller" in its day and played an important role in the spreading of the [[ascetic]] ideal in Eastern and Western Christianity. It later served as an inspiration to Christian [[monasticism|monastics]] in both the East and the West,<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/theologians/athanasius.html|title=Athanasius|work=Christian History {{!}} Learn the History of Christianity & the Church|access-date=14 March 2018}}</ref> and helped to spread the concept of Christian monasticism, particularly in Western Europe via its Latin translations.

Many stories are also told about Anthony in the ''[[Sayings of the Desert Fathers]]''.
  
Anthony probably spoke only his native language, [[Coptic language|Coptic]], but his sayings were spread in a [[Greek language|Greek]] translation. He himself dictated letters in Coptic, seven of which are extant.<ref name=crawley/>