<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Athanasius the Great succeeded with his Vita Antonii to create a new literary genre, the „biography of a saint“. Through his approach, shaped by his impressive theological knowledge and familiarity with the biblical text, Athanasius unlocked an immense amount of cultural knowledge. The Archbishop of Alexandria structured this hagiographic work on the father of monasticism in a way that allowed the reader to understand and perceive the peculiarities of Saint Anthony in accordance with the Orthodoxy of the Church. The present study examines how Athanasius the Great used about four hundred direct and indirect biblical references to represent a personality of his time, who corresponded to the highest Christian ideals. The main topics of our study are: the importance of the Holy Scripture, how it is highlighted in the Athanasian text; the biblical portrait of Anthony the Great; the speech of the great Anchorite, which accounts for more than a third of this hagiographic work; the representation of the last days of Antonius.</p></abstract>

Athanasius the Great succeeded with his Vita Antonii to create a new literary genre, the „biography of a saint“. Through his approach, shaped by his impressive theological knowledge and familiarity with the biblical text, Athanasius unlocked an immense amount of cultural knowledge. The Archbishop of Alexandria structured this hagiographic work on the father of monasticism in a way that allowed the reader to understand and perceive the peculiarities of Saint Anthony in accordance with the Orthodoxy of the Church. The present study examines how Athanasius the Great used about four hundred direct and indirect biblical references to represent a personality of his time, who corresponded to the highest Christian ideals. The main topics of our study are: the importance of the Holy Scripture, how it is highlighted in the Athanasian text; the biblical portrait of Anthony the Great; the speech of the great Anchorite, which accounts for more than a third of this hagiographic work; the representation of the last days of Antonius.

The Use and Importance of Biblical References in <italic>Vita Antonii</italic>

Doktorand unter der Betreuung der Herr Dr. Prof. Andreas Müller an der Theologische Fakultät der CAU

Review of Ecumenical Studies Sibiu

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Use and Importance of Biblical References in 

Athanasius the Great succeeded with his Vita Antonii to create a new literary genre, the „biography of a saint“. Through his approach, shaped by his impressive...

The Use and Importance of Biblical References in Vita Antonii

Published Online: May 13, 2019

Page range: 90 - 119

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ress-2019-0007

Keywords
Saint Anthony, monasticism, asceticism, cultural capital, Athanasius the Great, hagiography

© 2019 Marius-Stefan Ciulu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Use and Importance of Biblical References in Vita Antonii

Published Online: May 13, 2019

Page range: 90 - 119

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ress-2019-0007

KeywordsSaint Anthony, monasticism, asceticism, cultural capital, Athanasius the Great, hagiography

© 2019 Marius-Stefan Ciulu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Saint Anthony, monasticism, asceticism, cultural capital, Athanasius the Great, hagiography