St. Anthony is considered as the father of all monks and one of the ruler of Christian Monasticism.

He was born around the year 250 A.D., in a city in Upper Egypt called Kamen-El -Aroos, a city of Beniswef. His father died before he reached the age of twenty. He heard the deacon in the Church reading this verse of the Bible:" If thou wilt be perfect go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven" (Matt.19:21). So, he distributed all his wealth among the poor and left to the desert to start his monastical life, near the coast of the Red Sea. Hearing of his good deeds, people started visiting him and asking for his prayers and blessings. A certain king, from a foreign land, sent messengers to him, asking him to come and heal his sick son. The messengers brought gifts to St. Anthony but he did not accept them and decided not to go to that foreign land.

On that day, St. Anthony prayed and with the power of Jesus Christ, he was lifted upon a cloud, and went to that foreign land, where he was invited to eat at a Minister's house. That minister had a pig whose youngsters were blind and limb, St. Anthony healed them. Hearing of this event, the king asked St. Anthony to heal his son. St. Anthony healed the son and then returned to the monastery. The following day, the messengers, who were unaware of St. Anthony's trip, asked him to accompany them to heal the King's son. St. Anthony asked them to return back and that he will follow them later. After several days of their long trip, they heard about the healing of the king's son. When they reached the King's palace, they realized that it was St. Anthony who did it, but that he didn't tell them to avoid falling into temptation. The messengers praised God for what they had witnessed.

St. Anthony passed away in the year 356 A.D. after a life full of good deeds and valuable spiritual experiences. We celebrate his departure on the 30th of January (22 Touba of the Coptic calendar) every year.
 

God has blessed his monastery a lot. Its developing each and every day.
 

May his prayers be with us all, and glory be to God forever, Amen

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