Book Review: Athanasius: The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus

That's a lot of words to get out of your mouth, right? It's not something simple like, "Harry Potter" or "Little House on the Prairie".

"Athanasius: The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus" is an interesting read, to say the least.

For starters, what would you think when I tell you this book is 1700 years old? Yes, really.

Athanasius, born in 296, served as the Bishop of Alexandria for a majority of his life. However, for most of the time he served, he was exiled. This was primarily over battles with Aranism, which is labeled as a heresy. Athanasius never gave up fighting against it, and through his hagiography of Antony, continued the fight.

The Life of Antony, takes you on a wild ride. I have to say, you must suspend belief and enjoy the tales that are presented to you, to fully grasp the Antony's life. I'm not saying you need to be a Christian to enjoy the story. Just read it with an open mind.

The best way I can describe the hagiography (biography of a Saint) is it is a hero saga. Think Indian Jones, or Luke Skywalker shooting a laser through a small hole to blow up the Death Star. Those moments happen throughout Antony's life. Sometimes you get a chance to catch your breath, and sometimes you're forced to reread a paragraph to make sure you understood it correctly.

From expelling demons, to communicating with animals and battling Satan, Antony makes it through the end, providing an example of how one can lead a monastic, or ascetic, lifestyle.

There are times the book does drag along, mainly when Antony is delivering a speech. Thankfully this only happens two times, but one goes almost 15 pages.

The Letter to Marcellinus, is a drastic change to the first book in this collection. Rather than going on an adventure, this letter implores the reader on how to interpret the Psalms for worship in private, and public life.

No information is given on whom Marcellinus is, outside of him being a follower of Christ, and a close friend of Athanasius.

This book goes at a more leisurely pace, compared to Antony's story, and serves more as an uplifting letter with the goal to inspire and cause the reader to think, and interpret on their own.

All together Athanasius' book is an interesting combination, of two vastly different stories and flow. But, these books come together well as they show both sides of Athanasius, the man who championed the Orthodoxy movement for the entirety of his adult life.

The book itself is widely popular, as the initial goal was to produce the ideal patter of ascetic life. However, it quickly grew popular and spread throughout the region, and contributed to the establishment of monastic life in Western Christianity.

While I said the stories of Antony are incredible, it is a very slow pacing book, for being just short of 130 pages combined. I wouldn't fully recommend this book for a leisurely read, but it is definitely something worth checking out. Simply because it serves as one of the foundations of the Christian life as we know it today.