Antoni Abati

Antoni abati (Qumans, Misri, 251 hivi - Jangwa la Thebe, Misri, 17 Januari 357) ni mkaapweke anayehesabiwa na Kanisa kuwa baba wa umonaki, ingawa kihistoria si wa kwanza kushika mtindo huo wa maisha katika Ukristo, ila ndiye aliyewahi kupata wafuasi wengi sana^[1].

Anaitwa "abati" (yaani "baba") tangu alipopokea wafuasi hao.

Anaheshimiwa tangu zamani sana kama mtakatifu.

Sikukuu yake inaadhimishwa tarehe 17 Januari^[2] au 31 Januari kila mwaka.

Maisha yake yalisimuliwa na Atanasi wa Aleksandria katika kitabu maarufu kilichochangia sana uenezi wa umonaki hadi Ulaya pia kwa kupitia tafsiri ya Kilatini Vita Antonii.

Maisha ya Antoni yanajulikana hasa kupitia kitabu hicho kilichotolewa mwaka 357 na kuenea haraka sana.

Katiba kitabu hicho vinatiwa mkazo vishawishi mbalimbali ambavyo vilimpata Antoni jangwani, na ambavyo alivishinda kwa kupokea shauri la wakaapweke waliomtangulia.

Antoni anafahamika pia kupitia kitabu Vita Sanctii Pauli primi eremitae kilichoandikwa na Jeromu mwaka 375 hivi. Humo anasimulia walivyokutana kwenye Tebais Antoni na mzee Paulo wa Tebe, maarufu kama "mkaapweke wa kwanza".

Antoni alizaliwa huko Qumans; wazazi wake walikuwa Wakristo wakulima wenye mashamba mengi. Kabla ya kufikia umri wa miaka 20 alifiwa na wote wawili, akapaswa kushughulikia mali ya urithi na dada mdogo.

Lakini mapema aliguswa na neno la Injili (Mt 19:21) ambalo Yesu alimhimiza kijana tajiri awagawie maskini mali zake zote akamfuate.

Kwa awamu mbili Antoni alitekeleza agizo hilo akamkabidhi dada yake kwa jumuia ya watawa wanawake, akaenda kuishi kwa sala na kazi, useja na ufukara jangwani, si mbali na kijiji chake.

Baadaye alikwenda kuishi mbali zaidi, kwanza katika pango lililochimbwa mwambani, halafu karibu na Bahari ya Shamu kwenye mlima Pispir, palipokuwa na ngome ya kale ya Warumi na chemchemi ya maji.

Kuanzia hapo (285) kwa miaka 20 aliishi huko, akila tu mkate alioletewa mara mbili kwa mwaka.

Maisha yake yote akazidi kumtafuta Mungu tu mahali pa upweke kamili zaidi pamoja na kubandukana na mambo yote moyoni.

Kisha kukimbia ulimwengu na vishawishi vyake, alikabili ukosefu wake mwenyewe na shetani katika mapambano yaliyodai silaha za hakika, yaani imani, sala, mfungo na ishara ya msalaba.

Mfano wake ulivuta wanaume na wanawake wengi toka sehemu mbalimbali aliowaongoza bila kuacha upweke wake, isipokuwa kwa kutetea imani sahihi na umoja wa Kanisa ilivyodaiwa na upendo.

Ni kwamba taratibu wengi walipenda kumkaribia, na ndipo alipoanza kutenda miujiza mingi na kuongoza kiroho wamonaki kadhaa pande mbili za mto Naili.

Mwaka 311, wakati wa dhuluma ya Kaisari Dioklesyano, Antoni alirudi Aleksandria ili kutegemeza imani ya Wakristo.

Mwenyewe hakudhulumiwa, pia kwa sababu ya barua ya kumtetea ambayo rafiki yake Atanasi alimuandikia Kaisari Konstantino Mkuu.

Baada ya amani kurudi, ingawa Antoni aliendelea kuwasiliana na Atanasi na kumsaidia kupambana na uzushi wa Ario, aliishi katika jangwa la Tebais, alipofariki tarehe 17 Januari 357, akiwa na umri wa miaka zaidi ya mia.

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  Pisanello, Bikira Maria kati ya watakatifu Antoni Abati na Joji, 1445 hivi, National Gallery ya London (Uingereza).
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  Piero di Cosimo, Maonano pamoja na Mt. Nikola na Mt. Antoni abati, 1490 hivi, National Gallery of Art, Washington (Marekani).
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  Sassetta, Mt. Antoni abati na Mt. Paulo Mkaapweke, 1440 hivi, National Gallery of Art, Washington.
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  Diego Velázquez, Mt. Antoni abati na Mt. Paulo Mkaapweke, 1635 hivi, Museo del Prado, Madrid (Hispania).
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  Hieronymus Bosch, Vishawishi ya Mt. Antoni, 1505 hivi, Museu Nacional de Arte Antigua. Lisboa (Ureno).
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  Matthias Grünewald, Vishawishi ya Mt. Antoni, 1515-20, Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar.
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  David Tenier Kijana, Vishawishi ya Mt. Antoni, Museo del Prado, Madrid.
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  Paul Cézanne, Vishawishi ya Mt. Antoni, 1875 hivi, E. G. Bührle Collection (Uswisi).

• [1] Archived 11 Februari 2009 at the Wayback Machine. "Hotuba juu ya Mashetani"
• [2] Archived 7 Februari 2009 at the Wayback Machine. "Barua kwa Theodoro"

• Watakatifu wa Agano la Kale
• Orodha ya Watakatifu Wakristo
• Orodha ya Watakatifu wa Afrika
• Orodha ya Watakatifu Wafransisko
• Mababu wa jangwani

• Misemo ya Mababa wa Jangwani (Apophthegmata Patrum) – tafsiri ya W. Ngowi, O.F.M.Cap. – ed. Salvatorianum – Morogoro 2000 –ISBN 0-264-66350-0

• The Greek Vita of Athanasius. Ed. by G. J. M. Bartelink ('Vie d'Antoine'). Paris 2000. Sources Chrétiennes 400.
• The almost contemporary Latin translation: in Heribert Rosweyd, Vitae Patrum (Migne, Patrologia Latina. lxxiii.). New critical edition and study of this Latin translation: P.H.E. Bertrand, Die Evagriusübersetzung der Vita Antonii: Rezeption - Überlieferung - Edition. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Vitas Patrum-Tradition. Utrecht 2005 (dissertation) free available: [3]
• Accounts of St Anthony are given by Cardinal Newman ("Church of the Fathers" in Historical Sketches) and Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints (under Jan. 17).
• Burns, Paul, ed. Butler's Lives of the Saints: New Full Edition Januari vol. Collegeville, MN:The Liturgical Press. ISBN 0-8146-2377-8.
• A Hagiographic Account of the life of St. Anthony from the Coptic Church Archived 14 Aprili 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
• Athanasius, Saint (1892). "The Life of Saint Antony". Katika Schaff, Phillip; Wace, Henry (whr.). Athanasius: Select Works and Letters. New York: C. Scribner's Sons.
• E. C. Butler, (1898, 1904). Lausiac History of Palladius, Part I. pp. 197, 215-228; Part II. pp. ix.-xii. (See Palladius of Galatia).
• P.H.E. Bertrand, Die Evagriusübersetzung der Vita Antonii: Rezeption - Überlieferung - Edition. Unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Vitas Patrum-Tradition. Utrecht 2005. [dissertation] [free available: [4]
• Catholic Encyclopedia 1908: "St. Anthony the Great"
• Coptic Monastery of St Anthony the Great website Archived 5 Januari 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
• Barnes, T.D. 1986. Angel of Light or Mystic Initiate? The Problem of the Life of Antony in Journal of Theological Studies 37: 353-68.
• Chadwick, Henry (1993). The Early Church (tol. la Rev. ed.). London: Penguin Books. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
• Dragas George Dion 2005. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria: Original Research and New Perspectives. Rollinsford: Orthodox Research Institute.
• Endsjø, Dag Øistein 2008. Primordial landscapes, incorruptible bodies. Desert asceticism and the Christian appropriation of Greek ideas on geography, bodies, and immortality. New York: Peter Lang 2008.
• Fülöp-Miller, René (1945). Gode, Alexander; Fülöp-Miller, Erika (whr.). The Saints That Moved the World, Anthony, Augustine, Francis, Ignatius, Theresa. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
• Kelsey, Neal 1992. The Body as Desert in The Life of St. Anthony in Semeia 57: 131-51.
• Louth, Andrew 1988. “St. Athanasius and the Greek Life of Antony” in Journal of Theological Studies 39: 504-9.
• Nigg, Walter (1959). Ilford, Mary (mhr.). Warriors of God: The Great Religious Orders and Their Founders. London: Seeker and Warbmg.
• Pettersen, Alvyn 1989. “Athanasius' Presentation of Antony of the Desert's Admiration for his Body” in Studia Patristica 21: 438-47.
• Queffelec, Henri (1954). Whitall, James (mhr.). Saint Anthony of the Desert. New York: E. P. Dutton.
• Reitzenstein, Richard 1914. Des Athanasius Werk über das Leben des Antonius: Ein philologischer Beitrag zur Geschichte des Mönchtums. *Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akad. der Wissenschaften.
• Roldanus J. 1993. “Origène, Antoine et Athanase: Leur interconnexion dans la Vie et les Lettres” in Studia Patristica 26: 389-414.
• Rubenson, Samuel (1995). The Letters of St. Antony: Monasticism and the Making of a Saint. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
• Waddell, Helen (1936). The Desert Fathers. New York: Henry Holt.
• Ward, Maisie (1959). Saints Who Made History: The First Five Centuries. New York: Sheed and Ward.
• Williams, Michael A. 1982. “The Life of Antony and the Domestication of Charismatic Wisdom” in Journal of the American Academy of Religion Studies 48: 23-45.
• White, Carolinne (1998). Early Christian Lives. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-043526-9.

Tafsiri ya Kiingereza ya Vita Antonii iliyoandikwa na Atanasi.

Wikimedia Commons ina media kuhusu:

Antoni Abati

•  "St. Anthony, Abbot". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913.
• Video of church historian Andrew Walls who tells the story of Anthony Archived 31 Mei 2010 at the Wayback Machine.
• Venerable and God-bearing Father Anthony the Great Orthodox icon and synaxarion
• Coptic vita of St. Anthony the Great
• St. Anthony Abbot page Archived 22 Desemba 2011 at the Wayback Machine. at Christian Iconography
• "Of the Life of St. Anthony" in the Caxton translation of the Golden Legend
• [5] Archived 25 Septemba 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Athanasi wa Aleksandria, Maisha ya Antoni