One day, blessed Anthony was praying in his cell, and a voice came to him: “Antony, you have not yet come to the measure of the tanner who lives in Alexandria.” Hearing this, the elder got up early in the morning and, taking his staff, hastily went to Alexandria. When he came to the husband indicated to him, this husband was extremely surprised to see Anthony there. The elder said to the tanner: “Tell me your deeds, because for you I came here, leaving the desert.” The tanner answered: “I don’t know for myself that I would ever do anything good; for this reason, getting up early from my bed before I go to work, I say to myself: all the inhabitants of this city, from large to small, will enter the Kingdom of God for their virtues, and I alone will go into eternal torment for my sins. I repeat these same words in my heart before I go to bed.” Hearing this, blessed Anthony answered: “Truly, my son, you, like a skilled jeweler, sitting calmly in your house, acquired the Kingdom of God; although I spend my whole life in the desert, I have not acquired spiritual intelligence, I have not achieved the measure of consciousness that you express in your words.” Source: Ignatiy Brianchaninov "Fatherland".
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru