The saint was born in Rome in 1067 of wealthy parents, who adhered to the Orthodox confession of faith, and was brought up by them in piety. Having been deprived of his parents at seventeen years of age, he took up the study of the writings of the Fathers in the Greek language. Then he distributed part of his inheritance to the destitute, while he put the other part into a wooden barrel and released it into the sea. He himself accepted the tonsure in one of the desert scetes, where he lived for twenty years. Persecution on the part of the Latins against the Orthodox forced the brethren to disperse. Venerable Anthony wandered about, passing from place to place, until he found a large rock on a deserted seashore, on which he lived for a whole year in fasting and prayer. A terrible storm, which broke on 5 September 1105, tore off the rock on which Venerable Anthony was, and carried it into the sea.
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