Anthony was a historical Egyptian Christian born circa 12 January 251 in Koma (Qimn El-Arouse). After selling his goods and giving alms he withdrew to the desert c. AD 270, living first in tombs near his native village, then in desert sites such as the Nitrian Desert and the mountain called Pispir. His life was written up by Athanasius c. 360 in the Life of Anthony, a hagiographical biography that circulated in Greek and Latin and established him as a model for later monasticism. (Sources treat these facts as historical and hagiographical rather than as a mythic origin.)
The supplied sources provide few consistent physical details. Anthony is portrayed as an austere ascetic who lived in desert locales, in tombs and later in an abandoned Roman fort or on the mountain Pispir; later artistic traditions portray his trials (e.g., The Temptation of Saint Anthony) and often show him in ragged ascetic garb, but the primary accounts emphasize his holiness and illiteracy rather than precise bodily description. Sources note his habitation in the wilderness and austere regimen rather than attributes such as height or hair. (Athanasius; Coptic Synaxarium; modern summaries.)
The sources describe Anthony's spiritual disciplines and roles rather than ascribing them literal supernatural powers. Reported features include extreme ascetic practices (selling possessions, strict diet of bread, salt, and water; fasting), prolonged solitude in the desert, endurance of demonic temptations and visions (described by Athanasius as assaults of boredom, laziness, sexual phantoms, and beasts), and later pastoral leadership as disciples gathered around him. Athanasius presents prayer, vigilance, and ascetic endurance as the means by which Anthony resisted the devil; his letters and counsel functioned as guidance for others. The sources treat miraculous and visionary elements within a hagiographical framework.
Weaknesses
- conditionhuman mortality and susceptibility to hagiographic interpretation
Wards
- ritualprayer and ascetic vigilance
- conditionpoverty, fasting, solitude (ascetic disciplines)
Brahmarakshas
The most learned and terrible of spirits — the ghost of a Brahmin who misused his scriptural knowledge in life and was condemned after death to be both demon and scholar, haunting places of learning.
Djinn
The class of supernatural beings created from smokeless fire in Islamic cosmology — a parallel civilization to humanity, capable of belief or unbelief, with their own prophets, society, and judgment before God.
Shaitan
A class of corrupted djinn who follow Iblis and dedicate themselves to leading humans astray — distinct from Iblis himself, the Shayatin are a species of evil djinn who whisper doubts and temptations into the minds of the living.
Pishacha
Flesh-eating spirits of Hindu mythology that haunt cremation grounds and are associated with disease, madness, and possession. The lowest class of demon in the Vedic hierarchy.
Pishacha-graha
The possessing variety of pishacha described in classical Ayurvedic and tantric texts — a grasping spirit (graha) that seizes the body of a victim, producing symptoms of madness and compulsion.
Mormo
A Greek child-eating bogeywoman used to frighten children into obedience, sometimes depicted as a shape-shifting female phantom who bit naughty children.
Gello
A child-strangling demoness of Greek and Byzantine tradition, the spirit of a young woman who died before marriage, now preying on pregnant women and newborns.
Erinyes
The three avenging Furies of Greek myth — Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone — who pursued and tormented those guilty of crimes against blood kin, especially murder of family members.
Lemures
The malevolent restless dead of Roman religion — spirits of those who died without proper burial or with unresolved grievances, haunting their former homes until appeased.
Lamia
In ancient Greek mythology, Lamia is described as a child-eating monster who, in later tradition, came to be regarded as a type of night-haunting spirit or 'daimon'. The supplied sources do not provide a full physical description or detailed mythic genealogy, and some modern fictional portrayals recast her with serpentine features which are not attested in the provided classical summary.
Abaddon
In Hebrew scripture Abaddon is primarily a noun meaning 'destruction' or a section/condition of the underworld paired with Sheol; in the New Testament Book of Revelation Abaddon is personified as an angelic figure (Greek Apollyon) described as the king of an army of locusts released from the abyss during the apocalypse.
Abadir
Abadir is a polysemous name attested in distinct cultural contexts: a legendary founding saint and clan ancestor in eastern Ethiopia (Sheikh Abadir Umar Al‑Rida / Aw Abadir), a term applied to cone‑shaped cult stones in Phoenician religious description, and a personal name of a martyr (Abadir/Apater) in the Coptic Synaxarium. The attestations are independent usages of the same name rather than a single supernatural being.
Abadiu of Antinoe
Abadiu of Antinoe was a fourth‑century bishop of Antinoe (Antinoopolis, in Roman Egypt) commemorated as a martyr and saint in the Coptic Orthodox Church, with a feast day on 26 December. Sources record that he was killed during a theological dispute with Arian opponents and reference him in collections of Egyptian martyrs.
Abagtha
Abagtha (Hebrew: אבגתא, ’Ǎḇaḡṯā) is a named human court official in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Esther, listed among seven chamberlains who ministered before King Ahasuerus and were commanded to bring Queen Vashti before the king. He is attested only in Esther 1:10 and is presented as an institutional palace attendant rather than a supernatural being.
Abanoub
Abanoub is a 4th‑century Egyptian Christian child martyr venerated in the Coptic tradition. Remembered for his public confession of Christ, miraculous healings associated with his passion, and the translation and veneration of his relics, his feast is observed on July 31 (Epip 24) and his cult centers include Nehisa and Samanoud.
Abaskhiron the Soldier
A Coptic Orthodox martyr venerated for refusing imperial idolatry during the Diocletian persecution; reputedly healed by the Archangel Michael, preserved in monastery relics, and commemorated on 14 June (7 Paoni).
Abdel Messih El-Makari
Abdel Messih El-Makari (1892–1963) was a Coptic Orthodox monk and priest venerated as a 20th‑century Coptic saint. Associated with the Monastery of Saint Samuel the Confessor and the Monastery of Saint Macarius (Scetes/Wadi El‑Natrun), he is remembered for humility, asceticism, charity, and reported spiritual gifts such as prescience, discerning of spirits, and healing.
Abel
Abel is the second son of Adam and Eve in the Genesis narrative, a shepherd whose accepted offering and subsequent murder by his brother Cain form the biblical account of the first death. Later interpretive traditions expand his role, treating him as an archetypal righteous victim, a postmortem avenging or adjudicating figure, and in some systems (notably Mandaean) identifying him with an angelic lightbeing.
Abib and Apollo
Abib and Apollo are Christian ascetics and hagiographic saints of Akhmim (Upper Egypt) attested in Coptic sources and the Historia Monachorum. Remembered for extreme asceticism, monastic leadership, angelic encounters, and inclusion in the Coptic Synaxarion (feast day November 4).
Abiel
Abiel is attested in the supplied sources only as a male given name — borne by several historical American individuals and listed as two minor biblical figures. The provided materials contain no evidence presenting Abiel as a supernatural, mythological, or folkloric entity.
Abijah of Judah
Abijah (also Abijam or Abiah) is presented in the biblical and later interpretive traditions as a short-reigning human king of Judah from the Davidic line. He is portrayed as a dynastic successor whose military actions (notably the battle at Mount Zemaraim) and moral evaluation in rabbinic literature are interpreted theologically in relation to the Davidic covenant.
Abimelech
Abimelech is a Hebrew personal name and occasionally a regnal title attested in the Hebrew Bible and later traditions. It appears as the name/title of Philistine rulers in the patriarchal narratives (the "king of Gerar" who interacts with Abraham and Isaac) and as the personal name of Abimelech son of Jerubbaal (Gideon) in Judges, a dynastic usurper whose brief rule ends in violent death.
Community Record
- [1]Anthony the Great — Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 'Anthony the Great' (summary of biographical data, ascetic practices, and influence).wiki
- [2]Wikidata: Anthony the Great. Wikidata entry for Anthony the Great (identifiers and basic metadata).other
- [3]Synaxarium Toba 22: St. Anthony the Great (Antonius). Coptic Synaxarium entry (commemoration Tobi 22; note giving year of death as 355 A.D. in that source).literary
- [4]Athanasius, Life of Anthony (summary in secondary sources). Athanasius's Life of Anthony (c. 360) as summarized in modern references: central hagiographical account reporting desert withdrawal, temptations by the devil, ascetic regimen, and influence on monasticism.literary
- [5]Gospel in Art: Feast of Saint Anthony the Great | ICN. Coverage of liturgical commemoration and artistic motifs (e.g., 'The Temptation of Saint Anthony').other