it wasn’t his wisdom and eloquence that astounded people as much as his laser-like devotion to Christ. This devotion expressed itself in a way that was as impressive to his age (as well as to Christian Europe for another 1,000 years) as it is strange and off-putting to us today. The way is called asceticism, or originally, “the discipline,” and the institution it created is called monasticism. Although Antony is sometimes considered the founder of monasticism, he was not. But he put monasticism on