A.M. GORKY INSTITUTE OF WORLD LITERATURE
Issues
The Life of St. Anthony the Great by Athanasius of Alexandria. Some Thoughts on Genre
- DOI:
- EDN:
- УДК / UDK: 821.161.1.0
- Publication Type: Research Article
- Received: 26.09.2025
- Approved after reviewing: 16.06.2026
- Date of publication: 25.09.2026
- Issue:
no. 3 (41), 2026
- Abstract:
The paper discusses the genre issue of the “Life of St. Anthony” written by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria. This Life served as a model for other Byzantine lives of saints; its genre definition is therefore of great importance for analyzing the literary form of the later works of Byzantine hagiography. However, scholars disagree on this problem. Some believe that the Life is an unsettled literary form drawing on various literary models, while others argue that it continues the traditions of classical Greek biography. A study of the “Life of St. Anthony” in the context of the development of classical Greek biography provides a key to understanding its genre origin. Comparing the “Life of St. Anthony” with such biographies as Porphyry’s “Life of Pythagoras” and Iamblichus’s “On the Pythagorean Life,” the author of the paper concludes that the “Life of St. Anthony” belongs to the context of late ancient biography. On the other hand, the Life differs from the works of Porphyry and Iamblichus in its use of biblical context, biblical imagery, and the dynamic nature of the hero’s image. The study concludes that the “Life of St. Anthony” is part of a larger literary tradition of classical biography, which absorbed new religious, cultural, and literary ideas and phenomena.
- Keywords: hagiography, genre, ancient biography, Byzantine hagiography, biblical context, biblical imagery, literary tradition
- For citation:
Balakhovskaya, A.S. “The Life of St. Anthony the Great by Athanasius of Alexandria. Some Thoughts on Genre.” Literaturnyi fakt, no. 3 (41), 2026, pp. 351–367. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2026-41-351-367
- References:
- Averintsev, S. Poetika rannevizantiiskoi literatury [Poetics of Early Byzantine Literature]. St. Petersburg, Azbuka-klassika Publ., 2004. 480 p. (In Russ.)
- Voitenko, A. Egipetskoe monashestvo v IV v. Zhitie prepodobnogo Antoniia Velikogo, Lavsaik, Istoriia monakhov [Egyptian Monasticism in the 4th Century. The Life of St. Anthony the Great, Lausiac History, History of the Monks]. Moscow, Center for Egyptological Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences Publ., 2012. 320 p. (In Russ.)
- Sravnitel’nye zhizneopisaniia v dvukh tomakh [Comparative Biographies: in 2 vols.], vol. 2. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1994. 674 p. (In Russ.)
- The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography, 1: Periods and Places, ed. by S. Efthymiadis. London, New York, Routledge Publ., 2011. 440 p. (In English)
- Athanase d’Alexandrie. Vie d’Antoine, , texte critique, traduction, notes, et index par G.J.M. Bartelink. Paris, Les éditions du Cerf Publ., 1994. 433 p. (In French)
- Brakke, “The Greek and Syriac Versions of the Life of Antony.” Le Muséon, no. 107, 1994, pp. 29–53. (In English)
- Momigliano, The Development of Greek Biography. Cambridge, Massachusetts, London, Harvard University Press, 1993. 143 p. (In English)
- Rubenson, “Antony and Pythagoras. A Reappraisal of the Appropriation of Classical Biography in Athanasius Vita Antonii.” Beyond Reception: Mutual Influences between Antique Religion, Judaism, and Early Christianity, ed. by D.D. Brakke, A.-C.L. Jacobsen, and J. Ulrich, Early Christianity in the Context of Antiquity 1. Frankfurt, Peter Lang Publ., 2006, pp. 191–208. (In English)
