A happy new year to you all! My festive break was somewhat extended into this past week so I am only now getting to write this blog post for the new year. How was your festive season? Are your memories of it packed away with the decorations or do you, like me, keep the celebration of Christmas and Epiphany in some form through until Candlemas? Perhaps it was the general greyness of January that persuaded me some years ago that keeping up at least some of the festive lights, together with the nativity, through until 3 February was a cheerful idea!
Yet January also holds the saint's day that is most important to me personally. In fact, during the course of the past week, I was offered one of the greatest gifts, if only for a moment. I received an email from our parish office asking whether I would be available to celebrate the Eucharist on Friday17 January. No matter that I am already on duty twice during the course of this coming week; my response was immediate and joyous. For this is the feast day of St Antony, the saint who has watched over my path through life from my earliest years, the saint whose name (by God's grace) one of our children shares, and the saint who called me to follow in his footsteps into the Egyptian desert. During my iconographer's training, on the first occasion that we were given the choice of saint for an icon, it was St Antony to whom I turned.
Born in the third century, St Antony of Egypt was the son of a rich landowner. As tradition has it, after having inherited great wealth at an early stage in his life, he heard a sermon on the rich young ruler as recounted in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 19. The young man asks Jesus how to obtain eternal life. When the young man asserts that he has already kept all the commandments, Jesus says to him:
‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ (Matthew 19.21)
St Antony, connecting his own situation with that of the rich, young man and trusting this was a direct call from God, immediately made provision for the care of his younger sister, gave away the remainder of his possessions, and set out from his home town into the Egyptian desert. After several years living in a small crypt on the outskirts of the town, he ventured further into the desert, eventually settling to live in a mountain cave near a natural spring. In time, others joined him in fleeing the established church in favour of a more ascetic lifestyle, as the communities that formed offered words of wisdom to those spiritual seekers who sought them out. St Antony is thus remembered as the 'Father of monasticism' and the most important of the 'Desert Fathers and Mothers', as they became known. I can heartily recommend reading the Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, as their words still speak truth directly into today's world, notwithstanding their ancient provenance.
A hunter in the desert saw Abba Antony enjoying himself with the brethren and he was shocked. Wanting to show him that it was necessary sometimes to meet the needs of the brethren, the old man said to him ‘Put an arrow in your bow and shoot it.’ So he did. The old man then said, ‘Shoot another,’ and he did so. Then the old man said, ‘Shoot yet again,’ and the hunter replied ‘If I bend my bow so much I will break it.’ Then the old man said to him, ‘It is the same with the work of God. If we stretch the brethren beyond measure they will soon break. Sometimes it is necessary to come down to meet their needs.’ When he heard these words the hunter was pierced by compunction and, greatly edified by the old man, he went away. As for the brethren, they went home strengthened.
From the 'Sayings of the Desert Fathers' (translated by Benedicta Ward)
The approach to St Antony's monastery, the route up the mountain, and St Antony's cave
St Antony's home town is now the bustling city of Beni Suef, some 100 kilometres south of Cairo, on the river Nile in the Fayum area. This area is particularly known for the 'Fayum portraits', whose style has influenced the development of iconography over the centuries. This fact I did not know when, in 2009, I spent a month in a Coptic Orthodox convent in Beni Suef and made my own pilgrimage to St Antony's monastery in the Red Sea directorate (and, separately, to St Catherine's Monastery at Mount Sinai). Without this journey, I know deeply that I would not be the priest that I am today (or perhaps even, a priest at all). In 2011, when I painted an auto-biographical triptych entitled 'Priesthood', the first panel is a representation of St Antony's cave in the desert and the time that I spent there. It is the foundation upon which so much of what has followed was built.
As it turns out, I am no longer needed to celebrate the Eucharist for the Feast of St Antony - just one of those things. That doesn't stop me enjoying this opportunity to reflect once again on the very significant part my time in Egypt has played in my spiritual journey. As we embark together on our journey through this new year, then, I wonder whether there are experiences or places that provide you with that sense of stability, that certainty that no matter what the future holds, you can still be secure in the memory of some other time or place when all was clearer. Each and every year, January affords me this opportunity to reflect and refocus on God's calling upon my life, with its unexpected blend of icons, desert experiences and stepping into the unfamiliar. I suppose that makes St Antony's cave my spiritual equivalent to the classic line from the film, Casablanca!
Most gracious God,
who called your servant Antony to sell all that he had
and to serve you in the solitude of the desert:
by his example may we learn to deny ourselves
and to love you before all things;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
POSTSCRIPT - It occurs to me that some of the themes in this reflection are similar to a previous blog post. I'm not going to apologise - this simply reinforces the truth that I am constantly reflecting on how my journey has been shaped by my Egyptian travels!
News
As seems to have become the pattern, when I last wrote I had just completed my latest commission, which was on its way to its new owner in Chicago. I admit to a certain measure of nervousness as the tracking information showed it stuck in transit in Germany for far longer than comfort allowed, but I am pleased to say that the icon of the Blessed Lancelot Andrewes did make it safely to its destination and in time for Christmas.
I was just beginning to settle into a more relaxed mode when an urgent commission came my way, so I am currently finishing my second icon of St John the Baptist to be sent next week, before I resume work on an icon of the Crucifixion (also a commission). I am feeling excited for the new year's commissions, which should take me well into the summer.  If you are interested in commissioning an icon, I am still taking bookings. Prices start from £195 and a 10% deposit will secure your place in my commissions book. Do get in touch if you have a project in mind.
I am also beginning to plan for the two workshops planned: one for Wantage parish, and the second in Iona Abbey as part of their St Columba week (see here for more details, though it is already fully booked, so you would need to join a waiting list for chance of a place). Besides this, I am also enjoying opportunities to exercise my priestly ministry in Cirencester parish and beyond, with the next semester of study at Oxford Brookes set to begin at the end of the month.
If you enjoy reading my blog and wish to support my ministry in a practical way, I have set up a page with "Buy me a coffee". This website, designed with creatives in mind, recognises that a whole load of my time goes into maintaining a website, keeping up with social media and writing blog posts, time that is not then available for income-generating work. Given that my passion for good coffee comes not very far behind my love for God and art (!), if you feel so inclined, you can click here to make a donation towards my ongoing ministry (but without any obligation to do so). Huge thanks to those of you who have bought me a coffee in previous months - please don't feel you have to every time!
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