The same one said: "No one can enter the kingdom of heaven without being tried. Take away the temptations," he said, "and no one will be saved.
The above apophthegm is one of the most surprising.
We are used to treating the temptations we experience as a problem, perhaps even as a challenge. And I suppose that if someone managed to free themselves from them, they would treat it as a cause for rejoicing.
But Anthony, miraculously, sees some value in temptation. Passing through it makes a person "tested".
What is at stake here?
As a desert monk, Anthony is aware that man will experience temptations, one of the most serious of which is the temptation to believe that one is self-sufficient. That, in fact, the Lord God is unnecessary for man. He also knows that giving in to such a temptation is an easy way of cutting oneself off from God's grace and, consequently, from salvation.
Anthony's understanding of temptation differs from ours above all because, unlike many of his contemporaries, he understands that the struggle against temptation is not his alone. If it is to be effective, it must be based on God. The experience of temptation is therefore for him a circumstance through which he can draw closer to God and experience God's mercy.
Looking for the strength to fight temptation not in himself but in God, Anthony can say that to take temptation away from people is to deprive them of salvation. For salvation is given by God. And temptation, in St Anthony's experience, was the factor that bound him more closely to God.
And perhaps this is the most important lesson to be learnt from this apophthegm: not to remain alone in the experience of temptation, but to turn to God.
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