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The devil, knowing that St. Anthony was a very holy man and close to God, threw everything he had against him. If the devil couldn’t turn Anthony away from God through the riches of the world, he would try to attack him both physically and spiritually. St. Athanasius records several of these encounters in his Life of St. Anthony.
After failing to tempt him with the lure of wealth, the devil “attacked the young man, disturbing him by night and harassing him by day, so that even the onlookers saw the struggle which was going on between them.” After each temptation, however, St. Anthony would “fortify his body with faith, prayers, and fasting.”