After the discovery of the ergotism epidemics (poisoning caused by ingesting the fungal toxin of rye) and its etiology, eighteenth-century physicians interpreted medieval chronicles in their medical texts in order to recognize the occurrences of ergotic diseases through retrospective diagnosis. They assumed that St. Anthony's fire and ignis sacer ("sacred fire") recorded in medieval texts represented the same disease, ergotism. This interpretative method, lacking a textual basis in the sources, has been incorrectly followed by historians till now. This book examines this historical prejudice through textual analysis, comparing diverse medieval and early modern sources. A striking semantic complexity emerges that changes the concept of St. Anthony's fire and modifies our understanding of diseases in general. This research illuminates aspects of the history of medicine, society, and hospitals.

The biographic text of St. Anthony is presented complete in this edition for the reader's absorption and contemplation. First published in the 4th century A.D., Anthony the Great's biography was authored by Christian Saint Athanasius of Alexandria. Since its release, the book has helped spread the beliefs, practices and arduous faith of Anthony the Great. A significant progenitor of the monastic tradition, Saint Anthony lived an ascetic lifestyle in the arid lands of Egypt. Although not the earliest of religious figures committed to this tradition, through actions and preaching Anthony helped popularise and spread principles that would contribute heavily to the establishment of Christian monasteries in Europe and beyond. One event in St. Anthony's life was his encounter with the supernatural in the remote Egyptian desert. This occurrence, where the otherworldly presence tried to tempt him from his spartan philosophy of living, is much recreated in Western art and literature.

From an exciting new master of fantasy comes the second novel of an epic tale filled with dangerous magic, dark mystery, and unrelenting suspense The Keep Of Fire Travis Wilder has returned from the otherworld of Eldh, hoping to settle back into his humdrum life in the mountains of contemporary Colorado. But he soon finds himself stalked by two shadowy organizations, each aware of his incredible journey and each determined to exploit it--whatever the cost to Travis...or to Eldh. Meanwhile, a terrifying new contagion is spreading like wildfire, a disease with no cure, which some are comparing to the Black Plague. When the disease strikes his closest friend, Travis is drawn back to Eldh, where the same epidemic, known as the Burning Plague, is wreaking another kind of havoc. There, in a realm of gods and monsters, myths and runecraft, Travis and his former companion Grace Beckett--herself from Earth, but now living on Eldh--must solve the riddle of the plague. Where did it come from? What is its purpose? And how can it possibly be stopped...before it completely destroys two coexisting worlds: ancient Eldh and modern Earth.

The most important document of early monasticism, written in 357, this is a biography of the recognized founder and father of monasticism. +

The book reproduces the cleaned paintings for the first time. It also describes and analyzes their amalgam of Coptic (Egyptian Christian), Byzantine, and Arab styles and motifs as well as the religious culture to which they belong. In 1996, funded by the United States Agency for International Development and at the request of the Monastery of St. Antony, the Antiquities Development Project of the American Research Center in Egypt began the conservation of the paintings in the church. The paintings revealed by the conservators are of extremely high quality, both stylistically and conceptually. While rooted in the Christian tradition of Egypt, they also reveal explicit connections with Byzantine and Islamic art of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Some newly discovered paintings can even be dated back to the sixth or seventh century.

The story of Saint Anthony of Padua, known as the saint of miracles, because of the amazing things God did through him.