www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life Scripture and Patristic Writings Saint Anthony and the Cobbler

Olivier Clement, in his book On Human Being, recalls an incident from the life of St. Anthony where he is taken to a cobbler in Alexandria to show Anthony a holiness greater than his own. The cobbler spent all day looking at passers-by and praying "May they all be saved. I deserve damnation." (The anecdote is on page 151 of the English translation of Clement's book.

Does anyone know the original source for this story? It is not in Athanasios' Life.

Thank you

It sounds to me like something I have read recently in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. Try that as a source.

http://www.cistercianpublications.org/Detail.aspx?ISBN=0879079592

Thank you for this suggestion. I took a look and the anecdote about the cobbler is not there. There is a brief anecdote about a holy man in the city, but this man is a doctor and not a cobbler.

I believe I found it. The story is actually from a sermon by the Protestant Bishop of Worchester, Hugh Latimer, and taken from a book on English Spirituality which can be found on Google books:

http://books.google.com/books?id=kc...desert%20and%20the%20cobbler&f=false