Father Lazarus El Anthony (Arabic: لعازر الانطوني; Coptic: ⲗⲁⲍⲁⲣ Ⲁⲛⲧⲱⲛⲓ; Syriac: ܠܥܙܪ ܐܢܛܘܢܝܣ) is an Australian-Egyptian Coptic Orthodox Christian contemplative monk and hermit. He has appeared in various documentaries, most notably the BBC series Extreme Pilgrim.
Lazarus El Anthony | |
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Born | |
Occupation | Anchorite |
Church | Serbian Orthodox Church (until 1994) Coptic Orthodox Church |
Fr. Lazarus has been the primary subject of two documentary films, The Last Anchorite, which took Best Documentary Transmitter Award winner at the Crystal Palace International Film Festival 2010, and Desert Foreigners, released in 2018. In addition, there are numerous short videos arranged in several series of videos on the Coptic Youth Channel on YouTube.
Biography
editLazarus El Anthony was born into a Protestant Christian family in Tasmania, Australia, where he attended Methodist and Roman Catholic church services as a child. He became an atheist when he was a teenager.[1][2] He taught philosophy at a university in Tasmania. After his mother died he had become a monk at the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Australia and at Mount Athos in Greece.[3] After he met Pope Shenouda III, Lazarus El Anthony moved to Egypt to become a hermit on Mount Colzim near the Monastery of Saint Anthony in Red Sea Governorate, eastern Egypt. There, he currently lives an ascetic life in the footsteps of Saint Anthony the Great and the other Desert Fathers.
Media
editLazarus El Anthony has been extensively interviewed on the Coptic Youth Channel.[4] He has also been featured in a full-length episode of the BBC's Extreme Pilgrim,[5] and in The Last Anchorite,[6] a documentary film by filmmaker Remigiusz Sowa.[7] Another documentary film about Lazarus El Anthony is Desert Foreigners.[8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "To the cell for you!". Vox. 2019-06-21. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
- ^ "There Must Be More Than This! - Fr. Lazarus St. Anthony". Coptic Orthodox Answers. 2019-12-06. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
- ^ My Life in Christ by Fr. Lazarus El Antony. VK.
- ^ "Fr Lazarus El Anthony Monk's Life". Orthodox Heaven. 2018-09-03. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
- ^ BBC Extreme Pilgrim.
- ^ "The Last Anchorite featuring Fr. Lazarus St. Anthony". Vimeo. 2021-07-07. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
- ^ Ambrosino, Brandon (2014-11-09). "Why an Australian atheist philosopher moved to Egypt and became a Coptic monk". Vox. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
- ^ Desert Foreigners documentary film.