Ajamila & St. Anthony, similar tale

[theist]

St. Anthony was an Egyptian Christian who sold his inherited riches, adopted a renounciant's life and lived in desert caves as an extreme ascetic in the 3rd century AD.

 

From Desert Father by James Cowan pg. 28.

 

The apocalyptic imagery of the temptations of Saint Anthony comes to us via Arthanasius, who gave us a detailed account of one of the saints experiences.

 

Once when he was about to eat, rising to pray about the ninth hour, he felt himself carried off in thought, and the wonder was that while standing there he saw himself, as if he were outside of himself, and as if he were being led through the air by certain beings. Next he saw some foul and terrible figures standing in the air, intent on holding him back so that he could not pass by. When his guides [protective spirits] accosted them, they [the demonic spirits] demanded to know the reason why he was not answerable to them. And when they asked for an account of his life from the time of his birth, Anthony's guides prevented it,saying, "The Lord has wiped clean the items dating from his birth, but from the time he became a monk, and devoted himself to God, you can take account." Then as they [the demons] levelled accusations and failed to prove them, a passage opened before him free and unobstructed. Just then he saw himself appear to come and stand with himself, and once more he was Anthony, as before.