Rev. Anthony was born in 1067 in Rome, in a family of noble and wealthy citizens who held an Orthodox confession. Since childhood, he was raised by parents in the Christian piety and devotion to the Holy Church.
In his youth, Rev. Anthony, as a result of the constant debate about faith and the desire of the Roman Paps to turn the Orthodox into Latinism, studied the theology of the Eastern Church and the creation of the holy fathers. Having lost his parents, St. Anthony decided to accept monasticism and leave Rome. He was 17 years old.
Having distributed one part of the rich inheritance to the poor, and put the other in a barrel and threw it into the sea, he completely betrayed himself to the will of God and went into a journey through the cloisters, where Orthodox monks labored.
The persecution of the Orthodox by the Latins forced the brethren to leave the monastery. St. Anthony wandered, moving from place to place, until he found a large stone on the deserted seashore, on which he lived for a whole year in fasting and prayer. The terrible storm that broke out on September 5, 1105, tore off the stone on which the holy ascetic stood from the shore, and carried far into the sea abyss.
Staying in deep prayer, Rev. Anthony was not afraid, but completely betrayed himself to God. The stone miraculously carried through the waters. Crossing the sea, he entered the mouth of the river and on the eve of the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary stopped on the banks of the Volkhov River near the village of Volkhov, three miles from Novgorod. This event is witnessed in the Novgorod annals.
In the morning of Rev. Anthony, the surrounding inhabitants were surprised to find. They were amazed at the wonderful alien who did not dare to get off his stone, which became his house and solid, tested among the storms.
Not knowing the Russian language, St. Anthony answered all questions with bows. For three days the saint prayed on the stone and asked God to open to him in which country he was in. Then he went to Novgorod, where, according to the Washing of God, he met a man of foreign merchants who knew Latin, Greek and Russian. From him, Rev. Anthony learned that he was brought to the Russian land.