St. Athanasius Presentation BEGIN with ST. John s Prologue Emphasize the centrality of the Incarnation in our faith. If Jesus is not God and did not become incarnate to dwell among us and deliver us from sin, then Christianity from its inception has been a lie and the faith passed onto from the Apostles is tainted and we need to present a radically different vision of who Jesus Christ is. The question remains: Is Jesus God or is he the greatest of all created being, was there a time in which the son was not? Is Jesus truly God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, or is the faith we have professed for centuries defective and even heretical? This was above all else the question that would shape St. Athanasius life as a bishop and theologian, and it was for this truth that Athanasius was willing to suffer defamation and exile to uphold the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic faith. It is little wonder that the renowned sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini placed a statue of St. Athanasius next to St. Augustine. St. Ambrose and St. John Chrysostom to surround the Chair of St. Peter which stands at the apse of St. Peter s Basilica. He is held up as one of the greatest doctors of the Church and thanks to his passionate love for Christ and Church, our faith has remained and has been past on us free of error. St. Athanasius was born 296-8 In Alexandria, Egypt. At the time of his birth this great Egyptian port city was renowned for its philosophical schools, it was very much the Oxford or Sorbonne for the ancient world and since Christianity had arrived in Egypt (tradition is through the teaching and ministry of St. Mark, the scribe of St. Peter and author of the gospel bearing his name), Alexandria was renowned for taking the Scriptures and marrying them to the philosophies of the ancient world, most notably Plato and Aristotle, creating a rich academic Christian culture and showing the complementarity between the study of philosophy and theology. It was famous for its Catechetical Academy and boasted among its ranks great Church Father like Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others (including the philosopher and martyr Catherine of Alexandria who was renowned in the medieval times and during the reign of Pope John Paul II had her feast day re- established after it was removed after the liturgical changes of Vatican II). While still under the rule of the Roman Empire, Christianity flourished in Alexandria though persecutions did create many martyrs, notably under the persecutions of Diocletian up until the time of Constantine (often known as the 10 th or last great persecution of the Christians under pagan Rome). It was many of these martyrs who would be the teachers of Athanasius, leaving an impression on him as to what it means to suffer for faith in Christ and fidelity to the Church, to take up your cross daily to follow him.
This was the world Athanasius grew up in and from what we can tell he was blessed to receive an excellent education, and showed a brilliance in the study of philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, theology and the holy scriptures and other secular topics that were the staple curriculum of aspiring scholars in those times. An ancient tradition from the Church in Alexandria suggests that the bishop of the City, Alexander, had prepared Athanasius for his career in the Church after the following took place: The bishop, so the tale runs, had invited a number of brother prelates to meet him at breakfast after a great religious function on the anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Peter, a recent predecessor in the See of Alexandria. While Alexander was waiting for his guests to arrive, he stood by a window, watching a group of boys at play on the seashore below the house. He had not observed them long before he discovered that they were imitating, evidently with no thought of irreverence, the elaborate ritual of Christian baptism. He therefore sent for the children and had them brought into his presence. In the investigation that followed it was discovered that one of the boys, who was no other than Athanasius, had acted the part of the bishop, and in that character had actually baptized several of his companions in the course of their play. Alexander, who seems to have been unaccountably puzzled over the answers he received to his inquiries, determined to recognize the make- believe baptisms as genuine; and decided that Athanasius and his playfellows should go into training in order to fit themselves for a clerical career. Whether this event actually took place is disputed by historians but we do know that from a young age Athanasius was being prepared for Holy Orders and seen as a possible successor as the Bishop of Alexandria. He was eventually ordained a deacon and became the personal secretary of Bishop Alexander. Athanasius also began to visit and learn from the Egyptian desert fathers. These were men who had fled the world to live a life of solitude, fasting, prayer and penance in the harsh Egyptian desert. They soon became spiritual guides that Christians who seek out for advice and growth in the spiritual life. Among the most renowned was St. Antony of whom Athanasius would write a biography that continues to be the authoritative biography of his life. Traditions states that when St. Antony died he gave one of his two sheepskin cloaks, the only clothing he owned, to one of his monks that in turn gave to Athanasius once we became the bishop of Alexandria. Upon becoming a deacon in 319, Athanasius published his first two writings on the topic of the Incarnation. He wrote them in opposition to gentile and Jewish critics of Christianity but within this text you begin to see Athanasius love for Christ as the eternal son of the Father who willing came down from heaven to become a little child, to teach us, suffer for us, die for us, rise from the dead and remain with us always until his Return in glory! De Incaratione: The Word of God was made man so that we might be made God: and he manifested himself through a body so that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father;
and he endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality. This is why Jesus is Emmanuel (God- With- Us)! De Incarnatione: The development of his arguments and teaching can be summarized into four parts: the premise of Christ s eternal place with God the Father; the fall of humanity from grace and it s results; that it would take the sacrifice of Christ to save all people from death, and how He would achieve this victory and continue to preserve us through the sacraments and prayer of the Church. Athanasius showed the fruits of the Incarnation which the human family share as a result of Christ s triumph to counteract Satan s great triumph: to turn us in one ourselves, to say yes God is above and our God and King, but the focus is on this life and its concerns, really a shift from looking to eternal life and focusing now only on this life that ends with death.ot understanding of life after death. Why Jesus becomes incarnate: [Jesus] took pity on our race and had mercy on our infirmity, and condescended to our corruption, and, unable to bear that death should have the mastery- lest the creature should perish, and His Father s handiwork in men be spent for nought- He takes unto Himself a body, and that of no different sort from ours. Though he is God, he humbles himself to become man while remaining God, and to die the death of humanity. Why he must take on a body?:...while it was impossible for the Word to suffer death, being immortal and Son of the Father; to this end He takes to Himself a body capable of death, that it, by partaking of the Word Who is above all, might be worthy to die in the stead of all, and might, because of the Word which was come to dwell in it, remain incorruptible, and that thenceforth corruption might be stayed from all by the Grace of Resurrection... by offering His own temple for the life of all satisfied the debt by His death. If Christ did not became man while remaining forever God, he could not deliver us from our sins and our faith in him is vain! It is providential that Athanasius placed such importance on the truth of the incarnation as elsewhere another young priest was beginning to grow in popularity for a very different theological teaching. This priest was Arius. Born in Libya in North Africa, Arius eventually moved to Antioch to study theology and it was here that he was exposed to theological ideas that desired to maintain the unity of God and a strict monotheism that in no way suggested there could be any distinctions, separations and certainly persons in the Holy Trinity. The rejected the notion that Jesus and the Holy Spirit were equal to God the Father but suggested that Jesus was truly the greatest of all of God s creatures, but he was not coeternally with God the Father as his equal.
Arius is said to have declared that there was a time in which the Son was not. He denied that the Son is of one essence or substance with God; He is not consubstantial (homoousios) with the Father, and therefore not like Him, or equal in dignity, or co- eternal, or within the real sphere of Deity. The Logos which St. John exalts is an attribute, Reason, belonging to the Divine nature, not a person distinct from another, and therefore is a Son merely in figure of speech. For Arius, Jesus was created out of nothing by the Father. Arius was proposing a subtle but damning rejection of what scripture revealed about Jesus Christ. IN the Gospels he repeatedly called himself the Son of God, not as a figure of speech, but a bold declaration of being himself God manifest in the flesh. St. John s prologue speaks of him as the eternal Word, existing for all ages and abiding for all eternity, and the great I AM (uses the divine name for himself). St. Paul repeatedly spoke of his divinity, though he was in the form of God..JESUS CHRIST IS LORD (what does that means, each name). We know that the earliest Christians writers like St. Ignatius of Antioch spoke of Jesus Christ as God as did subsequent writers. There were always heretics who denied either the humanity of Christ or his divinity, but Arius was presenting a position that was subtle enough to win advocates who wanted to avoid any confusion over the notion of God as one in three divine persons as somehow undermining the oneness of God. Such was Arius and his followers popularity and influence that it fell to the Emperor Constantine to call for an Ecumenical Council at Nicaea is 323 to have the bishops of the Christian world to settle once and for all the question of who is Jesus Christ, is he truly both God and man, and what would that mean for those who upheld the mystery of the incarnation, so close to the heart of Athanasius??? Jesus that I know as my saviour cannot be less than God! Even though he was only a deacon, Athanasius quickly became the shining star of the Council of Nicaea. It was evident that there was great confusion among the bishops of the Church in their understanding of Christ and the Holy Trinity. Bishop Alexander went on the offensive against Arius who had the support of a number of bishops. The Emperor Constantine, himself only a catechumen and not trained in Theology, desired for the Council to settle matters quickly. It was not until Athanasius began to defend the truth of the incarnation and necessity of understanding that Jesus is God and coeternal with the Father (The Father and I are one), that support began to move in favour of Athanasius and the faith that has been passed down to us from the Apostles. Athanasius repeatedly called upon scripture and Tradition to defend the true faith against recent innovations from theologians like Arius. Slowly but surely more support for Arius dwindled and the bishops agreed that Christ is truly consubstantial with the Father, of the same divine substance of the Father, that Christ has always existed in his divinity, that he was not created by the Father, but is True God from True God.
Fr. Robert Barron in his Catholicism series noted that it is so very important for us Sunday after Sunday to recite the Nicene Creed. For 1700 years we have been testifying to our victory over the error of Arius which would have undermined our entire faith in Jesus Christ. CS Lewis had a great way of saying why faith in the Nicene Creed, notably in the divinity of Jesus Christ is absolutely essential to who we are as Christians: A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse... let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. This is not an optional belief for us as Catholics, we must proclaim and hold to be true what we recite in the Nicene Creed! Is it a moment of faith for you? Every word and phrase and expression was careful crafted with accuracy and careful consideration, they are not mere words to rattle of but a moment to stand before God in the midst of the Church and say Yes Lord I believe in communion with others who believe! CS Lewis again on the courage of Athanasius: We are proud that our own country (England) has more than once stood against the world. Athanasius did the same. He stood for the Trinitarian doctrine whole and undefiled, when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius- into one of those sensible synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended to- day and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen. It is his glory that he did not move with the times... This is so very important for us to appreciate in our own times, the temptation to update the faith to conform to the ethos and beliefs of a given time and culture. Athanasius could have caved for the sake of respecting others opinions on who they thought Christ to be. And in compromise our faith would have fallen in irrelevance as it does whenever someone tampers with it and try to make it palpable for the modern taste. My friends, our world is full of Arians! Even among Catholics there are simply too many Catholics who do not believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true Man. How much people complain that we now pray consubstantial with the Father, I don t understand this, its not relevant, use language I can understand! No, we say those words because they are the truth. And if people say well for me Jesus just a good man and was a great teacher, a champion of social justice, an advocate of the poor, someone who loved everybody and was persecuted by the religious leaders of his day, (of which he was all these things), but then say he is not God, he did no actually perform miracles except to teach people to share and get along, that he never rose from the dead, etc.that person has been seduced by the lies of Satan and we must correct them and bring them to the knowledge of the truth! And my friends we will suffer to defending our faith and upholding the traditions of our past. Because this is what happens to Athanasius after his courage to defend the faith at the
Council of Nicaea. The remainder of his life after Nicaea is commonly known as Athanasius Contra Mundi- Athanasius against the world! He become the bishop of Alexandria on May 9, 328, 5 years after Nicaea. Though the Council had formulated the Nicene Creed, the heresy of Arius was far from dead and was beginning to gain adherents especially in Asia Minor and Palestine and among the newly Christian Roman emperors. His first years as a bishop were peaceful ones where he spend much time visiting various parishes in Egypt and Libya, he made friends with many of the Desert Fathers, including the great St. Pachomius. But soon he got engaged in disputes with the Arians who were causing great trouble in the newly erected Byzantine empire (Rome East). Despite defeats at the Council Of Nicaea, Arianism continued to have a devoted following, notably among the Romans legions. This was in part for their desire to hold to a religion that differed from the general populace which adhered to the Catholic faith. We must appreciated that the Roman Empire at this time is very much a military state where the legions held power over the people. It is little surprise then that the Roman emperors also sympathized with the religious preferences of the Legion that could assure an emperor continued to rule or would be toppled. 1 st Exile (335-7, Trier, Germany): Athanasius Arian opponents, in an attempt to discredit him and depose him as bishop of Alexandria, accused him of 4 crimes: that he had not reached the canonical age at the time of his consecration; that he had imposed a linen tax upon the provinces; that his officers had, with his connivance and authority, profaned the Sacred Mysteries,and lastly that he had put someone to death and afterwards dismembered the body for purposes of magic. Athanasius left Alexandria to confront Constantine (who had also demanded that the excommunicated Arius be reinstated as a priest of Alexandria) and demand that he be even a just and fair trial, though rival bishops went ahead with the trial in his absence. The Emperor Constantine, himself more concerned with keeping unity in the Church than the theological controversies taking place and naively assuming they were of less importance for the unity of the Church, had Athanasius disposed of his see due to the charge about tax grain (the others were outlandish claims) and sent into exile in Trier, Germany where he was welcomed by the people and their bishop while his own flock in Alexandria remained loyal to their exiled bishop. Second Exile (339-346): When Constantine died, Athanasius was able to return to Alexandria. But soon after Constantius II renewed Athanasius banishment. He went to Rome and was greeted by the Pope. Meanwhile, Gregory of Cappadocia was made the bishop of Alexandria though the people remained loyal to Athanasius to whom he wrote letters, most notably during Easter. Pope Julius II in 341 had a synod in Rome in which he cleared Athanasius of any wrongdoing and demanded that he be re- instated as Bishop of Alexandria. It would not be until 345 when Gregory died that Athanasius was able to return
to Alexandria among throngs of praise and support from his people. For the next 10 years he was able to remain in his see, writing his famous Apology against the Arians and providing for the spiritual needs of his people. But trouble was again brewing during the time of Pope Liberius (the first pope since St Peter to not be considered a saint). Though he did not deny the Nicene creed, he was forced while in exile to sign compromising documents that omitted the phrase consubstantial with the Father, leading to Arians to grow in power in both the eastern and roman empires. Athanasius was no longer safe and Feb 8, 356, while he was offering prayer at the Church of St. Thomas in Alexandria, he was arrested by bandits. Third Exile (356-362): The Emperor Constantius II once again renewed his persecution of Athanasius and other faithful bishops. Though bandits tried to kidnap him, Athanasius escaped and moved into the Egyptian desert where he was sheltered by monasteries and hermits who were loyal to him. It was during this time he continued to write tracts against Arianism and now the emperor who he did not shy away of calling a precursor of the Antichrist. When the Emperor died, Athanasius was able to return to Alexandria. A year later he conveyed at Council in the city and asked fellow bishops to attend to work on establishing unity in the Church. It was here that a more doctrinally sound definition of the Holy Trinity began to be formulated. It was also evident the unity among the Arians was beginning to wane and the hope of reunification in the Church could be achieved. But a very different emperor now ruled Rome, Julian the Apostate. Raised a Christian, Julian abandoned the faith and desired to restore the pagan glory of Rome, including its worship of the old roman gods. Athanasius was an obvious target due to his loyal following and zeal to keep safe the faith and so was exiled by the new emperor. Fourth Exile (362-3): Athanasius once again fled to the desert of Upper Egypt to be with the desert fathers and he remained with them till Julian s death, after which he went to Antioch to speak once again about restoring unity among the fragmented Christians east via the teachings of the Nicene creed but with the rise of Valens, Athanasius was once again send into his exile, his final one. Fifth Exile (364-366): Knowing that Valens was to dispose bishops loyal to Nicaea, he fled the city and is said to have spent the first few months of his exile hiding in his father s ancestral tomb before he moved a home outside the city where he waited until Valens changed his decision and allowed Athanasius to return as bishop. Athanasius would spend the rest of his life till his death in 373 repairing much of the damage that had been inflicted on his diocese in his 17 years of periodic exile. He continued to write against the Arians and defend the truths of the Incarnation and the Nicene faith. He appointed Peter II his successor and passed away surrounded by the clergy and people of Alexandria who knew that a saint had just passed into heaven, one who so passionately love the Church and its truth and bore his cross courageously to the very end.
He was buried in Alexandra but his relics were later moved to the Church of Chiesa di San Zaccaria in Venice, Italy. In 1973, Pope Paul VI gave the Coptic Patriarch a relic of Athanasius ] which is currently preserved under the new Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt. Though after his death the battle against Arianism would rage on for many more centuries. Eventually in the eastern Roman Empire Arianism would cause for further theological disputes to erupt over the person of Christ, in his human and divine natures that would cause future schisms and divisions in the Church. And then the Christian East faced its most formidable foe in Islam, itself a derivation of the Arian notion of Christ that would in time topple the Christian east. IN the Western Roman empire, Arianism continued to have a strong following in the Roman legions and the newly converted barbarian peoples and it would not be until rise of the Franks and the coronation of Charlemagne that Arianism would fade away from the European mind until modern times.. A powerful witness for us to this day. 1) A passionate love for the truth- his desire to know the faith, study it, embrace it and defend it at the cost of personal comfort. 2) Perseverance in the face of adversary. 3) Bearing the cross of Christ well. 4) maintain hope and integrity in the midst of suffering, he would not succumb to despair or use evil to achieve good. 5) loyalty to the Church that persecutes you for standing up for the truth. Story of one of his exiles that shows his virtue was upheld even at the cost of personal safety: While feeling pursuers by boat, some approached him paddling in the opposite direction. They did not recognize him but asked Have you seen Athanasius? Not wanting to lie he replied you are not far from him, and so they continued their pursuit in the opposite direction. "May God console you!... What saddens you... is the fact that others have occupied the churches by violence, while during this time you are on the outside. It is a fact that they have the premises but you have the Apostolic Faith. They can occupy our churches, but they are outside the true Faith. You remain outside the places of worship, but the Faith dwells within you. Let us consider: what is more important, the place or the Faith? The true Faith, obviously. Who has lost and who has won in the struggle the one who keeps the premises or the one who keeps the Faith? True, the premises are good when the Apostolic Faith is preached there; they are holy if everything takes place there in a holy way... You are the ones who are happy; you who remain within the Church by your Faith, who hold firmly to the foundations of the Faith which has come down to you from Apostolic Tradition. And if an execrable jealousy has tried to shake it on a number of occasions, it has not succeeded. They are the ones who have broken away from it in the present crisis. No one, ever, will prevail against your Faith, beloved Brothers. Thus, the more violently they try to occupy the places of worship, the more they separate themselves from the Church. They claim that they represent the Church; but in reality, they are the ones who are expelling themselves from it and going astray. Even if Catholics faithful to Tradition are reduced to a handful, they are the ones who are the true Church of Jesus Christ."