Athanasius of Alexandria

Athanasius of Alexandria (also spelled "Athanasios") (c. 296/298 C.E. – May 2, 373 C.E.) was a Christian bishop, the Patriarch of Alexandria, in the fourth century. He made three primary (and integral) contributions to the theory and practice of Christianity, including an endorsement of the monastic lifestyle, the formulation of the New Testament canon, and a theological defense of the full divinity of Christ (against the position taken up by Arius).

For these contributions to the development of the Christian faith, Athanasius is revered as one of the 33 Doctors of the Church by the Roman Catholics, is counted as one of the four Great Doctors of the Eastern Church, and is regarded as one of the greatest early leaders of the Church by many Protestant sects. Further, he is also venerated as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church.

Saint Athanasius
Saint Athanasius
Doctors of the Church
Born	293 in Alexandria, Egypt
Died	May 21, 373 in Alexandria, Egypt
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Churches
Major shrine	Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt Santa Croce, Venice, Italy
Feast	May 2 (Roman Catholic) January 18(Eastern Orthodox) May 15 = Pashons 7 (Oriental Orthodox)
Attributes	bishop arguing with a pagan; bishop holding an open book; bishop standing over a defeated heretic

Biography and Literary Output

Little is known of the pre-ecclesiastical life of Saint Athanasius. It is often supposed that he was a child of upper-class parents, as the quality of his theology and scholarship (much of it written before his thirtieth birthday) clearly indicates the type of education that would only have been available to the relatively affluent. Regardless of his biological parentage, Athanasius soon developed a formative relationship with Alexander (the Bishop of Alexandria), who saw in the young man the potential for spiritual greatness. Appreciating this potential, the bishop was motivated to enrol Athanasius in a private study course and to introduce him to the various ascetics living in the Egyptian desert. Under the bishop's paternal influence, Athanasius eventually became his patron's secretary and a deacon at the Alexandrian See.

Some time between 318 and 328, Athanasius wrote a double treatise entitled Against the Gentiles — On the Incarnation, which argued for the the validity and rationality of Christianity in a (nearly-outmoded) apologetic style, and also explored the relationship between God (the Father) and Jesus. That these works were circulated (and have remained extant into the present) is as much a testament to the patronage of Bishop Alexander as it is to the quality of Athanasius's early literary output. Regardless, Athanasius's theological commitment to Jesus's divinity (in addition to his role as Alexander's secretary) led the young deacon to accompany his master to the First Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. - a council (ordered by Emperor Constantine) whose goal was to formally resolve the question of Christ's divinity, in order to avoid schisms within the Church.

At this council, Athanasius and Alexander firmly sided with Constantine against the proponents of Arianism, a commitment which, while ultimately vindicated, led to an entire lifetime of debate and persecution for the young Egyptian cleric (see below). In his anti-Arian writings (which he continued to produce throughout his lifetime), Athanasius continued to propound the conclusions of the Nicene Council.

In doing so, he "was to deploy a triple onslaught based on the Church's living faith and experience. First, he argued that Arianism undermined the Christian doctrine of God by presupposing that the divine Triad is not eternal and by virtually reintroducing polytheism. Secondly, it made nonsense of the established liturgical customs of baptizing in the Son's name as well as the Father's, and of addressing prayers to the Son. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it undermined the Christian idea of redemption in Christ, since only if the Mediator was Himself diving could man hope to re-establish fellowship with God."

So great was the public profile of this young deacon (both in popular and theological circles), that he was a natural choice to succeed the well-respected bishop Alexander - an achievement that becomes additionally notable when one takes into account the fact that he had not yet reached the age of majority (30 years) thought necessary to hold such a vaunted ecclesiastical position. However, while the first four years of his episcopate were rather uneventful, the proponents of Arianism soon began to insinuate themselves back into the Christian community, eventually earning the ear of emperor Constantine. When Athanasius continued to speak against them as heretics, pro-Arian bishops began to foment controversies against the young bishop, accusing him of various crimes against the faith. Realizing the he would not receive a fair trial at the hands of the Arian synod surrounding Alexandria, he traveled to Rome to plead his case directly to the pope, who cleared him of all charges.

However, this was just the beginning of Athanasius's tribulations. Over the next forty-three years, he spent approximately eighteen of them in exile, hiding from Arian supporters in the Imperial court, the local churches, and even, at times, the Vatican. Despite this, he remained consistently devoted to the Christological formulation defined at Nicea and anathematized any who refused to acknowledge the divinity of Christ. During his various exiles, he traveled throughout Christendom, teaching the Nicene creed and spreading the tales of the exemplary lives of Christian ascetics in the Egyptian desert.

Other Writings

He also wrote a defence of the divinity of the Holy Spirit (Letters to Serapion) in the 360s, and wrote a polemic (On the Holy Spirit) against the Macedonian heresy.

Athanasius also wrote a biography of Anthony the Great entitled Vita Antonii, or Life of Antony, that later served as an inspiration to Christian monastics in both the East and the West. The Athanasian Creed is traditionally ascribed to him.

Historical significance

Opposition to Arianism

In about 319, when Athanasius was a deacon, a presbyter named Arius began teaching that there was a time when Jesus did not exist and that he had been created by God - a view which came to be known as Arianism. Athanasius accompanied Alexander to the First Council of Nicaea in 325, which council produced the Nicene Creed and anathematized Arius and his followers. On May 9, 328, he succeeded Alexander as bishop of Alexandria. As a result of rises and falls in Arianism's influence after the First Council of Nicaea, he was banished from Alexandria to Tyre by Emperor Constantine I only to be later restored after the death of Constantine I by his son Constantine II. Athanasius was restored on at least five separate occasions, perhaps as many as seven. This gave rise to the expression "Athanasius contra mundum" or "Athanasius against the world". During some of his exiles, he spent time with the Desert Fathers, monks and hermits who lived in remote areas of Egypt. Despite his doctrinal firmness, he showed diplomatic flair in rallying the Orthodox at the Council of Alexandria in 362.

New Testament canon

Athanasius is also the first person to identify the same 27 books of the New Testament that are in use today. Up until then, various similar lists of works to be read in churches were in use. A milestone in the evolution of the canon of New Testament books is his Easter letter from Alexandria, written in 367, usually referred to as his 39th Festal Letter. Pope Damasus, the Bishop of Rome in 382, promulgated a list of books which contained a New Testament canon identical to that of Athanasius. A synod in Hippone in 393 repeated Athansius' and Damasus' New Testament list (without the Epistle to the Hebrews), and a synod in Carthage in 397 repeated Athanasius' and Damasus' complete New Testament list.

Scholars have debated whether Athanasius' list in 367 was the basis for the later lists. Because Athanasius' canon is the closest canon of any of the Church Fathers to the canon used by Protestant churches today many Protestants point to Athanasius as the father of the canon. They are identical except that Athanasius includes the Book of Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah and places the Book of Esther among the apocrypha along with the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Judith, Tobit, the Didache, and the Shepherd of Hermas. See the article, Biblical canon, for more details.

Relics and veneration

St. Athanasius Shrine (where the saint's relics are preserved) under St. Mark's Cathedral, Cairo

The saint was originally buried in Alexandria, but his body was later transferred to Italy. Pope Shenouda III restored the relics of St. Athanasius back to Egypt on 15 May 1973 [1], after his historic visit to the Vatican and meeting with Pope Paul VI. The relics of St. Athanasius the Great of Alexandria are currently preserved under the new St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Deir El-Anba Rowais, Abbassiya, Cairo, Egypt.

The following is a troparion (hymn) to St. Athanasius sung in some Orthodox churches.

O holy father Athanasius,

like a pillar of orthodoxy

you refuted the heretical nonsense of Arius

by insisting that the Father and the Son are equal in essence.

O venerable father, beg Christ our God to save our souls.

Criticism of Athanasius

Some modern historians suggest that the tactics of Athanasius, while often downplayed by church historians, were a significant factor in his success. He did not hesitate to back up his theological views with the use of force. In Alexandria, he assembled a group that could instigate a riot in the city if needed. It was an arrangement "built up and perpetuated by violence." Along with the standard method of excommunication he used beatings, intimidation, kidnapping and imprisonment to silence his theological opponents. Unsurprisingly, these tactics caused widespread distrust and led him to being tried many times for "bribery, theft, extortion, sacrilege, treason and murder. While the charges rarely stuck, his reputation was a major factor in his multiple exiles from Alexandria. He justified these tactics with the argument that he was saving all future Christians from hell. Athanasius stubbornly refused to compromise his theological views by stating, "What is at stake is not just a theological theory but people's salvation." He played a clear role in making the Constantinian shift a part of the theology of the church.

However, there are also many modern historians who object to this view and point out that such hostile attitude towards Athanasius is based on an unfair judgement of historical sources. There are at present two completely opposite views about the personality of Athanasius. While some scholars praise him as an orthodox saint with great character, some see him as a power-hungry politician, or even a violent gangster. Both parties claim to have strong evidence supporting their views.

See also

• Creed
• Nicene Creed
• Apostles' Creed
• Athanasian Creed
• Shield of the Trinity

Bibliography

• Arnold, Duane W.-H. The Early Episcopal Career of Athanasius of Alexandria. Notre Dame : University of Notre Dame Press, 1991. ISBN 0-26800-925-2.
• Barnes, Timothy. Athanasius and Constantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian Empire. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-674-05067-3.
• Barnes, Timothy. Constantine and Eusebius. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1981. ISBN 0-67416-530-6.
• Brakke, David. Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism. Oxford: Clarendon Press ; New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-19826-816-5.
• Clifford, Cornelius. "St. Athanasius." The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907. Accessed online: February 5, 2007.
• Ernest, James D. The Bible in Athanasius of Alexandria. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2004. ISBN 0-39104-176-2.
• Farmer, David. "Athanasius." The Oxford Dictionary of Saints. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-19-280058-2.
• Kelly, J. N. D. Early Christian Doctrines. San Fransisco: Harper & Row, 1978. ISBN 0-7136-1756-X.
• McGrath, Alister E. Historical Theology: An Introduction to the History of Christian Thought. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1998. ISBN 0-631-20843-7.
• Ng, Nathan K. K. The Spirituality of Athanasius. Bern: Peter Lang Publishing, 2001. ISBN 0-82045-639-X.
• Olson, Roger E. The Story of Christian Theology. Downers Grove, Ill. : InterVarsity Press, 1999. ISBN 0-83081-505-8.
• Rubenstein, Richarde. When Jesus Became God: The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome. Harvest Books, 2000. ISBN 0-15601-315-0.

External links

• Background information, plus his actual writings
• The Athanasian Creed
• Athanasius Select Resources, Bilingual Anthology (in Greek original and English)
• The Life and Ministry of Athanasius, John Piper

Preceded by: Alexander

Patriarch of Alexandria 328–373 or 328-339 346-373

Succeeded by: PeterII Gregory of Cappadocia (arian antipatriarch, not acknowledged) Peter II

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