On the feast day of one of the Church's greatest saints, I offer the following account of the life of St. Athanasius in two parts,
the second part to come next week. I pray that this be a blessed encounter with one of the heroes of the Church who helped keep Christianity from straying from the truth to which it had always adhered.
Introduction – A Life of Tribulation
As hated and sought after as Athanasius was in the time he lived, how did he come to die an old man? Only the hand of God could have preserved his life – and it would be short-sighted not to acknowledge the deliverance of the Lord that he might work his will through his servant Athanasius. Who knows where the Catholic Church would be without the heroic efforts of the first-born of her doctors, the oft-persecuted St. Athanasius the Great? Accused, exiled, persecuted, and forced into flight, St. Athanasius never ceased to fight for his Lord and for the truth. He was only one of a few bishops left in the world who did not fall prey to the heresy of Arianism – either by their own assent or by the hostile threats of the Arians themselves. Athanasius’ courage in the face of death in addition to his many writings helped strengthen his flock and strongly combated the Arians, who said that Jesus was not God, but only the greatest of God’s creatures and at one point did not exist. Against this virulent idea, “Athanasius stood, sometimes bitterly, always bravely, for the rest of his life” (1).
Surely the great endorsements of Athanasius’ fight came from above. This legendary man, hated by so many, died in his 70s after being bishop of Alexandria for 46 years, during which he was exiled five times for a total of 17 years (2). Certainly, various men throughout the course of history have been in exile longer than seventeen years. But who has been so loved and hated and inwardly driven from above as to have been exiled five times to return all those times in that span? Only a shepherd driven by love of the Lord and his flock could bear such a burden.
If there was one man who was a thorn in the side of the Arians, it was St. Athanasius both before and after he ascended to the chair of bishop in Alexandria. In fact, from the very start of the Arian heresy when he was a deacon, Athanasius was integrally involved in decisions about dealing with the heresy (3). As a champion of the Council of Nicaea, defending the divinity of Christ and the Council’s conclusions in the face of all threats, St. Athanasius drew the ire of the Arians. As Father John Laux writes: “From this time on, the history of Arianism is largely the history of Athanasius” (4).
An Impact throughout the Centuries
Athanasius’ theology has had a broad and lasting impact, particularly on Trinitarian theology and Christology. He, as “the eminent figure connected with the theological underpinning of the Nicene Creed” (5), carried the Church from Nicaea to the following early councils. Athanasius knew that God the Son was no mere creature, as the Arians had alleged, but consubstantial with the Father. The Son is the perfect image of the Father, Cristoph Cardinal Schönborn writes. “The Son is indeed in the Father, as is quite obvious, because the total being of the Son inheres in the substance of the Father… But there is also the Father in the Son, because that which originates from the Father and is essential to him, is the Son” (6).
Athanasius’ contributions to history cannot be neglected either. He was a prolific writer from his youth. In addition to his theological writings, much of what is known of the many crises come from the hand of the bishop writing in exile. His work on the life of St. Antony also gave a close look into the life of asceticism of the monks in the desert.
The story of Athanasius has great relevance for our modern time. So many people fear the intrusion of the Church into the affairs of the state. But the story of Athanasius’ life shows what happens when a governing structure oversteps its boundaries in matters with regard to the Church. The whims and politics within the Roman Empire played a powerful effect in the near victory of Arianism. As Athanasius described it, “this heresy has come forth upon the earth like some wild monster, which not only injures the innocent with words, as with teeth; but it has also hired external power to assist it in its designs” (7). Yet despite drawing the ire of the greatest political power on the face of the Earth, the bishop persevered through a multiplicity of trials that only a few chosen souls could withstand.
Forming a Great One
Athanasius was born to a devout Christian family near the turn of the 4th century in Alexandria, Egypt, during a bloody siege of the city by the Emperor Diocletian, who was trying to subdue a rebellion at the time. While he was still a boy, the emperor’s great persecution fell upon the empire, with particular intensity upon Egypt. Between the ages of five and fifteen, Athanasius’ relatives, friends, clergy and even playmates were arrested, tortured, exiled, and even murdered. Within this “crucible of fire” (8), God shaped his character and prepared his champion for combat.
While he was a young man, Athanasius served St. Antony in the desert and developed a lifelong friendship. He became a prodigal theologian, even in his late teenage years and early young adulthood, writing masterful works such as Against the Gentiles and On the Incarnation.
In his most prominent theological work, On the Incarnation, he clearly outlines the divinity of the Son, appealing to many proofs, including the works of Christ, the Old Testament prophecies, the Virgin birth of Christ, the writings of the New Testament, the witness of the disciples to the point of martyrdom, and many more. Athanasius outlines well the humanity and divinity of the Son – true God from true God.
Even the very creation broke silence at His behest and, marvelous to relate, confessed with one voice before the cross, that monument of victory, that He Who suffered thereon in the body was not man only, but Son of God and Savior of all. The sun veiled his face, the earth quaked, the mountains were rent asunder, all men were stricken with awe. These things showed that Christ on the cross was God, and that creation was his slave and was bearing witness by its fear to the presence of its Master (9).
One finds it difficult to see how any Arian could have encountered Athanasius’ arguments that he laid out in On the Incarnation and remained Arian (much less encountering the writings of the Gospels and all of Scripture, of course).
Meanwhile, as Athanasius was maturing, a debate came to a boil. Arius in 319 challenged the teachings of Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, that the Son of God was equal to God the Father and that as Son, there was once when he was nonexistent. As time went on, Arius gathered quite a following, a following which grew even after his excommunication in 321. The peace of the Church was in jeopardy.
With the Church at an impasse, the Emperor Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in 325. Attending the Council were more than 300 bishops, and hundreds of priests and deacons. Athanasius was a deacon at the Council, and would have today been considered a periti (10). Though he was not yet a bishop, Athanasius was “held in the first rank of the members of the Council, due to his wisdom and virtue, which were well beyond his years” (11). The Council condemned Arius and his followers. Arius had been betrayed by his own supporters, who had temporarily sided with the Church to avoid punishment. Far from dropping their theological push, the Arians renewed their efforts and attacked with greater ferocity and deception.
Elevated to Bishop
In 328, when Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, died, Athanasius’ was elected bishop. From the outset, he faced a twofold struggle – the Meletians, who contested the right to the see of Alexandria, and the Arians (12). The Arian party set its sights for attack on Athanasius from the beginning. At the Council, they had seen his energy and constancy, “and could see in him the actual rising champion of the Nicene theology” (13). While Athanasius tended to his flock in Alexandria, the Arians were regrouping.
In the years following the Council, the Nicene theology came under heavy fire. Recalled from his exile, Eusebius of Nicomedia, an adviser to Constantine, convinced the emperor that the council had used a word foreign to Scripture – homoousious. It was Eusebius of Nicomedia who “organized and directed the Arian reaction” (14). Eusebius had two objectives – to restore Arius to communion and oust Athanasius from his see. He tried to accomplish the first objective by pressuring Athanasius to restore Arius into communion (15). When Athanasius refused, many false charges were levied. This time, he was exonerated.
But more charges would come up, and his embarrassed opponents would have their revenge. The Meletians alleged that he had destroyed a chalice and had even murdered one of their bishops, Arsenius, who had secretly gone into hiding. They even alleged that Athanasius had severed the bishop’s hand for use in magic. In 335, the emperor ordered a synod to be held at Tyre. There, attendees were nearly all Athanasius’ opponents. Athanasius’ allies, the Egyptian bishops, were turned back. The synod featured plenty of drama, with the Arians producing Arsenius’ severed hand only to have Athanasius produce Arsenius – taken in custody with both hands intact. Nevertheless, no justice could be found. In fear for his life, he left the city by night to sail to Constantinople to take his case up with Constantine himself. Athanasius interrupted the emperor’s horseback ride to request a hearing in his presence. Only four of the participants of the synod at Tyre came to Constantinople. But there they produced a new accusation – that Athanasius had sent away the nation’s food supply ships. It is not known why Constantine did not dismiss this charge along with all the others, and Athanasius was ordered to exile in Gaul (16).
Following the synod at Tyre, Arius was received back into communion. With Athanasius ousted and Arius back in communion, it seemed that Eusebius was victorious. Yet, even then Arius would not be allowed to receive communion in Alexandria or Constantinople. He met with the Emperor to make a confession of faith. But Alexander, the bishop of Constantinople, refused him communion. Eusebius told the bishop that Arius would receive communion the next day. Beset with grief, Alexander prostrated himself in prayer, asking God to take his life or Arius’ before he allowed such a sacrilege. God heard. That night, Arius died suddenly and violently of a hemorrhage of the bowels (17).
In 337, the Emperor Constantine died. His kingdom fell to his three sons: to Constans, Africa, Italy, and Pannonia; to Constantine II, Gaul, and to Constantius, the East. Constantine II called Athanasius back from exile (18). His faithful and clergy rejoiced. But his time in Alexandria would be short-lived. Athanasius’ new emperor, Constantius, was a staunch Arian, and at his side stood Eusebius of Nicomedia, who soon became bishop of Constantinople. A second and longer exile was soon to come.
In 339, soldiers sought Athanasius out. The bishop caught word of it beforehand and disappeared into the city while violent mobs sacked churches and persecuted the people. After weeks in hiding, he fled to Rome to seek the counsel of the pope.
In Rome in 341, Pope Julius called a council of bishops who unanimously cleared Athanasius of all charges. He also admonished those who deposed Athansius from his see, exerting his papal authority in matters even regarding the Church in the East (19). Many Western efforts were made to try to bring Athanasius back to his see. Alongside Pope Julius, Constantius’ brother Constans took up Athansius’ case in the West, calling a synod at Sardica (Sofia) in the Balkans. Both sides arrived to discuss the case, but the Arian bishops left the synod early (20). Athanasius and fellow exiles were exonerated. But meanwhile in the East, the protesting Arians condemned all at the council.After the death of Gregory, who had taken Athansius’ see, Constantius wrote that he wanted a meeting with Athanasius. Finally, he was able to return to Alexandria after great political pressure. “The reception of the long-exiled Egyptian bishop in Alexandria resembled a triumphal procession” (21). But the worst was yet to come. At the death of Constans, Constantius became sole emperor. The whole world would become infected with Arianism.
(1) Hardy, Edward Rochie, Ed., Christology of the Later Fathers (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1954), 49.
(2) Behr, John, Formation of Christian Theology, Volume 2: The Nicene Faith: Part 1, True God of True God (Crestwood, New York: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2004), 163.
(3) Molloy, Michael E., Champion of Truth: The Life of St. Athanasius (Staten Island, New York: Society of St. Paul, 2003), 19.
(4) Laux, John, M.A., Church History: A History of the Catholic Church to 1940 (Rockford, Illinois: Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., 1989), 113.
(5) Schönborn, O.P., Cristoph Cardinal, God’s Human Face: The Christ-Icon (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1994), 8.
(6) Schönborn, 10.
(7) St. Athanasius, History of the Arians, I, 3. Taken from Atkinson, Miles, Tr., Historical Tracts of St. Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria (Oxford: James Parker & Co.; London: J.G.F. & J. Rivington, 1843).
(8) Molloy, 7.
(9) St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 19. Taken from Hardy, Edward Rochie, Ed., Christology of the Later Fathers (Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1954).
(10) Jedin, Hubert and Dolan, John, Eds., History of the Church, Vol. II, Baus, Karl, Part One: The Development of the Church of the Empire within the Framework of the Imperial Religious Policy (New York: Seabury Press, 1980), 24.
(11) Molloy, 23.
(12) Behr, Part One, 71.
(13) History of the Church, Vol. II, 30.
(14) Laux, 113.
(15) Molloy, 34.
(16) History of the Church, Vol. II, 31.
(17) Molloy, 48-49.
(18) History of the Church, Vol. II, 32.
(19) History of the Church, Vol. II, 36.
(20) History of the Church, Vol. II, 38.
(21) History of the Church, Vol. II, 40.