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ATHANASIUS (293-373)
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See also:ATHANASIUS (293-373) , See also:bishop of See also:Alexandria and See also:saint, one of the most illustrious defenders of the See also:Christian faith, was See also:born probably at Alexandria. Of his See also:family and of his See also:early See also:education nothing can be said to be known. According to the See also:legend, the boy is said to have once baptized some of his playmates and thereupon to have been taken into his See also:house by Bishop See also: Arians and Semi-Arians seemed to him to be pagans, who See also:worship the creature, instead of the God who created all things, since they See also:teach two gods, one having no beginning, the other having a beginning in See also:Time and therefore of the same nature as the See also:heathen gods, since, like them, he is a. creature. Athanasius has no terms for the See also:definition of the Persons 'in the one "Divine (rd Oe'ov), which are in their substance one; and yet he is certain that this "Divine'' is not a See also:mere See also:abstraction, but something truly personal: ". They are One," so he wrote later in his Discourses against the Arians: not as though the unity were See also:tarn into two parts, which outside the unity would be nothing, nor as though the unity See also:bore two names, so that one and the same is at one time See also:Father and then ATHANASIUS his own Son, as the heretic See also:Sabellius imagined. But they are two, for the Father is Father, and the Son is not:the same, but, again, the Son is Son, and not the Father himself. But their Nature(¢uols) is one, for the Begotten is not dissimilar (av6µoios) to the Begetter, but his See also:image, and everything that is the Father's is also the Son's." Five months after the return from the council of Nicaea Bishop Alexander died; and on the 8th of See also:February 326 Athanasius, at the See also:age of See also:thirty-three, became his successor. The first years of his episcopate were tranquil; then the storms in which the See also:remainder of his See also:life was passed began to gather See also:round him. The council had by no means composed the divisions in the Church which the Arian controversy had provoked. See also:Arius himself still lived, and his friend See also:Eusebius of See also:Nicomedia rapidly regained influence over the See also:emperor See also:Constantine. The result was a demand made by the emperor that Arius should be readmitted to communion. Athanasius stood See also:firm, but many accusers soon See also:rose up against one who was known to be under the frown of the imperial displeasure. He was charged with See also:cruelty, even with sorcery and See also:murder. It was reported that a bishop of the Meletian party (see MELETIUS) in the Thebaid, of the name of See also:Arsenius, had been unlawfully put to death by him. He was easily able to clear himself of these charges ; but the hatred of his enemies was not relaxed, and in the summer of 335 he was peremptorily ordered to appear at See also:Tyre, where a council had been summoned to sit in See also:judgment upon his conduct. There appeared plainly a predetermination to condemn him, and he fled from Tyre to See also:Constantinople to See also:appeal to the emperor himself. Refused at first a See also:hearing, his perseverance was at length rewarded by the emperor's assent to his reasonable See also:request that his accusers should be brought See also:face to face with him in the imperial presence. Accordingly the leaders of the council, the most conspicuous of whom were Eusebius of Nicomedia and his namesake of Caesarea, were summoned to Constantinople. Here they did not See also:attempt to repeat their old charges, but found a more effective weapon to their hands in a new See also:charge of a See also:political kind—that Athanasius had threatened to stop the Alexandrian See also:corn-See also:ships See also:bound for Constantinople. It is very difficult to understand how far there was truth in the persistent accusations made against the See also:prince-bishop of Alexandria. Probably there was in the very greatness of his See also:character and the extent of his popular influence a certain See also:species of dominance which See also:lent a See also:colour of truth to some of the things said against him. On the See also:present occasion his accusers succeeded at once in arousing the imperial See also:jealousy. Without obtaining a hearing, he was banished at the end of 335 to Treves in See also:Gaul. This was the first banishment of Athanasius, which lasted about one See also:year and a See also:half. It was brought to a close by the death of Constantine, and the See also:accession as emperor of the See also:West of Constantine II., who, in See also:June 337, allowed Athanasius to retu-n to Alexandria. He reached his see on the 23rd of See also:November 337, and, as he himself has told us, " the See also:people ran in crowds to see his face; the churches were full of rejoicing; thanksgivings were every-where offered up ; the ministers and See also:clergy thought the See also:day the happiest in their lives." But this See also:period of happiness was destined to be See also:short-lived. His position as bishop of Alexandria placed him, not under his See also:patron Constantine, but under See also:Constantius, another son of the See also:elder Constantine, who had succeeded to the See also:throne of the See also:East. He in his turn See also:fell, as his father had done in later years, under the influence of Eusebius of Nicomedia, who in the latter half of 339 was transferred to the see of Constantinople, the new seat of the imperial See also:court. A second See also:expulsion of Athanasius was accordingly resolved upon. The old accusations against him were revived, and he was further charged with having set at naught the decision of a council. On the 18th of See also: 
Again he returned to Alexandria amid the enthusiastic demonstrations of the populace, which is described by Gregory of Nazianzus, in his See also:panegyric on Athanasius, as streaming forth like " another See also:Nile " to meet him afar off as he approached the See also:city. The six years of his See also:residence in the West had given Athanasius the opportunity of displaying a momentous activity. He made See also:long journeys in See also:Italy, in Gaul, and as far as See also:Belgium. Every-where he laboured for the Nicene faith, and the impression made by his See also:personality was so great that to hold fast the orthodox faith and to defend Athanasius were for many people one and the same thing. This was shown when, after the death of the emperor Constans, Constantius became See also:sole ruler of East and West. With the help of counsellors more subtle than discerning, the emperor, with the See also:object of uniting the various parties in the Church at any cost, sought for the most colourless possible formula of belief, which he hoped to persuade all the bishops to accept.. As his efforts remained for years fruitless, he used force. " My will is your guiding-See also:line," he exclaimed in the summer of 355 to the bishops who had assembled at See also:Milan in response to his orders. A See also:series of his most defiant opponents had to go into banishment, Liberius of Rome, See also:Hilarius of See also:Poitiers and See also:Hosius of Corduba, the last-named once the confidant of Constantine and the actual originator of the Homousios, and now nearly a See also:hundred years old. At length came the turn of Athanasius, now almost the sole upholder of the banner of the Nicene creed in the East. Several attempts to expel him failed owing to the attitude of the populace. On the See also:night of the 8th-9th of February 356, however, when the bishop was holding the Vigils, soldiers and See also:police See also:broke into the church of Theonas. Athanasius himself has described the See also:scene for us : " I was seated upon my See also:chair, the See also:deacon was about to read the See also:psalm, the people to See also:answer, ` For his See also:mercy endureth for ever.' The See also:solemn See also:act, was interrupted; a panic arose." The bishop, who was at first unwilling to See also:save himself, until he knew that his faithful followers were in safety, succeeded in escaping, leaving the See also:town and finding a hiding-place in the See also:country. The solitudes of Upper Egypt, where numerous monasteries and hermitages had been planted, seem at this time to have been his See also:chief shelter. In this case, benefit was repayed by benefit, for Athanasius during his episcopate had been a zealous See also:promoter of See also:asceticism and monachism., With See also:Anthony the See also:hermit and See also:Pachomius the founder of monasteries, he had maintained personal relations, and the former he had commemorated in his Life of Anthony. During his See also:exile his time was occupied in See also:writing on behalf of his cause, and to this period belong some of his most important See also:works, above all the great Orations or Discourses against the Arians, which furnish the best exposition of his theological principles. During his See also:absence the see of Alexandria was See also:left, without a pastor. It is true that See also:George of See also:Cappadocia had taken his place; but he could only maintain himself for a short while (FebruarY357-October 358). The great See also:majority of the See also:population remained faithful to the exile. At length, in November 361, the way was opened to him for his return to his see by the death of Constantius. See also:Julian, who succeeded to the imperial throne, professed himself indifferent to the contentions of the Church, and gave permission to the bishops exiled in the See also:late reign, to return See also:home. Among others, Athanasius availed himself of this permission, and in February 362 once more seated himself upon his throne, amid the rejoicings of the people. He had begun his episcopal labours with renewed ardour, and assembled his bishops in Alexandria to decide various important questions, when an imperial See also:mandate again—for the See also:fourth time drove him from his place of power. The faithful gathered around him weeping. " Be of See also:good See also:heart," he said, " it is but a See also:cloud: it will pass." His forecast proved true; for within a few months Julian had closed his brief career of See also:pagan revival. As early as See also:September 363, Athanasius was able to travel to See also:Jovian, the new emperor, who had sent him a See also:letter praising his Christian fidelity and encouraging him to resume his See also:work. He returned to Alexandria on the loth of February 364. With the emperor tie continued to maintain friendly relations; but the period of repose was short. In the See also:spring of 365, after the accession of See also:Valens to the throne, troubles again arose. Athanasius was once more compelled to seek safety from his persecutors in concealment (October 365), which lasted, however, only for four months. In February 366 he resumed his episcopal labours, in which he henceforth remained undisturbed. On the 2nd of May 373, having consecrated one of his presbyters as his successor, he died quietly in his own house. Athanasius was a See also:man of action, but he also knew how to use his See also:pen for the furtherance of his cause. He left a large number of writings, which cannot of course be compared with those of an See also:Origen, a See also:Basil, or a Gregory of Nyssa. Athanasius was no systematic theologian. All his See also:treatises are occasional pieces,-born of controversy and intended for controversial ends. The See also:interest in abstract exposition of dearly formulated theological ideas is everywhere subordinate to the polemical purpose. But all these writings are See also:instinct with a living personal faith, and serve for the See also:defence of the cause; for it was not about words that he was contending. Even those who do not sympathize with the cause which Athanasius steadfastly defended cannot but admire his magnanimous and heroic character. If he was imperious in See also:temper and inflexible in his conception of the Christian faith, he possessed a great heart and a great See also:intellect, inspired with an enthusiastic devotion to Christ. As a theologian, his See also:main distinction was his zealous advocacy of the essential divinity of Christ. See also:Christianity in its Arian conception would have evaporated in a new polytheism. To have set a See also:dam against this See also:process with the whole force of a mighty personality constitutes the importance of Athanasius in the See also:world's See also:history. It is with good See also:reason that the Church honours him as the " Great," and as the " Father of Orthodoxy." The best edition of the works of Athanasius is the so-called Maurine edition of See also:Bernard de See also:Montfaucon in 3 vols. (See also:Paris, T698); this was enlarged in the 3rd edition by See also:Giustiniani (4 vols., See also:Padua, 1777), and is printed in this See also:form in See also:Migne's Patrologia, vols. See also:xxv.-See also:xxviii. An See also:English See also:translation of selections, with excellent introductions to the several writings, was published by See also:Archibald See also:Robertson in the Library of the Nicene and See also:Post-Nicene Fathers, second series, vol. 4 (See also:Oxford and New See also:York, 1892). There is no See also:biography satisfactory from the See also:modern point of view. Studies preliminary to such a biography began to be published by E. Schwartz in his essays, " Zur Geschichte See also:des Athanasius " (in the Nachrichten der koniglschen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu See also:Gottingen, 1904, &c.). The life of Athanasius, however, is so completely intertwined with the history of his time that it is permissible to refer, for a knowledge of him, to the See also:general descriptions which will be found at the close of the See also:article ARIUs. Of the older literature, See also:Tillemont's Memoires pour servir a l'histoire ecclesiastique des six premiers siecles, vols. vi. and viii., are still a mine of material for the historian. Of the newer literature the following deserve to be read:—Johann Adam See also:Mohler, Athanasius der See also:Grosse and See also:die Kirche seiner Zeit, 2 vols. (2nd ed., See also:Mainz, 1844); and Fr. Boehringer, " Arius and Athanasius," Die Kirche Christi and ihre Zeugen, vol. i. part 2 (2nd ed., See also:Stuttgart, 1874). (G. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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