Saint Athanasius

Feast day : 02 May

"The Son of God took upon him our poverty and miseries, that he might impart to us a share of his riches. His sufferings will render us one day impassible, and his death immortal. His tears will be our joy, his burial our resurrection, and his baptism is our sanctification, according to what he says in his gospel: 'For them I sanctify myself, that they also may be made holy in fruits.'"

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Athanasius, the 20th Bishop of Alexandria who lived during the period AD 296 to 373 and is the earliest Doctor of the Church. Because of his championship of the fundamental truth and teaching of the Catholic Church that Jesus is God made man, he is called “The Father of Orthodoxy”, orthodoxy meaning ‘the right teaching’. St Athanasius defended the divine Sonship at the cost of immense personal discomfort, suffering and danger. His whole life was shaped around his defense of the divinity of Christ at a time when powerful imperial forces and majority of the church had fallen into the Arian Heresy. This earned him the saying ‘Athanasius contra mundum – Athanasius against the world.” Cardinal Newman compares him to St. Paul as a defender of the Christ’s divine Sonship.

Early life: He was born to a Christian family in Alexandria in AD 296 and was privileged to have been given a good education by his parents. Seeing the virtues in him, St. Alexander who later became the Bishop of Alexandria, brought him under his care and appointed him as his assistant. Athanasius copied the virtues of his master, imbibed his holy zeal and was directed by him in his studies. He applied himself diligently in learning the sacred studies of religion and virtues, sacred writings and canons of the church. Later to further grow in his practice of virtues, he retired to the dessert to the great St. Antony with whom he spent considerable time as a disciple. He later returned and was ordained as a deacon in the year AD 319. He succeeded Saint Alexander as Bishop of Alexandria at the age of 30.

Vocational life: He was the Bishop of Alexandria for almost 47 years. During this time, he was driven into exile five times and by four different emperors Constantine, Constantius, Julian and Valens. His enemies who sought to destroy him always tried to discredit him and condemn him at Church councils and raising false allegations against him with the Emperors. For a while he was even condemned to death and was often in danger of being killed by his fierce enemies. His opponents were people who followed Arius, a priest in Alexandria who was a heresiarch who denied that Christ is really God. His other persecutor was the Arian Bishop, Eusebius of Nicomedia who tirelessly invented false charges against Saint Athanasius. The Arian blasphemy spread like wildfire and threatened to destroy the Church at that point in time. But the vain attempts of the devil to destroy the Church resulted in greater glory for the Church. God raised several holy people and filled them with his Spirit to defend the Church and one of the most illustrious among them was St. Athanasius. Under the most violent and long periods of persecution, he courageously fought to uphold the teachings of the Catholic faith against falsehood and by his eloquent writings he stemmed the scandals and falsehood that were aimed at destroying the Church.
St. Gregory Nazianzen wrote “When I praise Athanasius, virtue itself is my theme: for I name every virtue as often as I mention him who was possessed of all virtues. He was the true pillar of the church. His life and conduct were the rule of bishops, and his doctrine the rule of the orthodox faith. He was most humble and lowly in mind, as his virtue was most sublime and inimitable. He was most courteous to all, and every one had easy access to him; he was meek, gentle, compassionate, amiable in his discourse, but much more so in his life; of an angelical disposition; mild in reproofs, and instructive in his commendations; in both which he observed such even measures, that his reproof spoke the kindness of a father, and his commendation the authority of a master; and neither was his indulgence over tender, nor his severity harsh. ”

Out of his several writings the most notable are his books ‘Against the Pagans’ written in AD 318, ‘On the incarnation of the Word of God’ in AD 323, his three ‘Discourses against the Arians’ in AD 368. Among his ‘Festal Letters’, sent yearly to suffragan bishops to announce Lenten practice and Easter date, the one written in AD 367 has special importance because it lists, for the first time the 27 canonical books of the New Testament. Among his letters, the ‘Letter Concerning the Decrees of the Nicene Council’ defends the non-scriptural expressions in the Nicene Creed. Besides these writings, he also wrote the famous ‘Life of St. Antony of the Desert’ which had much importance in making known the early history of monasticism and in helping to develop it. As Cardinal Newman says, “he is a principal instrument, after the Apostles, by which the sacred truths of Christianity have been conveyed and secured to the world.”

On 2 May 373, having consecrated Peter II, one of his presbyters as his successor, Athanasius died peacefully in his own bed, surrounded by his clergy and faithful supporters. Athanasius was originally buried in Alexandria, Egypt, but his remains were later transferred to the Chiesa di San Zaccaria in Venice, Italy. During Pope Shenouda III's visit to Rome from 4 to 10 May 1973, Pope Paul VI gave the Coptic Patriarch a relic of Athanasius, which he brought back to Egypt on 15 May. The relic is currently preserved under the new Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Cairo, Egypt. However, the majority of Athanasius's corpse remains in the Venetian church.