Athanasius
(Ἀθανάσιος). A Christian bishop of the fourth century. He was a native of Egypt, and a deacon of the Church of Alexandria under Alexander the Bishop, whom he succeeded in his dignity A.D. 326. Previous to his obtaining this high office he had been private secretary to Alexander, and had also led for some time an ascetic life with the renowned St. Anthony. Alexander had also taken him to the council at Nice, where he gained the highest esteem of the fathers by the talent which he displayed in the Arian controversy. (See Arius.) He had a great share in the decrees passed here, and thereby drew on himself the hatred of the Arians. On his advancement to the prelacy he dedicated all his time and talents to the doctrine of the Trinity, and resolutely refused the request of Constantine for the restoration of Arius to the Catholic communion. In revenge for this refusal, the Arian party brought several accusations against him before the emperor. Of these he was acquitted in the first instance; but, on a new charge of having detained ships at Alexandria, laden with corn for Constantinople, either from conviction or policy, he was found guilty and banished to Gaul. Here he remained in exile eighteen months, or, as some accounts say, upwards of two years, his see in the meantime being unoccupied.
On the death of Constantine he was recalled, and restored to his functions by Constantius; but the Arian party made new complaints against him, and he was condemned by 90 Arian bishops assembled at On the opposite side, 100 orthodox bishops, assembled at Alexandria, declared him innocent; and Pope Iulius confirmed this finding, in conjunction with more than 300 bishops assembled at Sardis from the East and West. In consequence of this, he returned a second time to his diocese. But when Constans, emperor of the West, died, and Constantius became master of the whole Empire, the Arians again ventured to rise [p. 148]
up against Athanasius. They condemned him in the councils of Arles and Milan, and, as the worthy patriarch refused to listen to anything but an express command of the emperor, when he was one day preparing to celebrate a festival in the church, a body of soldiers suddenly rushed in to make him prisoner. The surrounding priests and monks, however, placed him in security. Athanasius, displaced for a third time, fled into the deserts of Egypt. His enemies pursued him even here, and set a price on his head. To relieve the hermits, who dwelt in these solitary places and who would not betray his retreat, from suffering on his account, he went into those parts of the desert which were entirely uninhabited. He was followed by a faithful servant, who, at the risk of his life, supplied him with the means of subsistence. In this undisturbed spot Athanasius composed many writings, full of eloquence, to strengthen the faith of the believers or expose the falsehoods of his enemies. When Julian the Apostate ascended the throne, he allowed the orthodox bishops to return to their churches. Athanasius, therefore, returned after an absence of six years. The mildness which he exercised towards his enemies was imitated in Gaul, Spain, Italy, and Greece, and restored peace to the Church. But this peace was interrupted by the complaints of the heathen, whose temples the zeal of Athanasius kept always empty. They excited the emperor against him, and he was obliged to fly to the Thebas to save his life. The death of the emperor and the accession of Jovian again brought him back; but on Valens becoming emperor eight months after, and the Arians recovering their superiority, he was once more compelled to fly. He concealed himself in the tomb of his father, where he remained four months, until Valens, moved by the pressing entreaties and threats of the Alexandrians, allowed him to return. From this period he remained undisturbed in his office until he died, in A.D. 373.
Of the forty-six years of his official life, he spent twenty in banishment, and the greater part of the remainder in defending the Nicene Creed. Athanasius is one of the greatest men of which the Church can boast. His deep mind, his noble heart, his invincible courage, his living faith, his unbounded benevolence, sincere humility, lofty eloquence, and strictly virtuous life, gained the honour and love of all. His writings are on polemical, historical, and moral subjects. The polemical treat chiefly of the doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, and the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The historical ones are of the greatest importance for the history of the Church. In all his writings the style is distinguished, considering the age in which they were produced, for clearness and moderation. His apology, addressed to the emperor Constantine, is a masterpiece. The creed which bears his name is now generally allowed not to have been his. It was first printed in Greek in 1540, and several times afterwards to 1671. It has been questioned whether this creed was ever received by the Greek and Oriental Churches. In America the Episcopal Church has rejected it. The best edition of Athanasius is in the Patrologia Graeco-Latina of Migne (1860). His epistles and some of his orations were translated with notes by J. H. Newman (1842).