CrucisSt. Athanasius of Alexandria
St. Athanasius was born around 296 at Alexandria, Egypt, and died there on 2 May 373. As a young deacon he accompanied his bishop to the First Council of Nicaea in 325, where he distinguished himself in the defense of the full divinity of Christ against Arius, who taught that the Son was a created being. Soon afterward he became bishop (patriarch) of Alexandria, a post he held for some forty-five turbulent years.
His unbending fidelity to the Nicene faith made him the great champion of orthodoxy in an age when much of the empire, and even many bishops, embraced Arianism; five times he was driven into exile by hostile emperors, giving rise to the phrase 'Athanasius against the world.' His writings, including On the Incarnation and the widely read Life of St. Antony — which spread the monastic ideal across the Church — secured his place as a Father and Doctor of the Church.
Selected quotes
“The emperor who commands heresy commands nothing — the power of the state reaches the body and earthly goods, but the faith answers to a higher authority altogether.”
“The homoousios is not a word invented by theologians; it is the faith of the whole Church expressed in the most precise language available.”
“Persecution is not proof of error — the Apostles were persecuted, and they were right; truth often wears the mark of contradiction as its chief credential.”