Saint Athanasius.

Gregory Nazianzenus (Homily 21.26) dubbed him the "Pillar of the Church," later Byzantines "Father of Orthodoxy;" Rome reckoned him one of the four great Eastern Fathers.

Born around 300 at Alexandria (possibly a Copt), Athanasius was educated in the catechetical school of Clement and Origen (a particular influence). As deacon of Bishop Alexander (311-328), his skilful anti-Arian debating at the Council of Nicaea (325) earned him the latter's See (May 8, 328) before the canonical age of 30. Continuing Arian influence at court caused him to be deposed and exiled five times (335,339,356,362,365). At Rome in 339, he was warmly received by Pope Julius I; this Western connection fortified the rest of his days. His removal in 362 was prompted by his refusal to act as pagan emperor Julian's catspaw in fomenting Christian infighting. His last exiler, Arian ruler Valens, was forced by popular clamour to recall him on February 1,366, after which he remained undisturbed until his death (May 2, 373), after 45 years in office, 16 of these in exile.

Athanasius is ubiquitous in Byzantine portraits of Church Fathers: white-haired, balding, squarish beard. His funeral was commonly illustrated in Gregory's manuscripts: chief Feast Day May 2. Despite his vicissitudes, he wrote enough to fill four fat volumes (25-28) of Migne's Greek Patrology. Modern critics reprove his prolixity, not so Photius (Library 140): "His style is always clear, simple and free from redundancies, earnest and profound, stocked with extremely forceful arguments."

He began with two precociously youthful tracts, Against the Pagans and The Incarnation of the Logos, the latter (a Photius favourite) an exposition based on Genesis 1.27 of the divine-human symbiosis and the Resurrection's triumph over death (the consequence of sin). Naturally, he penned much against the Arians, both homilies and narratives, while showing a willingness to clarify and compromise over the semantic controversies of Homoiousion ("of like substance"), Homoousion ("consubstantiality"), Hypostasis ("person"), and Ousia ("substance"). Ironically, through quotations, Athanasius is the sole source for portions of Arius' propaganda poem Thaleia.

Using the metaphor of solar rays, Athanasius focused on Salvation, equated with man's deification thanks to the consubstantiality of the Holy Spirit, the incarnate Logos being divinely related to the Father: "All are named sons and gods both on earth and in heaven; He was not a man who later became God, but God who later became man to deify us"(Incarnation 54). Overall, he tackled key Christological and Trinitarian issues (e.g. Had Christ a soul?), thereby solidifying the Church's basic tenets.

A series of Festal Letters (variously surviving in Greek, Syriac, Coptic) announcing the year's dates for Lent and Easter contain a wealth of pastoral and secular commentary. The 39th contains an important list of Old and New Testament books, distinguishing genuine and apocryphal. Along with his (fragmented) commentaries on Genesis and Psalms and the lost ones on Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, this undermines modern criticism of his supposed neglect of Biblical scholarship.

By general consent, his two most attractive works are the Apology for My Flight (refuting charges of cowardice) and the Life of St. Antony, the father of Christian monasticism, known personally to him, written (357) at monkish requests, the key text for asceticism, having a decisive influence on St. Augustine (Confessions 8.6.14). Other ascetic pamphlets included several on Virginity and one on Sickness and Health.

His great modern French Catholic exegete, Charles Kannengiesser, dubs Athanasius "the most dynamic leader of 4th-century Egyptian Christianity." Most telling, though, is this tribute from Edward Gibbon, no friend to the faith: "A high-minded and prudent leader of genius, constantly assailed by the false accusations and ignoble machinations of dishonest and mean-spirited adversaries."

FURTHER READING:

Athanasius garners 138,000 'Google' sites, including his Catholic Encyclopedia entry. Translations include those of the Life of Antony and Letter to Marcellinus by R.C. Gregg (New York, Toronto, 1980), the Incarnation by R. Thomson (Oxford, 1971), and various of the anti-Arian writings by W. Bright (Oxford 1873-1881). Apart from the books and articles of Kannengiesser, see T.D. Barnes, Athanasius and Constantine (Harvard, 1993); A. Peterson, Athanasius (London 1995); F.L. Cross, The Study of St. Athanasius (Oxford 1945).

TEXT FROM THE BREVIARY ON THE FEAST OF THE HOLY TRINITY: FROM THE FIRST LETTER OF ST. ATHANASIUS, BISHOP, TO SERAPION

Light, radiance, and grace are in the Trinity and from the Trinity.

I will not be out of place to consider the ancient tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church, which was revealed by the Lord, proclaimed by the apostles, and guarded by the fathers. For upon this faith the Church is built, and, if anyone were to lapse from it, he would no longer be a Christian either in fact or in name.

We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and created being. It is a wholly creative and energizing reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the Father makes all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit, and in this way the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved. Accordingly, in the Church, one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things. God is above all things as Father, for he is principal source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit.

Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God, the Father, saying: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.

Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word. For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father. Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word. This is the meaning of the text: My Father and I will come to him and make our home with him. For, where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its resplendent grace.

This is also Paul's teaching in his second letter to the Corinthians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit. Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit. But when we share in the Spirit we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

Barry Baldwin is Emeritus Professor of Classics at the University of Calgary