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Athanasius I of Alexandria [note 1] (c. 296–298 – 2 May 373), also called Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the Confessor, or, among Coptic Christians, Athanasius the Apostolic, was a Christian theologian and the 20th patriarch of Alexandria (as Athanasius I).
- He was the great early Christian defender of the full deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Humanly speaking, his defense of the deity of Christ as it had been confessed in the Nicene Creed of 325 and then subsequently developed in a number of his tracts and treatises was singularly used by God to preserve this fundamental Christian truth.
- He attended the Council of Nicea in 325. Probably born into a Christian home in Alexandria around the turn of the fourth century—likely no earlier than 299 AD—Athanasius was ordained a deacon in Alexandria in the 320s and, in this capacity, attended the Council of Nicaea in 325.
- His election to the role of bishop was controversial. When Alexander died in 328, Athanasius succeeded him as bishop in the face of opposition from the Arians in Alexandria, who teamed up with a group called the Melitians to prevent Athanasius being elected bishop.
- He was dismissed from his role as bishop for his support of the Nicene Creed. Despite the fact that the Nicene Creed was affirmed by an overwhelming majority at the Council of Nicaea, the Arians managed to worm their way back into positions of power and engineered the dismissal of key bishops who supported the Nicene Creed, including Marcellus of Ancyra, Eusthathius of Antioch, and Athanasius.
- Athanasius’ Life
- The Arian Controversy
- The Nicene Council
- Athanasius The Theologian and Bishop
Athanasius was born in the city of Alexandria sometime in the 290s. The city was a culturally vital city for the Roman Empire, being both a major focal point for education as well as the breadbasket for much of the East. It is one of the rare cities that had intellectual leaders from paganism, Hellenistic Judaism, and Christianity—all drawn to the ...
Arianismwas not a philosophy that sprang out of thin air. It came from a context based, on the one hand, on a reaction to an earlier heresy and, on the other hand, on theological ideas already in the bloodstream. One of the earliest heresies from the 2nd century is what we today call Modalism. The central idea in Modalism is to solve the tensions i...
The Council of Nicaea was not the first time the church had met in a council to decide on a controversial issue. This had occurred in Acts 15:1-35. What made Nicaea unique was the fact that it was called and enforced by Emperor Constantine and it attempted to bring together bishops from all known parts of the Christian world. This was not a regiona...
Alexander died and so Athanasius was elected to the bishopric of Alexandria on May 9th, 328. His election was immediately controversial, mostly because he was below the canonical age to take this office. He was also the target of opponents of the Nicene Creed, who worked to eliminate its conclusions of that the Father and Son were the same being. H...
- Ryan Reeves
St. Athanasius (born c. 293, Alexandria—died May 2, 373, Alexandria; feast day May 2) was a theologian, ecclesiastical statesman, and Egyptian national leader. He was the chief defender of Christian orthodoxy in the 4th-century battle against Arianism , the heresy that the Son of God was a creature of like, but not of the same, substance as ...
Aug 8, 2008 · The dispute began when Athanasius was the chief deacon assistant to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria.
Mar 28, 2008 · Summary. Fourth-century Alexandrian theology is more or less summed up in the writings of two theological giants, Athanasius, pope of Alexandria from 328 until his death in 373 (not counting various periods of deposition and exile), and Didymus the Blind, a scholar of enormous renown in his own day, who was appointed head of the Catechetical ...
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Apr 10, 2015 · Summary. For the medieval centuries and the Reformation, Athanasius was a prestigious yet shadowy figure, and gradually the controversies over his legacy resumed. The concern that Athanasius downplayed the humanity of the incarnate Jesus has influenced many modern assessments.
