Saint of the Day - St. Athanasius

I hope my loyal readers are enjoying this Saint of the Day segment as much as I enjoy bringing it to you.  The Saints are powerful help to us in our lives; and as we one day hope to live in complete communion with them, it does us a great deal of good now to know and rely on them.  Christians of all persuasions can profit from the knowledge of their lives and teachings of these Saints (especially those who come to us from the first millennium, before the Church was torn apart; first, East from West; then Protestant from Catholic).  Indeed, even the most hardened secularist is bound to acknowledge that the lives of these Saints not only had impact on the events of their time, but on the very fabric of Western culture.  To attempt to unravel the thread of Christianity from the tapestry of Western Civilization is to leave one holding a very threadbare rag indeed. 

Today’s Saint understood the importance of culture in the promotion of faith – Saint Athanasius.  St. Athanasius was truly one of the giants of fourth century Christianity, a great opponent of the Arian heresy (which denied the Trinitarian nature of God.)  St. Athanasius was Archbishop of Alexandria for 45 years (17 of which were spent in five separate exiles, for upholding orthodoxy.)  He was a renowned Church leader and theologian, whose many influential writings are still read today.  St. Athanasius is recognized and venerated as a Saint by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Churches, the Anglican Communion and the Lutherans.  He is venerated by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches as a Great Doctor of the Church (in the East, he is also recognized as the Father of Orthodoxy); and some Protestant denominations hail him as the “Father of the Canon.”

 

Scholarship on St. Athanasius has veered back and forth over the centuries; but we are now reliably certain that he was born into a Christian family in 297 AD (he speaks in his writings about an aunt who taught him much about the faith.)  Scholars also believe (on account of the references in his writings) that he received an excellent classical education as well.  His ability and faith must have been evident, because he became a protégé of the then Archbishop of Alexandria, Alexander.  Athanasius was ordained to the priesthood; and he served as Alexander’s secretary at the First Council of Nicea, where Arianism was first condemned.  Athanasius’ fame as a theologian spread quickly, and he was the natural choice to succeed Alexander as Archbishop, when Alexander died in 328. 

Athanasius spent some the early years of his Archbishopric traveling and he met some of the early Desert Fathers, including Pachomius and Antony.  This Antony ( later St. Antony the Great) is recognized as the Father of Monasticism.  The extreme asceticism and devotion to God of the early monks was an inspiration to early Christianity throughout the world.  St. Athanasius was important in the spread of monasticism through his treaty Vita Antonii (Life of Antony).  This life of the Desert Father is not so much a biography (although it does sketch out the rudiments of Antony’s life) as map of Antony’s spiritual quest to know God.  St. Athanasius’ Life of Antony was influential in the growth of monasticism throughout the Mediterranean basin.

As noted earlier, St. Athanasius is also revered as the “Father of the Canon.”  Up until this time, the New Testament Scriptures might contain whatever gospels and Pauline letters were available, plus additional writings (gospels, letters, apocalypses) that were local or accepted.  St. Athanasius was the first to codify the same 27 New Testament books as we have today, defending them in a famous letter written in 367.  Not long after the reigning pope, Damasus I, also endorsed this list, which was subsequently confirmed by a church council.

 

So what does Athanasius have to say to us today?  Perhaps it is that what we really believe is important, and that when those beliefs involve our relationship to God and the saving grace of Jesus Christ, they are of a paramount importance.  Not just as some esoteric creed, but as fundamental truth on which we build our lives and act in the world.  Athanasius, through his own asceticism and his embrace of the monasticism embodied in the Desert Fathers, showed how the Word could be embraced in both the spirit and the flesh.  He is a powerful intercessor for all those who truly seek to be disciples of the Lord.

Marian Prayer of St. Athanasius

It is becoming for you, O Mary, to be mindful of us, as you stand near Him Who 

bestowed upon you all graces, for you are the Mother of God and our Queen.   

Come to our aid for the sake of the King, the Lord God and Master Who was born 

of you.  For this reason you are called “full of grace.”  Be mindful of us, most holy 

Virgin, and bestow on us gifts from the riches of your graces, O Glorious Virgin.   

Through Christ, our Lord.   Amen.

Prayer to St. Athanasius

Glorious St. Athanasius, you defended our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ as true 

God and true man at a time when false teachings about His divinity were 

spreading within the Church.  I ask, you, St. Athanasius, to pray for us that we 

may always recognize and proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ, God and man; and 

that those who do not recognize this truth may be swiftly reconciled.  Pray that 

God may anoint their minds to understand their need for Jesus to save them 

from sin.  Pray that their hearts may be filled with a hunger for a love greater 

than what they can find within themselves.  Intercede for us with the Father that 

we may be protected in our search for Truth.  St. Athanasius, pray for us, that 

trusting solely in the grace of the Eternal Word, Who took Himself our humanity, 

that we might share in His Divinity.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

Who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and 

ever.  Amen.