St Athanasius: feast day

Source: jessicahof.wordpress.com --- Monday, May 02, 2016
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.2 May is the feast day of St Athanasius (c. 296-373) the 20th Patriarch of the See of Alexandria. Most of the early Christian saints were martyrs. Athanasius was one of the first saints to be canonised without that ordeal – although the early church, rightly, felt his entire life had been a martyrdom in the cause if orthodoxy. He first comes to our notice when Patriarch Alexander observed him playing on the sea shore with some friends. They were reenacting the Divine Liturgy on the beach, with Athanasius playing the part of the priest. The Patriarch was struck by this choice of play, and recognising something in the young boy, took him under his wing and brought him up in his household. This was at the time when Alexandria was the intellectual powerhouse of early Christianity, and Athanasius came to manhood at a time when one of the priests of the diocese, Arius, was preaching that Jesus was not one with the Father, but was, rather, the first of creation. Alexander tried to persuade Arius of his error, but proud of his learning, the priest preferred the ‘truth’ he had come to to the advice of his bishop. When the Emperor Constantine called the first great ecumenical council at Nicaea in 325, Athanasius went along as assistant to the ageing Alexander. The Council agreed that Christ was not ‘created’, but was rather ‘consubstantial’ with the Father. Despite this, within a few years, the Arians had rallied and, after the death of Co ...