The
Fathers of the Church spread the gospel of
Jesus Christ, defended the Church in apologetic writing and fought the many
heresies of the first six centuries of Christianity. These men, also called
Apostolic Fathers, gave special witness to the faith, some dying the death of a
martyr. Like Jesus who referred to Abraham as a spiritual father (Luke 16: 24)
and St. Paul, who referred to himself in the same terms (1 Corinthians 4: 15), the
Fathers were zealous for the word of God. Their writings are a testimony to the
faith of the early Church, yet many Christians are unfamiliar with the work of
Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, Justin the Martyr,
Irenaeus, Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian of Carthage, Athanasius, Ephraim, Cyril of
Jerusalem, Hilary of Poitiers or Gregory the Great to name of few of the early
Fathers. Periodically we will provide biographical information and examples of
the writing of these great men of faith. This page will focus on Athanasius.
Athanasius
(295-373 A.D.)
Born near Alexandria in
about 295 A.D., little is know of his early life, but that he was born into a
Christian family and was ordained a deacon in 319 A.D. He was privileged to
attend the great Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., which dealt with the Arian
heresy, initiated by Arius, a priest of Alexandria who spread this heresy
through his book, Thalia. The bishops produced the Nicene Creed, a
profession of faith, to combat it. It declared the Father and the Son to be
homoousios, a Greek word meaning of the same substance (as the Father). The
Creed contained an anathema against those who professed Arian beliefs, which
Arius and two other bishops refused to sign leading to their excommunication.
Athanasius served as secretary to his bishop, Alexander, at the Council. Three
years later, this champion of the Nicene doctrine, succeeded Alexander as Bishop
of Alexandria, Egypt. Athanasius spent much of his bishopric fighting the Arian
heresy, which claimed that Christ was not divine and eternal, but created and
temporal. Athanasius led orthodox forces in the great struggle from 325-381
A.D., which at times seemed that the Church itself would fall to the Arians.
Between 335 and 366, Athanasius was exiled five times by various Roman emperors
from his see at Alexandria, for a total of 17 years. He became a marked man as
the Arians gained dominance in the Eastern Church. When a military force was
sent to arrest him in 356 A.D., he fled to the Egyptian desert where for six
years he spent his third exile and became acquainted with some of the renown
desert monks, including Pachomius and St. Anthony. While there he wrote his
"Apology against the Arians" and a history of the Arians he wrote for the monks.
He wrote many other works, some of which are cited below. One of the most
notable is his "Four Letters to Serapion (359-360), in which he expounds his
understanding of the divinity and the doctrine of the procession of the Holy
Spirit. Athanasius defended the central mysteries of the Trinity and the
incarnation by means of revealed concepts, rather than by philosophical
constructs employed by the Arians. His heroic struggle ended in victory. He died
seven years afterwards in May, 373 A.D.
Apology Against the Arians [about 347
A.D.]
753 [76] "When Theogonis, Maris, Macedonius, Theodorus, Ursacius and Valens, as
if sent by the bishops who were assembled at Tyre came into our diocese,
alleging that they had been given a mandate to investigate certain ecclesiatical
matters, among which they also spoke of the breaking of the cup of the Lord,
they had been falsely informed by Ischyras, whom they brought with them, who
calls himself a presbyter [priest] but who is not a presbyter. For he was
ordained by the presbyter Colluthus who pretended to the episcopate [bishopric]
and who was afterwards ordered by the common synod of Ossius and other bishops
joined with him to be but a presbyter, as he formerly was. And as a consequence,
all those who had been ordained by Colluthus reverted to the same estate in
which they formerly were, and thus Ischyras himself, it would seem, is a
layman."
The Monk's History of Arian Impiety [ 358
A.D.]
759 [52] "If a decision was made by the bishops, what concern had the emperor
with it? Or if it was but a threat of the emperor, what need then was there of
the designated bishops? When in the world was such a thing ever heard of ? When
did a decision of the Church ever receive its authority from the emperor? Or
rather, when was his decree even recognized? There have been many councils in
times past, and many decrees made by the Church; but never did the Fathers seek
the consent of the emperor for them, nor did the emperor busy himself in the
affairs of the Church."
"The
Apostle Paul had friends among those who belonged to the household of Caesar,
and in writing to the Philippians he sent greetings from them: but never did he
take them as associates in his judgments. But now we witness a novel spectacle,
which is the discovery of the Arian heresy: heretics have assembled together
with the Emperor Constantius, so that he, by alleging the authority of the
bishops, may exercise his power against whomsoever he will, and while he
persecutes may yet avoid the name of persecutor."
766
[2, 59] "God's love of man is such that to those for whom first He is Creator,
He afterwards, according to grace, becomes a Father also. The latter He does
when men, who are His creatures, receive into their hearts, as the Apostle says,
the Spirit of His Son, crying 'Abba, Father' [Gal 4:6]. It is these who, by
their having received the Word, have gained from Him the power to become
children of God; for , being creatures by nature, they could not otherwise
become sons other than by receiving the Spirit of the natural and true Son. To
bring this about, therefore, the Word became flesh [John 1:14]--so that He might
make man capable of divinity."
Four Letters to Serapion of Thmuis
[359-360 A.D.]
779 [1, 20] "Inasmuch as there is in the Holy Trinity oneness of essence and
equality in rank, who then, would dare to separate either the Son from the
Father, or the Spirit from either the Son or the Father? Or who would be so rash
as to say that the Trinity is dissimilar and of diverse nature within Itself?
". . .
.Indeed, as the saying has it, the Godhead is not brought into proof with words,
but into faith and reverence in the company of prudent reasoning . . .Just as
the Son is the only-begotten, so also the Spirit, given and sent by the Son, is
one and not many; nor is He one comprised of many, but He alone is the Spirit;
for since the Son, the living Word, is one, so also must His sanctifying,
enlightening and life-giving Gift be one, perfect and complete--the Gift who is
said to proceed from the Father, because He shines forth from and is sent from
and is given by the Word, who is confessedly from the Father."
780 [1,
24] "We are all said to be partakers of God through the Holy Spirit. 'Do you not
know,' it says, 'that you are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in
you? If anyone ruins the temple of God, him will God ruin; for it is holy, this
temple of God, which is just what you are'" [1 Cor 2: 16-17].
782
[1, 28] "But what is also to the point, let us note that the very tradition,
teaching and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord
gave, was preached by the Apostles, and was preserved by the Fathers. On this
was the Church founded; and if anyone departs from this, he neither is nor any
longer ought to be called a Christian: there is a Trinity holy and perfect,
acknowledged as God, in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, having nothing foreign or
external mixed with It . . . It is consistent in Itself, indivisible in nature,
and Its activitiy is one. The Father does all things through the Word in the
Holy Spirit; and thus the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved; and thus there
is preached in the Church one God, "who is over all, and through
all, through the Word; and in all, in the Holy Spirit."
Letter Concerning The Councils of Rimini
and Seleucia [361/362 A.D.]
785 [5] "[The Fathers of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea], without prefixing
consulate, month, and day, wrote concerning Easter" 'The following has been
decided.' And it was at that time decided that all should comply. But concerning
matters of faith, they did not write: 'It has been decided,' but 'Thus the
Catholic Church believes.' And thereupon they confessed how they believed. This
they did in order to show that their judgment was not of more recent origin, but
was in fact of Apostolic times; and that what they wrote was no discovery of
their own, but is simply that which was taught by the Apostles." [Athanasius is
contrasting the Fathers of Nicaea to the Fathers of Seleucia, to the shame of
the latter, who wrote a dated creed which he charged demonstrated that their
faith was not from the Apostles but from the time of Emperor Constantius]
On the
Incarnation of the Word of God and Against the Arians [ca. A.D. 365]
788 [8]
"Accordingly, the Son of God became the Son of Man [Messianic title from Daniel
9], so that the sons of man, that is, of Adam, might become sons of God. The
Word begotten of the Father from on high, inexpressibly, inexplicably,
incomprehensibly and eternally, is He that is born in time here below, of the
Virgin Mary, the Mother of God--so that those who are in the first place born
here might have a second birth from on high, that is, of God. He, then, has on
earth only a Mother, while we have in heaven only a Father.
Sermon to
the Newly Baptised [ante A.D. 373]
802
"The great Athanasius, in his sermon to the newly baptized, says this:
You shall see the Levites [priests] bringing loaves and a cup of wine, and
placing them on the table. So long as the prayers of supplication and entreaties
have not been made, there is only bread and wine. But after the great and
wonderful prayers have been completed, the bread is become the Body, and the
wine the Blood, of our Lord Jesus Christ. And again: Let us approach
the celebration of the mysteries. The bread and the wine, so long as the prayers
and the supplications have not taken place, remain simply what they are. But
after the great prayers and holy supplications have been set forth, the Word
comes down into the bread and wine--and thus is the Body confected." [by the
action of the Holy Spirit]
Other Early Church Fathers and their Testimony