Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church (295–373)

Biography

Athanasius was exiled five times and had to live more than 16 years away from his homeland; On several occasions he was in danger of losing his life by the executioner's sword and by the hired assassin's dagger; Throughout his life he was persecuted, but he never betrayed the faith of Christ and the Church to buy his freedom. He was the son of the Alexandrian metropolis, born around the year 295. The most important work of his life was, without a doubt, the fight against Arius, who denied the Divinity of Christ, and had arrived in Alexandria wearing the tunic of an ascetic. In the year 325, the Council of Nicaea condemned the doctrine of Arius and excluded him from the community of the faithful. More than three hundred Bishops had gathered in Nicaea and one of their leaders was Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, who was accompanied by his deacon Athanasius, then his secretary. The Arians managed to convince the naive Constantine of the validity of their doctrine, so that he revoked the exile of Arius. Athanasius could not give his consent; and, naturally, all the wrath of the Arians was concentrated on him, achieving his deposition and banishment. The Catholic people who did not want to do without their pastor, made public protests, which were cruelly crushed. Athanasius retired to Rome and, 7 years later, with the enthusiastic participation of all the people, he was able to return to his Episcopal See. He took advantage of that brief period of peace to comfort the Bishops of the lands of the Nile and the monks of the desert who, upon better understanding his ideas, were recruited as new pastors for the vacant sees. From his hiding place, Athanasius ruled his diocese; His passionate circular letters were passed from hand to hand. Gray from struggle and suffering, he could no longer endure the long walk to reach the convents of the Nile, where his friends were, and preferred to hide in the cemetery of the city of Alexandria, near the tomb of his parents. Finally, pressure from the people forced Emperor Valens to lift the order of banishment, allowing the old saint, during the last years of his life, to stay in peace in his episcopal city until his death, which occurred on May 2, 373.