ATHANASIUS THE GREAT

On May 15, when half of the most beautiful month of spring has already passed, the Church celebrates the memory of St. Athanasius of Alexandria (298-373). The biblical characteristic of time is irreversibility. The passage of any important period in the language of the Church is literally called “mid-time.” The Memorial Day of Athanasius, which falls on mid-May, is extremely important to remember.

Saint Athanasius was the bishop of Alexandria. Founded by the Apostle Mark, the ancient Church of this Egyptian capital saw many holy primates: Dionysius, Peter, Alexander, Timothy, Cyril, Proterius, Apollinaris, Eulogius, John the Merciful, and many others. “A great multitude and a great cloud of witnesses,” as the New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews figuratively writes about the saints of God (cf. Heb. 12:1). Perhaps Saint Athanasius was the greatest among them. He entered the memory of the Church under the name of Athanasius the Great.

Throughout his life, Athanasius defended the dogma of consubstantiality, professed and taught that the Logos, the Son of God, God, who became man in Christ Jesus, is eternal, uncreated and of one essence with God the Father. This confession saved Christianity from dissolution in the “pagan monotheism” of Arianism and its heirs, and preserved its biblical, New Testament uniqueness. It was accepted and approved by the Church at the First Ecumenical Council in 325 in Nicaea. Athanasius participated in it while in the rank of deacon. Theology calls the dogma as presented by Athanasius “Nicene Orthodoxy.”

Athanasius was repeatedly exiled. In total, he was in exile from his diocesis for about 20 years. He lived a long life at that time, a little more than 75 years, and died to the Lord in 373. Athanasius was a kindly man, but he was passionate for the truth, he was both meek and firm. A friend of the monastics, it was he who compiled the life of Anthony the Great. Under Athanasius, the Church was just emerging from the era of persecution. The image of the father of the monks, Anthony, became for subsequent generations an example of asceticism, which ancient Christianity perceived as a voluntary continuation of the persecution and martyrdom of the first three centuries.

Among the many saints commemorated by the Church, this Society of Believers, only a very few received the name “Great”. These are bishops Athanasius, Basil, Leo of Rome, Pope Gregory I and teachers of monasticism Antonius, Pachomius, Arsenius, Macarius, and a few others. This name undoubtedly testifies to their special significance in the formation of the Orthodox Christian tradition, the foundations of spiritual life and asceticism. Athanasius is called great for his role in defending the dogma of the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father and the decrees of the Council of Nicaea.

The remembrance of Saint Athanasius (+373) is a universal tribute to the memory of the Alexandrian Church. Egypt and Alexandria made precious, inestimable contributions to the birth, development and spread of Christianity, which was mature, intellectually and spiritually strong and convincing. Athanasius was a righteous man of biblical proportions, a man of strong will, a hero of dogmatic truth. On May 15 (2 according to the Julian calendar) Athanasius departed to the Lord. Back then, Christians called the day of death “birthday.”

The name Athanasius literally translates as “immortal.” This is an indication of how intensely Christians then thought about immortality, in reproach to our times, when the same root word about euthanasia is heard so often. Athanasius personifies that great time when the Universe expected that Christianity would soon be preached everywhere and the whole world would believe forever.

However, in 536, the Alexandrian Church was split in two; there were two parallel hierarchies (!), each of which had its “own” bishops and its “own” Patriarch. The reason for this division, which exists to this day, was the rejection by a significant part of Egyptian monks and believers of the decrees of the IV Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon in 451 regarding the human essence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The capital, which then numbered about 300,000 inhabitants, remained in communion with Ecumenical Orthodoxy. Egypt, with approximately 5 million Christians, became, as they said then, “Monophysite.” The Egyptians broke off communication with Constantinople but continued to call themselves Orthodox. Thus, “Coptic”, that is, in literal etymology, “Egyptian” Christianity gradually formed. Just as after the demarche of Martin Luther (1483–1546), Western Christianity gradually divided into Roman Catholicism and Protestantism, a thousand years earlier Eastern Christianity was divided into “Two Orthodoxies.” For both churches, the Orthodox Chalcedonian and the Orthodox Coptic, Athanasius was the Holy Father of the Church and the Great Patriarch. Therefore, he is not only the Father of the Church, but also the Father of Churches.

Under the Ecumenical Patriarch Germanus (715–730), the relics of Athanasius were transferred to Constantinople. After all, in 641 Alexandria was taken by the Arabs. The Coptic population surrendered the City without resistance. They saw the Arab Muslim army as liberators and believed that Christian Egypt would face revival and prosperity. But in the end, the former Christian greatness of Alexandria was rapidly declining. In 828, the relics of the Apostle Mark left the city towards Venice. Archaeologists tell us that there are almost no traces of the ancient and Byzantine presence in Alexandria. The remembrance of the ancient great Fathers of the Alexandrian Church is like a birthday, a sad holiday.