Sainted Athanasius the Great of Alexandria: biography, history and bibliography

St Athanasius the Great (ca. 295-373 gg.) Was one of the prominent church figures who belonged to the Alexandria School of Patristics. At first he was the receiver of Alexander the Patriarch of Alexandria, replacing him at the department. Athanasius the Great was known as the most striking opponent of Arianism. By the year 350 AD. E. Was almost the only bishop of the Roman Empire (more precisely, the eastern half) of the non-Arian sense, who was exiled and exiled several times. He is ranked among the saints and is revered in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic Churches.

Saint Athanasius the Great

Athanasius was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. As a boy, his mother took him to the temple to Patriarch Alexander and gave it to the service of God. He was a very capable and intelligent youth, zealously fulfilling the commandments of God.

In 319, after 6 years of his ministry in the church as a reader, the Patriarch blessed the young man for the deacons of the Alexandrian Church.

In 325, Athanasius the Great accompanied St. Alexander at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea as secretary. And there they very actively participated in the harsh heretical disputes about the nature of Christ. Arianism was condemned, Arius himself was expelled, as a symbol of faith, the assertion of a consubstantial Trinity sounded.

At the same time Athanasius begins to write his first works. He did not see piety in those who came to the church of Christ, since many of them were idle talk, idle talk, sought for glory for themselves, brought to their Christian life their pagan customs and wrong faith.

Arius

The conceited Arius said all blasphemes and derogatory words about Jesus and the Mother of God, believing that Christ is not equal to God. He also taught the people unacceptable to the Church for Christ's things, thereby anger the popular masses. The number of followers of this heresy increased, and therefore they were called Arians. The false teaching spread by them overwhelmed the entire Christian Church.

In 326, Patriarch Alexander died. Instead of him, Bishop Athanasius was elected. He took his business very seriously, spoke to the people a lot, denouncing the Arians and fighting with their non-Christian dogmas. Arians, in turn, began to slander him.

Constantine the Great

At that time, the Roman Empire was ruled by Constantine I the Great (306-337 gg.), Who won in 324 a victory over the insidious co-driver of the pagan Licinius. Constantine was considered a true patron of the Christian Church. He wanted to convert Christianity into a state religion. This ruler was well versed in state affairs and was an excellent diplomat, but did not know the Gospel exercises, so it was difficult for him to decide where the truth was, and where was the lie, and what better choice - Arianism or Orthodoxy? Taking advantage of this uncertainty in views, heretics penetrated all posts and whispered to him all sorts of rumors and gossip, arranged conspiracies and splits.

Constantine was a supporter of the consolidation of power, but began to receive mutual complaints from the supporters of Aria, then from the supporters of Athanasius. In Egypt, it took on more violent forms, people began tripling skirmishes in the streets.

A blatant lie

Against Archbishop Athanasius, a whole war unfolded, he was accused of being a criminal, a sorcerer and a fornicator, who does not obey the ruler and does illegal things.

The case once reached the point of absurdity when he was accused of using all sorts of sorcery by means of a severed dead hand belonging to the cleric Arseniy. Arseny was a reader, at that time for some misconduct he was hiding from the authorities, but when he heard that Athanasius the Great was slandered, he appeared before the court unharmed. So the supporters of the Arians were convicted of lies.

But for them this lie was not enough, and they added one more, bribing some shameless person who declared that Saint Athanasius wanted to abuse her. A friend of Athanasius, Timothy, listening to this door, was an infamous accusation, suddenly entered the courtroom and appeared before the woman, as if he was Afanasy, with the words: "My dearest, forgive me for having committed violence over you this night." The false witness screamed in hysteria that she would never forgive this intruder and the corrupter of her purity. The judges saw the comedy, laughed and drove it away.

The saint was acquitted by the emperor and sent to the Alexandrinsky pulpit.

Persecution and persecution

Emperor Constantine saw the depth of hostility that could develop into a real religious war, and then he asked St. Athanasius to leave for a while.

Meanwhile, in 330, Arianism began to be supported by the state, Constantine summoned from the exile Eusebius of Nicomedia, and then Aria.

In 335, Athanasius condemned the Tyrian Cathedral. He was again falsely accused of involvement in the murder of the Meletian priest Arseny and exiled to Trier. But after the death of Emperor Constantine in 337, he was returned to his homeland from his exile.

The Emperor Constantius

The second son of Constantine Constantius became the emperor. The entire imperial court stood for the Arian, the persecution of Orthodox Christians began, the bishops exiled, the unathous people began to occupy the thrones. Athanasius the Great fled to Rome for three years.

In exile, he met with Saint Servatius, who became his reliable defender in disputes with the Arian heresy at the Sardikia Cathedral.

In 340 he was re-expelled. He returns to the Alexandrian pulpit only in 345 after the death of Bishop Gregory. But in 356 again he is condemned by the Milan Cathedral, after which he flies to the upper Egypt and hides there until 361, until the Emperor Constantius dies.

More than 20 years, Athanasius the Great spent in exile, then hiding, then returning to his native place. At that time Reverend Anthony and Pachomius strongly supported him. Later he will write a book about it.

Athanasius, being a bishop, did not recognize the equal existence of the orthodox and Arian branches of Christianity.

God's Judgment

Over time, the Lord judged everything by his fair trial: Arius and the heretical companions were punished, and the wicked king perished. After him was replaced by Julian the Apostate, after him was the revered Johvijan the Pious, after Valens, who in many ways did harm to the Church, but frightened of the mutiny, allowed Afanasy to return to the Alexandrian pulpit and peacefully and quietly manage it until the end of his days. Bishop Athanasius the Great rested on May 2, 373, at the age of 76.

For 46 years he was a bishop of Alexandria, persecuted and slandered. But he always returned to preach the gospel truth about Christ the Savior.

Athanasius the Great: creations

The essence of his theology was that God became a man in order for man to become God. Afanasii the Great spent all his life defending the truth. "On the incarnation of the Word" - his work, which became the central text of Christianity, describing without any excesses the entire doctrine of Christ.

Bishop Athanasius was the first to record the experience of the Fathers of the Hermits in the book "The Life of Antony." The devotee does what the philosopher simply says. He contrarians to the philosophy of Athanasius the Great. "Interpretation of the Psalms" was a brilliant classic work of patristic exegesis, which allows reading texts and correctly understand their true meaning and meaning.