Athanasius’s Trinitarian-Incarnational Soteriology

Introduction: A Brief Life of Athanasius

There is no definitive life of Saint Athanasius and many of the alleged events of his life are disputed. Nonetheless, to understand Athanasius’s theology necessitates that we know, at least in summary, the doctrinal controversies of his time and how these debates affected him intellectually and personally. He did not live a tranquil life nor did he practice the art of theology within a serene environment.

Athanasius was born around 296 CE, though little can be ascertained for certain about his early life. During his youth both he and his mother were baptized, and Athanasius was subsequently educated by Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria. While studying contemporary philosophy and literature, his training, spiritually and intellectually, principally focused on the study and contemplation of Scripture. The defining event in Athanasius’s life, one that he surely did not fully appreciate at the time, was attending, as a young deacon, the Council of Nicaea with Bishop Alexander. The Council of Nicaea (325), which defined the full divinity of the Son of God, would become Athanasius’s cherished but incommodious friend who shadowed him throughout the course of his theological career and his ecclesial life. Nicaea would shape the whole of Athanasius’s theology, and his defense of the Nicene doctrine would become the political catalyst for his later exiles. Without Nicaea, Athanasius would not have become the Athanasius we know—either fondly or disparagingly. As we will see in our study, his loyalty to Nicaea fashioned him, then and throughout history, into either a doctrinal champion in the view of some or an ecclesial reprobate in the view of others.

Alexander died three years after the Council of Nicaea, and Athanasius became the bishop of Alexandria on April 17, 328. Athanasius inherited a very complex ecclesial and social situation. Because of the leniency with which Athanasius’s predecessors treated those who had lapsed during the Diocletian persecution in 313, Bishop Melitius of Lycopolis and his followers protested Athanasius’s election, instigating a schism within the Egyptian church. Moreover, Alexandria was one of the most vibrant cities in the Roman Empire, being a major port and the agricultural capital of the empire. It boasted the world’s largest library and was the academic home of the Stoics and Platonists. Not only did Egyptians inhabit this Roman-governed city, but also numerous Greeks, Jews, and other minority groups. Additionally, Alexandria was composed of pagan, Christian, Jewish, Gnostic, and Manichaean religious communities. This cosmopolitan mix of peoples, philosophies, and religions led to inevitable friction and even riots, everyone passionately competing for their rightful place within the polis. As the Christian bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius had to not only shepherd his own flock but also defend it within the chaotic civic life that was the Alexandria of his day.

Though Arius was condemned and exiled at the Council of Nicaea for denying the full divinity of Jesus, the emperor Constantine sought to bring him back. Bishop Alexander and, subsequently, Athanasius denied him full communion in the church. Many believe that it was at this time Athanasius wrote his first conjoined works, Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione, in which he expressed what he considered the true Gospel. Eusebius of Nicomedia, a sympathizer of Arius, and the Melitians renewed their attack on Athanasius, and, in response, Constantine called a council at Tyre. Composed mainly of Athanasius’s opponents, the council condemned him, upheld Arius’s theological position, and reinstated the Melitians. Athanasius appealed to Constantine, who was at first supportive. However, the emperor later exiled him to Gaul in  335,  causing  riots  to  break  out  in  Egypt  on  Athanasius’s  behalf. After Constantine’s death  two  years  later,  his  three  sons,  who  now governed  the  empire,  allowed  all  exiled  bishops  to  return  to  their respective dioceses. While Athanasius returned to cheering crowds, he was again soon under attack, resulting in a new bishop, Pistis, being elected in his place. Both Athanasius and Pope Julius protested the election because Pistis supported Arius. However, a new synod was held in Antioch, which installed another new bishop of Alexandria, Gregory, whose arrival in Alexandria caused riots even among the non-Christians. Athanasius fled to Rome at the invitation of Pope Julius. During this second exile, Athanasius wrote his major three-volume work, Orationes contra Arianos (339–43). This present study will focus, though not exclusively, on this work, for here Athanasius defends the divinity of Jesus as the Son of God by analyzing the disputed passages of Scripture.

Pope Julius called a synod in Rome hoping to reinstate Athanasius. However, this precipitated a whole series of counter synods that upheld an Arian or non-Nicene theological position and accused the Nicene Creed of being Sabellian—that is, sanctioning the view that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were merely various changeable expressions or modes of the one God and thus not truly “persons” in their own right. With the encouragement of Pope Julius, Emperor Constans held a council at Sardica in 343, which the Eastern “Arian” bishops refused to attend because of Athanasius’s presence. The Western bishops, in turn, excommunicated the Eastern bishops. Emperor Constantius in the East and Emperor Constans in the West attempted to reconcile the various factions by holding a council in Antioch in 344; all of this had little effect. Constantius did, in the end, permit Athanasius to return to Alexandria in 346, thus ending his exile and initiating his longest residency in Alexandria—ten years.

Athanasius’s return precipitated great jubilation among the populace of Alexandria. This joy was short lived, for Emperor Constans was assassinated by his general Magnetius, who later committed suicide when Emperor Constantius took up arms against him. Becoming the sole emperor, Constantius revived his anti-Nicene policies and so his opposition to Athanasius. Constantius called a number of councils, all of which condemned Nicaea’s doctrine that Jesus, as the Son of God, was homoousion (consubstantial) with the Father. Athanasius vigorously responded by writing his De Decretis (ca. 352–53) in which he staunchly defended the homoousion doctrine and the validity of the Council of Nicaea. However, Constantius’s tactics coerced many of the Western bishops to accept his pro-Arian doctrinal stance. Moreover, Constantius sent his secretary, Diogenes, to Alexandria to apprehend Athanasius. Because of Athanasius’s popular support, he was unsuccessful, but on February 8, 356, Diogenes, with the help of the Roman commander, launched a midnight raid on Athanasius and his congregation in the Church of Theonas. While Athanasius stealthily escaped with the help of his beloved monks and clergy, he now entered into his third exile (356–62).

While hiding among the desert monks, Athanasius wrote his Apologia ad Constantium and hoped to present it personally to the emperor. However, because Constantius also exiled all of the pro-Nicene Egyptian bishops as well as Pope Liberius, Athanasius abandoned his hope. The emperor deposed Athanasius and installed a new bishop who ruthlessly persecuted Athanasius’s defenders. Once again, various councils where held in the hope of finding some resolution to the various theological positions concerning the Son’s relationship to the Father. Bishop Basil of Ancyra proposed that the Son was homoiousios (of like nature) to the Father. However, the Western bishops, wanting to be loyal to Nicaea’s homoousion doctrine, recognized that such a proposal was inadequate, for while the Son may be like in nature to the Father, this could mean that he was not truly God as the Father is God. Once again, Constantius attempted to force his pro-Arian doctrine upon all parties. In the midst of all this theological chaos and political nastiness, Athanasius, from his monastic desert hideout, was his most prolific. Besides his Apologia ad Constantium, he also authored his Apologia de Fuga, Historia Arianorum ad Monacho, and De Synodis. He also wrote his very influential Vita Antonii as well as his letters Ad Serapionem, in which he defends the divinity of the Holy Spirit, specifying that the Holy Spirit is also homoousion with the Father and the Son. Constantius died in 360 and his cousin Julian became emperor. The current bishop of Alexandria, George, had so angered the populace that a mob killed him. Julian, in 362, allowed all exiled bishops to return to their sees, and so Athanasius returned, but his stay would once again be fleeting.

Athanasius worked in this period to reconcile all the conflicting theological parties and various opinions. Those who held that the Son was homoiousian (of like nature) with the Father spoke of there being three hypostases within the Trinity. Those who upheld the Nicene homoousion doctrine preferred to speak of one hypostasis. At the Council of Alexandria (362), all parties agreed that one could speak of three hypostases (persons) as long as the oneness of God was maintained and that one could equally speak of one hypostases (nature) as long as one did not deny the authentic distinction between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the council affirmed the full divinity of the Holy Spirit and that, within the incarnation, Jesus possessed not only a body but also a human soul or mind.

In the midst of these promising events, Emperor Julian, “the Apostate,” rejected Christianity and attempted to restore paganism. Fearing Athanasius’s theological and ecclesial standing, he stated that all bishops, while they could remain in their respective countries, could not govern their respective sees. He specifically said that Athanasius could not abide in Alexandria. This caused an outcry; Julian forced Athanasius to leave Egypt, resulting in his fourth exile. He resided again with his sympathetic desert monks and was able to return to Alexandria on the death of Julian in 363. Jovian, the new emperor, was friendly to Athanasius, but he died in 364 and was succeeded by Valentinian, who appointed his brother, Valens, as governor of the East. He opposed Nicaea and exiled all pro-Nicene bishops. Athanasius refused to leave and so Valens’s general besieged the Church of Dionysios only to find that Athanasius had fled. Within months, because of the political and religious unrest in Alexandria due to Athanasius’s absence, Valens allowed him to return.

Athanasius lived the remainder of his life in relative tranquility. Even when an anti-Nicene bishop came to Alexandria, so fervent were Athanasius’s supporters that the bishop had to be ushered out of the city under military guard. During these years, Athanasius primarily concerned himself with christological issues, writing the letters Ad Adelphium and Ad Epictetum. Athanasius died on May 2, 373, having spent seventeen of his forty-six years as bishop in exile. He died assured that the Nicene Creed, for which he suffered and had spent his life espousing and defending, had prevailed.

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