The Life Of St.Athanasius 27
THE LIFE OF ST. ATHANASIUS
"Believe not every spirit" (1 John 4:1). That is the way our adversaries operate. All these heretical novelties are like that; they all have the devil as the father of their subtleties. And remember, he changed and became a liar and a murderer back in ages past. But since they are ashamed to claim his [the devil's] hateful name, they usurp the glorious Name of our Savior "which is above every name." They deck themselves out in the language of Scripture, saying the words, but robbing them of their true meaning. Thus,. disguising their false intentions by some trick, they become the murderers of those whom they have led astray.®
REAFFIRMATION OF NICAEA
In November, 361, Constantius died. Julian, a pagan, had already taken power in the West, and he now became sole emperor. One of his first acts was to recall all the bishops exiled by Constantius, and on February 21, 362, Athanasius appeared openly in Alexandria. There he held a godly council in Alexandria to deal with how to restore peace in the church. That council was the crowning achievement of his life, and it led to great unity in the church and a reaffirmation of the Nicaean Creed.
One great accomplishment of this council was the clearing up of misunderstandings that had arisen from differing uses of the Greek word hypostasis (essence or substance). Through the wise guidance of Athanasius, the whole matter was thoroughly discussed. Both parties agreed that they believed the same thing and both endorsed the Creed of Nicaea.* But Julian, openly espousing his paganism, was afraid of Athanasius' power in Egypt. He ordered him out, and again the venerable saint had to flee for his life, this time on October 23,
362. Prophesying Julian's soon demise, he said, "Be of good heart; it is only a cloud, and will soon pass away."
It was during this exile that Athanasius, heading up the Nile ina boat, heard that government soldiers were not far behind. He had the boat turned around and soon met his pursuers. Not knowing to 3Paraphrased from St. Athanasius: Select Works and Letters, p. 224.
4For a full and interesting account, see "Synodal Letter to the People of Antioch," ibid., pp. 483-486.
THE RESURRECTION LETTERS
whom he spoke, the leader of the pursuit called across to Athanasius, "Have you any news of Athanasius?"
The good bishop himself gave the reply, "He is not far off."
The boats passed without further incident.
When Julian died the next summer, Athanasius went to see Jovian, the new emperor, at Edessa. He left with an imperial letter restoring him as bishop of Alexandria. Again he resumed his efforts on behalf of the church—locally and everywhere. He had hardly arrived home when Jovian died from inhaling the fumes ofa charcoal fire at a wayside inn.
ONE LAST EXILE
An army officer named Valentinian became emperor, and he gave the eastern half of the empire to his brother, Valens. The latter soon fell under the influence of Arians, and that heresy thereby had its last major thrust. Once again an order was sent out to expel
Athanasius. By now the people were most exasperated with the repeated harrassment of their bishop, and riots broke out.
Athanasius left town ahead of the imperial officers and again hid near Alexandria. But this was a short exile. He left on October 5,
365, and the unrest of the people brought his recall on February 1, 366.
Thus Athanasius was back from his fifth and last exile. He cared for his flock and continued to write, although most of the writing in his old age was contained in letters dealing with doctrinal topics.
Two of his last works were against the views of Apollinaris, who had once been his close friend. Apollinaris had begun to teach that Christ took a body with soul, but that the place of the human spirit was taken by the Word (the divine person of the Son), thus leaving the Incarnation incomplete. Athanasius, aware of the relationship of salvation to the nature of Christ, could not let such an error pass.
THE FINAL YEARS
Time passed, and Athanasius, undoubtedly feeling the weight of old age, looked forward more and more to his eternal home. His
Easter Letter of 371 quotes the Letter to the Hebrews: " 'For we
THE LIFE OF ST.ATHANASIUS
have here no abiding city, but we seek that which is to come.' " By 373, Athanasius had been bishop for forty-five years, spending almost twenty of those years in exile. In a surviving fragment of his
Easter Letter of that year, we find these words:
. whereas we were once strangers, we are called friends; though we were formerly aliens, we have become fellow citizens with the saints, and are called children of the heavenly Jerusalem, that great city of which the one Moses built is a picture. For if Moses made everything according to the pattern shown him in the mountain, then the worship and service carried out in the tabernacle was a type of the heavenly mysteries. And the Lord, wanting us to enter that heavenly city, prepared a new and permanent way for us to do so. And, just as all those ancient Mosaic practices were types or shadows of the new, so our present Easter
Festival is a type of the joy of heaven. Therefore, let us begin the pre-Easter fasts with psalms and spiritual songs, aiming joyfully for the Feast to come.
So on May 2, 373, this great hero of the faith (wrote a contemporary), "departed this life in a wonderful manner."
Amen.
PART II THE LETTERS
THE FIRST LETTER
A.D. 329
AN EXHORTATION TO A
PROPER CELEBRATION OF
THIS PROPER SEASON
INTRODUCTION TO THE
FIRST LETTER
Athanasius became bishop in 328, and his first Easter Letter was written the following year. The tone of his episcopal ministry is set right away, as he issues a trumpet call to the highest holy day of Christendom. On this particular Easter he urges his flock to celebrate the day because it is specifically set aside by God. He wants no mistake about the fact that this is not some humanly chosen day. It is the Christian Passover, given by God.
But that isn't all. He writes of the preparatory fast—and he gets tough! Yes, one should abstain from food, for that is appropriate in preparing one's heart and mind for the celebration.
At the same time, however, he makes it abundantly clear that a mere ritual abstention from food has no inherent worth. Better, give attention to being right in your heart and behaving in an upright manner. "Many people," he points out, "though they go through the motions of a fast, are still polluted in their hearts because they do evil against their brothers and sisters or because they dare to cheat."
Both of these points need to be heard by the church in our day. Many, it seems, do not have a heartfelt grasp of the season as holy unto the Lord, or of Easter as that Great Eucharist of the year. We, too, need to hear the exhortation of the apostle
Paul: "Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness" (1 Cor. 5:7,8).
Fasting as a holy exercise seems to be out of fashion today. In
INTRODUCTION TO RESURRECTION LETTER
fact, most people think of fasting only as a way to lose weight.
Too many who fast during this season or any other do it simply as an exercise of obligation. There is no self-examination or penitence involved in their fasts. But worst of all, holy thoughts and actions are seldom attached to fasting these days.
Things can and should be different, however. Remember what St. James wrote: "Pure and undefiled religion is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27).
LETTER I A.D. 329
Come, dear brothers and sisters. We are nearing the season of the Easter Feast. Once again "the Sun of Righteousness"
(Mal. 4:2) reminds us that the day of celebration of Easter is coming. If we celebrate it, in obedience to Him, then after it's all over we will be happy. For it is our duty and obligation to remember and heed the day every year, just as St. Paul taught his disciple Timothy to be aware of dates, saying, "Stand ready in season, and out of season" (2 Tim. 4:2).
Paul wrote that, of course, so that Timothy would do things when they were supposed to be done and avoid the blame for doing things at the wrong time. In the same way, the God of all has set times and seasons for everything (Eccles. 3:1), so that in due time salvation would be brought to people everywhere.
GOD KNOWS THE RIGHT TIME
Thus, for instance, at the right time—not the wrong time— the "Wisdom of God" (1 Cor. 1:24), our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ, "passed into holy souls, making them friends of God, and prophets."! Very many people were praying for the coming of Christ, saying with the psalmist, "O that the salvation of God would come out of Zion!" (Ps. 14:7) and praying as the spouse did in Solomon's Song, "O that you were like a brother to me, that nursed at my mother's breasts" (Song of Solomon 8:1). And 1Wisdom 7:27.
LETTERI
the meaning of that prayer is, "O that you were like human beings and would take on human nature for our sake." After all, it was God who set up times and seasons, and He knows our needs better than we do. Because He loves us, He exhorts us to do right things at right times so that we may be healed. Thus, when the appropriate time came, the Father sent the Son, just as He had promised through Isaiah the prophet, "In a favorable time I have answered you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you" (Isa. 49:8). For the same reason, the blessed apostle Paul, urging us to keep Easter—this season of the feast of our salvation — wrote: "Behold, now is the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2).
THE LORD'S TRUMPET CALL
Back in Old Testament days the Lord called Israel to festivals (one of which, brothers and sisters, is now at hand) at certain times of the year: "Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to me" (Exod. 23:14). The people were called to these celebrations by the blowing of trumpets with great ceremony. The psalmist, for example, gave the command, "Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day" (Ps. 81:3).
Sometimes the trumpets called the people to celebration, sometimes to fasting, and sometimes to war. Always the call was solemn and serious, because none of these matters are commonplace. Yes, the call of the trumpet was reserved for serious occasions so that the people would come together when called.
You don't have to take my word for it, for the Scriptures tell us, "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Make yourself two trumpets of silver, of hammered work you shall make them; and you shall use them for summoning the congregation" (Num.
10:1). All of this was for the time of Moses and indeed, as long afterward as the Lord dealt with Israel in preparation for the coming of the Savior. It all had to do with properly following the Lord "till the time of reformation" (Heb. 9:10). For the Lord said, "When you go to war in your land against the adversary who attacks you [for these commands have to do with the promised land, and nothing more], then you shall sound an