St. Athanasius
"Athanasius is a pillar of the Church, angelic in appearance and even more
angelic in his mind." - Gregory Nazianzen
The Book of Psalms is like a garden containing things of all these kinds, and it
sets them to music, but also exhibits things of its own that it gives in song
along with them.
Athanasius
Athanasius stands out as one of the most prominent and influential
theologians in the Christian east. He was born about 297 in Alexandria and
attended the Nicean council of 325 as the assistant to Bishop Alexander of
Alexandria. About three years after the council he succeeded Alexander as
Bishop.
Athanasius grasped the importance and the intricacies of the Christological
controversy that the Nicean Creed addressed. He became the chief spokesperson
for the position of the council on the nature of Christ. For the bulk of the
next fifty years, he would be the point person for debate on the issue. He
created a number of treatises on the subject that are now the standard
explanation of the Church.
This ground breaking work came at a great cost for Athanasius. He was exiled
from Alexandria five times over the years and spent about as much time away from
his episcopal seat as in the city. Athanasius would not be considered a diplomat
by temperament, and those who opposed the Nicean council's decision frequently
held powerful positions in government. These two factors caused Athanasius'
multiple exiles.
Arian Controversy
Arius taught that the essence of God was one and indivisible. Thus the son
of God we encounter in scripture could not be of one essence with the father.
Only the essence of God is eternal and preexistent, so the son had to have a
moment of "creation." Arius expressed this by saying there was a time when the
son was not. This makes Jesus an exalted creature, a created being, not an
integral part of the God head. This son of God is born outside of our time and
is preeminent over us, but Jesus is still created. The son's status as God is a
title of this preeminence, not an expression of his essence.
Arius
supports this subordination of the Son by
pointing to numerous passages in scripture
that patently make no sense if Jesus is
divine. In the Garden, Jesus experiences
fear and grief. (Mt 26:38) On the cross he
asks why God has forsaken him. (Mt 27:46)
He does not know when time will be
fulfilled, only the father does. (Mk 13:4)
If the Son is one in essence with the God
head how could he NOT know the day of the
Lord's coming.
The
Nicean council rejects Arius' position in
325. Writing in defense of the councils
creed Athanasius makes two basic arguments
to defend the divinity of Christ: Only God
can save us, so if Christ saves he must be
God. And only God can be worshiped, clearly
Christ is worshiped in the Church from the
beginning, so he must be God.
These
two points establish the divine nature of
Christ, but don't answer the specific
problems encountered by the human like
passages that Arius used in his position.
Athanasius points out that Christ is BOTH
human and Divine. So we have in scripture a
combined double account of his life. This
mingling of both the human and Divine nature
was necessary as the very method to save
us. Because Christ has clothed humanity
with divinity, we can share in that divine
nature as well when we join ourselves to
Christ in baptism.
The
Desert Life
In
addition
to his continual work against Arius,
Athanasius had a strong affinity for the
monastic life in the desert. During his
periods of exile he would return to the
desert life in community. He personally
knew the famous spiritual leader and monk of
the desert Antony. Antony fell asleep in
the lord during one of Athanasius' exiles
from Alexandria, so he composed a "The life
of Antony" to preserve his memory and
teaching. The treatise provides the
introduction to the life of discipline from
the Egyptian desert. Antony provides the
method of spiritual discipline and accounts
of his own struggle with demons. The work
is intended as an introduction to the desert
spiritual life for those who wish to follow
in Antony's footsteps.
On the
Canon of Scripture
Athanasius has a key role in our
understanding of the formation of the New
Testament canon of scripture. He provides
the earliest surviving complete listing of
NT books and some brief comments on the
canon in his "Thirty-ninth Festal Letter."
Written as a Paschal pastoral letter for
369, he warns the faithful not to accept
those new books purporting to be scripture
floating around.
He
specifically lists the twenty-seven books we
have as the New Testament as the only ones
accepted by the Church and asks his faithful
to ignore the rest. During this time, there
were a lot of books circulating about the
life of Christ and the apostles that are not
accepted as scripture. They were produced
by Christian groups that ultimately split
off from the Church because of their
teachings.
When
listing the Old Testament he does not
include all of the books we have in the
canon now, but he qualifies his list by
saying, "Thus far this constitutes the Old
Testament." The debate was apparently still
open for the OT canon in his time, while the
NT appears to be in the final form.
On the
Psalms
Athanasius
wrote volumes of personal letters on
spiritual topics, a number of these are
still preserved for us. One of the longer
letters is the one to Marcellinus discussing
the Psalms. Here we see the role the
Psalter played in the prayer life of the
Church from an early period. Athanasius
recounts what he learned from a spiritual
father about the Psalter to Marcellinus. He
notes that the Psalter is the book for
prayer and meditation because it
recapitulates the entire OT in song.
The
letter notes that the Psalms have a personal
directness that holds up a mirror to the
person praying. They allow our prayer to
reach God with the very words of the Holy
Spirit, but in a personal appeal from our
own condition at the same time.
Conclusion
Athanasius was a controversial figure
throughout his life. He stood up for the
Nicean doctrine and suffered for taking this
stand. His work brought life and vital
expression to the most complex theological
issue of the day. And his works on the
subject are still the standards to learn and
defend the Nicean creed. His treatise "On
the Incarnation" stands apart as the
consummate expression on the nature of
Christ.
Athanasius had a firm grasp of both the
human and divine found in the gospels on
Christ. His work is a continuing example
for us. Even today, we face a Christian
world that would over emphasis the human
aspect of Christ in a way similar to the
Arians. The current concentration on
historical and cultural research into the
Gospels pushes some towards an almost
exclusively human Jesus. Athanasius
understood that the divine and human natures
of Christ are both present and perfected as
seen in the Gospel accounts.
Quasten, Johannes. Patrology: The beginnings
of Patristic literature. Vol. 1. Utrecht:
Spectrum Publishers, 1962.
Simonetti, Manlio. Biblical interpretation
in the early church: an historical
introduction to patristic exegesis.
Translated by John A. Hughes. Edinburgh: T&T
Clark, 1994.
Torrance, Thomas F. Divine meaning: Studies
in patristic hermeneutics. Edinburgh: T&T
Clark, 1995.
Tsirpanlis, Constantine N. Introduction to
eastern patristic thought and Orthodox
theology. Vol. 30 Theology and life series.
Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press: A
Michael Glazier Book, 1991.
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