May 2 is the feast day of Saint Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria. He's not a common name, but we owe his influence to the development of the Nicene Creed as we know it and say it each Sunday.
Although in 313 Constantine made Christianity a favored religion instead of a persecuted one, infighting over doctrine nearly destroyed what we now consider Christianity. The fracas over whether Jesus was truly God was so intense that in 325 Constantine commanded bishops to come to Nicea (near Constantinople) to thrash out their differences. So 317 bishops came to argue their doctrinal points. As a sidenote: observe who was not invited: desert fathers and mothers, laypeople, women. This is the Imperial Church, so the hierarchy was in evidence. Enter Athanasius of Alexandria, a deacon under Alexander, the bishop of that city in Egypt, who accompanied him to Nicea. Athanasius was probably Coptic; he spoke that language. This would have made him a member of a lower class of Egyptian. He was called the black dwarf, because he was dark-complected and short. He was also connected to the desert monks, particularly to Anthony, whom he claimed to visit and to serve. He adapted a monastic lifestyle and was in touch with the common people. Athanasius began writing against the Arian heresy that Jesus was not fully God. He also used the analogy of Jesus as an emperor visiting a city, thereby giving not only the house where he stayed but also the entire city his protection and special honor. He became bishop of Alexandria when Alexander died. It was not a cushy job; depending on whether the emperor was pro-Arian or pro-Nicean, Athanasius was in Egypt or in exile or hiding out in the desert. He died in 373, not living to see the final victory of his ideas in 381 at the Council of Constantinople. But his writing affected not only his own time, but later eras. Augustine, after reading Athanasius’s Life of Anthony, was converted to Christianity. And every Sunday around the world we Christians affirm what Athanasius believed. Prayer: O Lord, who established your servant Athanasius, through wisdom, in your truth: Grant that we, perceiving the humanity and divinity of your Son Jesus Christ, may follow in his footsteps and ascend the way to eternal life, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Saints Alive!
I have been privileged to offer Noonday Prayer at my church, usually on Thursdays, which doesn’t matter because it’s on Youtube forever. [It’s amazing what can be done with a smartphone and a smart, helpful parish administrator!] The service is brief, with a place for a meditation. We usually look at the Episcopal calendar of saints, who are nearly always honored on their death dates, not their birth dates. Here is a hymn by medieval saint Hildegard of Bingen to set the mood.
Archives
April 2024
Categories |