Athanasius of Alexandria
c. 296 – 373 · Bishop of Alexandria
Also known as Athanasius the Great
Feast: 2 May (Catholic) · 18 January (Orthodox)
Bishop of Alexandria and chief defender of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism. Five times exiled. Wrote On the Incarnation and the Vita Antonii.
Athanasius spent forty-five years as bishop of Alexandria and was exiled five times for refusing to compromise on the divinity of Christ. When the empire wanted unity-at-the-cost-of-doctrine, he chose doctrine and lost everything. He's why the creed says Jesus is 'one in being with the Father' rather than something fudgier. His short book On the Incarnation is the simplest, sharpest answer ever written to 'why did God become man,' and the reason C.S. Lewis insisted every modern Christian read at least one old book a year.
Notable works
- ·On the Incarnation · 318
- ·Life of Antony · 360
- ·Apology Against the Arians · 350
- ·Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit · 360
Primary sources
- ·Athanasius, Apologia contra Arianos
- ·Athanasius, Vita Antonii
- ·Socrates Scholasticus, Hist. Eccl. 1-2
- ·Jerome, De Viris Illustribus 87
Book of the day
On the Incarnation
Athanasius of AlexandriaA reading pick tied to today's figure, quote, era, or event. Short, readable, and central: why God became man, written from inside the Nicene fight.
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