Praise be Jesus and Mary.
Saint Athanasius was born in Alexandria, Egypt around the year 297.
At that time Christianity was still an illicit religion, a religion which had taken its name in Antioch so many years before that there the faith first began to be preached to Gentiles and it was preached ever more to Gentiles and we'll see in days to come how St. Paul went about preaching all over in Gentile territory.
And so these Greek-speaking people, people with a Greek culture like St. Athanasius' family, adopted this religion.
And so his parents, as I said, were Christian and they gave him this name, Athanasius, which means undying or immortal.
They might have been thinking of our Lord's promise, everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.
So looking at that little baby that they were to have baptized, they piously thought, one day he will grow old but he shall never die.
Let's name him undying.
For the heretics, however, that name would take on another significance because they would find that they were unable to get rid of him.
It was as if he just wouldn't die.
The heresy was Arianism, which began to afflict the Church soon after Christianity was legalized.
Arius was a charming man, a distinguished appearance, and a genius, or at least he passed for one.
He was able to take the mystery out of the difficult doctrine of the Trinity, which unfortunately also meant taking the truth out of it.
Because what he said seemed so logical, it convinced many, especially the learned, and at least until some of the implications of Arius' theory were drawn out.
He said that there was a time when the son was not, and the father was not a father.
He said that the son was God, but not in the same sense that the father was God.
After all, we too can be called gods, as in the psalm.
I said, you are gods, all of you sons of the Most High.
One incautious Arian admitted that since the son was a creature, he could, in theory, turn to evil, as the devil had done.
So, in the meantime, St. Athanasius had become a deacon of the Church of Alexandria.
Seven years after that, while he was secretary of the bishop, in 325, the first ecumenical council gathered at Nicaea to judge Arius' teaching.
Athanasius accompanied his bishop to the council.
There, according to St. Hilary, he exercised a decisive influence, convincing the council to profess the true faith, which was expressed in a creed that professed the son is consubstantial with the father.
And that word, consubstantial, would become a point of controversy, a point of battle, for much of the 4th century.
So, Arius was condemned and exiled as a result of that council, but that was not the story. Arius would eventually make a comeback.
People wondered whether Arius was really wrong, and whether there couldn't be some kind of compromise that would let everyone live in peace.
This is especially a concern of politicians, but many bishops were also politicians.
Three years after the council, Athanasius became the bishop of Alexandria, when his predecessor died.
He was small in stature, somewhat stooped, but with a fine head, light red hair and beard, and bright blue eyes.
He had the greatest mind in the Roman world of his day, and all the talents for spiritual, intellectual, or even political leadership, a genuine ascetic holiness, great ability in speaking and writing, charm of manner and skill in debate, kindness and humor, inflexible resolution in the face of danger, and patient perseverance.
He deemed it a privilege to contend in any arena for the truth of Christ, and had a profound love for the Christian people entrusted to his care.
Few more gifted men have ever lived, but he needed every gift that God had given him for the decades of his episcopate.
It was Athanasius against the world and for the faith.
He vigorously championed the faith as formulated at Nicaea, and he paid the price for his intransigent rejection of heresy.
He was exiled from his sea five times.
Of his 45 years as bishop, 17 were spent in exile.
His refusal to compromise with heresy was not enough to have him exiled.
Calumnies were needed, and liars were found to testify to them.
One persistently repeated lie was that he had murdered a bishop named Arsenius and cut off his right hand to use in magic rites.
They even showed the hand.
He reputed the lie by having the man brought to a synod that intended to condemn him, but the lie kept coming back.
On one occasion, while he was again at trial at a council for this murder, he had the supposedly murdered bishop found and brought to the council.
He was covered by a cloak.
So he asked if those present knew Arsenius, and when several answered that they did, Athanasius uncovered Arsenius' face and said, is this the right Arsenius?
Is this the man I murdered?
Is this the man those people mutilated after his murder by cutting off his right hand?
And then he pulled off the cloak, revealing that Arsenius still had both of his hands.
And he said, let no one seek for a third hand, for man received two hands from his creator and no more.
That charge having failed, they then brought forward a woman who had been paid to accuse Athanasius of immorality.
A quick-thinking priest named Timothy stood up and said, do you really accuse me of this crime?
And she said, certainly.
So everyone knew that the woman didn't even know what Athanasius looked like.
And so still more calumnies managed to stick, and at times those same calumnies managed to stick long enough to get him exiled five times, especially when he was not present to defend himself.
He was loved by his flock in Alexandria, while the Arian bishops who took his place were disliked by the populace, and the second of the two, in fact, had a nasty end when he was killed by a mob of pagans.
While he was in exile, he spent time with the fathers of the desert, and he got to know St. Anthony, whose life he wrote.
He wrote three discourses against the Arians that merited for him the title of Doctor of the Church.
It was the work of a lifetime.
He spent decades, including his time in exile, perfecting the arguments against the Arians.
He was considered divisive and extremist because he would not compromise.
By writing those discourses, he wanted to help others see as clearly as he could that no compromise was possible without destroying the Christian faith.
He also had a great love of Our Lady.
He followed the tradition of calling her Theotokos, the Mother of God, and his use of this title would later be cited in support of defining the divine maternity as a dogma.
If the Son is true God, as he argued against the Arians, then Mary is the Mother of God.
When this title follows the incomparable greatness of the Virgin, St. Athanasius says in her praise, O noble Virgin, truly you are greater than any other greatness.
For who is your equal in greatness, O dwelling place of God the Word?
To whom among all creatures shall I compare you, O Virgin? You are greater than them all.
If I say that Heaven is exalted, yet it does not equal you, for it is written, Heaven is my throne, while you are God's place of repose.
If I say that the angels and archangels are great, but you are greater than them all, for the angels and archangels serve with trembling the one who dwells in your womb, and they dare not speak in his presence while you speak to him freely.
If we say that the seraphim are great, you are greater than them all, for the seraphim cover their faces with their wings, unable to look upon the perfect glory, while you not only gaze upon his face, but caress it and offer your breasts to his holy mouth.
In you, O wise Virgin, dwells the Son of God, he that is who is the tree of life.
Truly he has given us his body, and we have eaten of it.
That is how life came to all, and all came to life by the mercy of God, your beloved Son.
Praised be Jesus and Mary.
© transcript Emily Beynon