Heritage Month Day Ten: St. Athanasius

Happy St. Athanasius Day!

Day ten of Heritage History month has us celebrating our first ecclesiastical figure in the series. I thought a lot about how to do this, as there are Roman Catholics, Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, and various sorts of non-Christians in my audience. And yet, we must all understand that, in terms of heritage, we are the products, whether we like it or not, of both Pope Leo the Great and Martin Luther. And everyone in between. We are the product of ecclesiastical struggles just as much as anything else.

Nevertheless, I start with someone that we all must celebrate: the epic defender of Trinitarian Christianity, Athanasius the Great. For those unfamiliar with theological politics in the fourth century, the intricacies of the Incarnation might seem a bit ridiculous.

But we cannot overstate the significance that the Incarnation would have on the Western metaphysical imagination from the time of the Nicene Council through to the great Reformation era debates on the eucharist. Indeed, the important scholar of English and Continental post-Reformation political theology Torrance Kirby pivots the debate over the relation of church and state on the varying formulations of Christ’s dual nature.

All these debates, it must be understood, are downstream first from the common foundation of Christ as a member of the Godhead. Western Metaphysics and the political and sociological institutions from which it springs all pour forth from the Nicene understanding of the divinity of Christ. That is, they are reverberations of Athanasius’ resolute confrontation against Arianism in a political moment that nearly saw Arianism become a permanent feature of the Christian religion.

Athanasius was one of the great theologians from the Alexandrian corner of the blossoming Christian world of the third and fourth centuries (born in 294). What is most fascinating about his life and contributions is that he sought primarily to become a hermit—a follower of Anthony of the Desert, of whom Athanasius would write a short biography. Yet he was called away from this life by Alexander, the Patriarch of Alexandria, specifically to aid in the fight against the Arian heretics. Such a fight would become the singular theme of Athanasius’ legacy. On the basis of this issue, Gregory of Nazianzus would call him the “Pillar of the Church.”

Though the Nicene Council had concluded against the views of the Arians (who held that Christ was created by God) in 325, Arianism was still a powerful political force in the Roman Empire; such that Athanasius was exiled five times for his firm defense of what was supposed to be Catholic Trinitarian orthodoxy. Famously, the Arian emperor at the time, Constantius, pressured the then Pope Liberius to excommunicate Athanasius— likely torturing Liberius into doing so. Athanasius refused to relent and resolved to stand for Nicene orthodoxy no matter the cost; his struggle has been characterized as Athanasius Contra Mundum, against the world.

In time, the dark Arian moment collapsed due to internal struggle and factions, releasing Christendom from the Arian spirit. Athanasius was able to return to his see in Alexandria, spending the rest of his life repairing the damager done by the political chaos of theological politics. Not very many people get to see the triumphant aftermath of a lifelong struggle in an existential cultural crisis; but Athanasius did.

His legacy is that of a great defender of true Christianity in a moment of widespread, politically driven deviation. The orthodox and catholic understanding of the incarnation would become the major part of Athanasius’ legacy and due to his energy and conviction remain a staple of Christian metaphysics for over a thousand years.