St. Athanasius the Great (ca. 295-373 gg.) was one of the prominent church leaders who belonged to the Alexandria School of Patristics. At first he was a receiver of Alexander the Patriarch of Alexandria, replacing him at the department. Athanasius the Great was known as the most striking opponent of Arianism. By the year 350 AD. e. was almost the only bishop of the Roman Empire (more precisely, the eastern half) of the non-Arian sense, who was exiled and exiled several times. He is ranked among the saints and is revered in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Coptic Churches.
Athanasius was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. As a boy, his mother took him to the temple to Patriarch Alexander and gave it to the service of God. He was a very capable and intelligent youth, zealously fulfilling the commandments of God.
In 319, after 6 years of his ministry in the church as a reader, the Patriarch blessed the young man for the deacons of the Alexandrian Church.
In 325 AD, Athanasius the Great accompanied the saintAlexander at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea as secretary. And there they very actively participated in the rigid heretical disputes about the nature of Christ. Arianism was condemned, Arius himself was expelled, as a symbol of faith, the assertion of a consubstantial Trinity sounded.
At the same time Athanasius begins to write his ownfirst works. He did not see piety in those who came to the church of Christ, since many of them were idle talk, idle talk, sought for glory for themselves, brought to their Christian life their pagan customs and wrong faith.
The arrogant Arius said all blasphemy andderogatory words about Jesus and the Mother of God, believing that Christ is not equal with God. He also taught the people unacceptable to the Church for Christ's things, thereby anger the popular masses. The number of followers of this heresy increased, and therefore they were called Arians. The false teaching spread by them overwhelmed the entire Christian Church.
In 326, Patriarch Alexander died. Instead of him, Bishop Athanasius was elected. He took his business very seriously, spoke to the people a lot, denouncing the Arians and fighting with their non-Christian dogmas. Arians, in turn, began to slander him.
At that time Constantine I ruled the Roman EmpireThe Great (306-337 gg.), Who won in 324 a victory over the insidious co-driver of the pagan Licinius. Constantine was considered a true patron of the Christian Church. He wanted to turn Christianity into a state religion. This ruler was well versed in state affairs and was an excellent diplomat, but did not know the Gospel exercises, so it was difficult for him to decide where the truth was, and where the lie was, and what better choice - Arianism or Orthodoxy? Using this uncertainty in the views, the heretics penetrated all the posts and whispered to him all sorts of rumors and gossips, arranged conspiracies and splits.
Constantine was a supporter of the consolidation of power,but began to receive mutual complaints from the supporters of Arius, then from the supporters of Athanasius. In Egypt, it got more violent forms, people began to triple skirmishes in the streets.
Against Archbishop Athanasius, a whole war unfolded, he was accused of being a criminal, a sorcerer and a fornicator who does not obey the ruler and does illegal things.
The case once came to an absurdity, when he was accusedin that he, with the help of some severed dead hand belonging to the cleric Arseniy, creates all kinds of sorcery. Arseny was a reader, at that time for some misconduct he was hiding from the authorities, but when he heard that Athanasius the Great was slandered, he appeared before the court unharmed. So the supporters of the Arians were convicted of lies.
But for them this lie was not enough, and they added moreone, bribing some shameless person who declared that St. Athanasius wanted to abuse her. A friend of Athanasius, Timothy, listening to this door, was an infamous accusation, suddenly entered the courtroom and appeared before the woman, as if he was Afanasi, with the words: "My dearest, forgive me for having committed violence on you this night." The false witness in hysterics screamed that she would never forgive this intruder and the corrupter of her purity. The judges, seeing the comedy played out, laughed and drove her away.
The saint was acquitted by the emperor and sent to the Alexandrinsky pulpit.
The emperor Constantine saw the depth of enmity that could develop into a real religious war, and then he asked St. Athanasius to leave for a while.
Meanwhile, in 330, Arianism began to be supported by the state, Constantine summoned from the exile Eusebius of Nicomedia, and then Aria.
In 335, Athanasius condemned the Tyrian Cathedral. He was again falsely accused of involvement in the murder of the Meletian priest Arseny and exiled to Trier. But after the death of Emperor Constantine in 337, he was returned to his homeland from his exile.
The second son of Constantine became the emperorConstantius. The whole imperial court stood for the Arians, the persecution of Orthodox Christians began, the bishops were exiled, the unathous people began to occupy the thrones. Athanasius the Great fled to Rome for three years.
In exile, he met with Saint Servatius, who became his reliable defender in disputes with the Arian heresy in the Sardikia Cathedral.
In 340 he was sent back. He returns to the Alexandria department only in 345 after the death of Bishop Gregory. But in 356 again he is condemned by the Milan cathedral, after which he flies to the upper Egypt and disappears there until 361, until the emperor Constantius dies.
For more than 20 years, Athanasius the Great spent in exile,then hiding, then returning to their native places. At that time Reverend Anthony and Pachomius strongly supported him. Later he will write a book about it.
Athanasius, being a bishop, did not recognize the equal existence of the orthodox and Arian branches of Christianity.
Over time, the Lord judged everything hisfair trial: Arius and the heretical companions were punished, and the wicked king perished. After him came the replacement of Julian the Apostate, followed by the reign of Iovinian the Pious, after Valens, who in many ways did harm the Church, but after being frightened of the insurrection, he allowed Athanasius to return to the Alexandrian pulpit and peacefully and quietly manage it until the end of his days. Bishop Athanasius the Great rested on May 2, 373, at the age of 76 years.
For 46 years he was a bishop of Alexandria, persecuted and slandered. But he always returned to preach the gospel truth about Christ the Savior.
The essence of his theology was that Godbecame a man in order for man to become God. Afanasii the Great spent all his life defending the truth. "On the incarnation of the Word" - his work, which became the central text of Christianity, describing without any excesses the entire doctrine of Christ.
Bishop Athanasius was the first to record the experience of the fathersin the book "The Life of Antony". The devotee does what the philosopher simply says. He opposes philosophy to the philosophy of Athanasius the Great. "Interpretation of the Psalms" was a brilliant classic work of patristic exegesis, which allows reading texts and correctly understand their true meaning and meaning.
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