Lecture 4: Athanasius and the Doctrine of Christ Flashcards
The Life of Athanasius (c. 296–373)
- Born in the city of Alexandria
- The monk who saved the world
- Came from a wealthy family
- Mentored by Alexander of Alexandria who was Bishop of Alexandria
- No training in Hebrew
- The most important thing here is I want you to see that he was known for his study of God’s word and his combining together the contemplative and the practical life.
contra mundum
Against the wordl
“He was brought up . . . in religious habits and practices, after a brief study of literature and philosophy, so that he might not be utterly unskilled in such subjects . . . For his generous and eager soul could not brook being occupied in vanities, like unskilled athletes, who beat the air instead of their antagonists and lose the prize. From meditating on every book of the Old and New Testament, with a depth such as none else has applied even to one of them, he grew rich in contemplation, rich in splendor of life”
- Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 21
- He described Athansius
Arius
- In 318 he was a presbyter in the Church of Alexandria
- He accused Alexander of having an improper understanding of the distinction of the person’s the father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
- Arius actually disliked Alexander. He wanted to be bishop
- It’s important for you to realize that Arius provided an internal threat to the church.
- His basic contribution was to teach that the son was actually a created being. And it was the son who created the universe. The son is an emissary. Who does the bidding of the father? He is the first and greatest of the father’s creation
- Arius was a populist.
Alexander responds to Arius
- He gathers 100 bishops to Alexandrai
- Condemns Arius as a heretic and deposes him as an elder
- Arius flees to Nicomedia and finds safety with Eusebius
Arius and Eusebius
- Arius finds safety with Eusebius
- Eusebius is the one who baptized Constantine
- This allows his ideas to start to spread
325AD
- Constantine invites approx 300 Bishops to Nicaea for an ecumenical council to resolve Arius’ teaching.
- Alexander and Athanasius are there
- Arias supporter were defeated
- The outcome was the Nicaen Creed
- It affirmed that the Son was begotten and of the same being with the Father
- The point that they are of the same substance was something Athanasius defended for the rest of his life.
328 AD Alexander Dies and Athanasius Is Bishop
1.
Athanasius After the First Exhile
- 337 Constantine dies and Athanasius returns to Alexandria.
- Two years later exhiled again for seven years from 339 to 346
- 346 to 356 -the golden decade.
- he’s not on the run and he can minister
Constantius
- Son of Constantine who was Aryan.
- February of 356 Constantius sent 5000 Roman soldiers to attack the church in Alexandria. Athanasius was leading a service
- the congregation is singing Psalm 136 for God’s mercy endures forever.
- Romans came in with swords drawn
- A group of monks protected Athanasius
- He writes Against the Aryans and The Life of Anthony
Julian, the Apostate
- He was a pagan emperor who let Athanasius return because he thought he was controversial enough to split the church
- He realizes he was wrong and exiles him again. (multiple times
- 363 to 364
- 365
- Died in 373 in exile
- 381 there is a second ecumenical council
- it reaffirmed Nicaea and rejected Arianism once and for all.
Against the Heathen - Athanasius
- Part 1 of 2 Books (The second was On the Incarnation)
- Both books were against paganism.
- Thought written during first exile
- Written young convert named Macarius as an introduction to Christianity
- It’s essentially a work on idolatry
5.
“I think it become to discourse to you [Macarius], as a lover of Christ, about Christ, since I am sure that you rate faith in and knowledge of him above anything else whatsoever. . . . For God maker of all and king of all, that has his being beyond all substance and human discovery, inasmuch as he is good and exceeding noble, made, through his own word our savior Jesus Christ, the human race after his own image” (1.1–2).
- From “Against the Heathen” by Athanasius
- We cannot know God apart from Jesus Christ because he is the image of the father
- For Athanasius at the heart of sin is a principle of lust.
- Sin is a turning away from God in a turning inwards towards self. And so, how can sinful idolatrous creatures know the God of all creation? Well, the answer, of course, is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- All I want you to see is that Athanasius is showing that the father and the son are equal in being and in power..
On the Incarnation
- A defense of the person and of Jesus Christ.
- “utter poverty and weakness on the cross overturn the pomp and parade of idols. And quietly and hiddenly wins over the mockers and unbelievers to recognize him as God.”
- “The renewal of creation has been wrought by the selfsame word who made it in the beginning.”
- Sin represents “a dehumanizing of humanity.” So, to overcome sin and death, the Word must recreate humanity, as the last Adam.
- So, why did the son become incarnate? Here’s the answer in one sentence. “He assumed Humanity that we might become God.”
Life of Anthony
- Written during 3rd exile with monks led by St. Anthony
- Played a key role for Augustine
- Robert Louis Wilken “Athanasius biography of Anthony offered a compelling vision of the solitary life and an irresistible model for others.”
- Anthony gives his inheritance to the poor. And follows Jesus.
- The basic point of The Life of Anthony is that we must withdraw from the world in order to fight temptation.
6.
