👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽Apostolic Flame in Flesh: The Life and Legacy of #Saint #Athanasius :Celebrated on Ginbot 7
Brethren beloved of the Lord, assembled under the shadow of the Cross and the brilliance of divine truth, incline your ears and open the eyes of your hearts. For today we contemplate not merely the life of a man, but a furnace of faith; not merely the witness of a saint, but the trumpet of the Incarnate Word Saint Athanasius the Apostolic.
Who among mortals after the holy Apostles, save this man, did contend with such heavenly zeal for the undefiled faith? Who stood alone against a world gone astray, holding aloft the doctrine of Christ like a banner amid storms of heresy and imperial wrath?
I. His Calling from the Shadows of Paganism to the Light of Christ
Saint Athanasius, born in Alexandria around the turn of the 4th century, emerged from a household of pagan darkness. But even in his childhood, the divine hand was upon him. One day, as he ventured from his home to play, he beheld Christian children enacting sacred games—games not idle or profane, but pregnant with spiritual mystery. Athanasius desired to join them. “Become a Christian first,” they said. And he, moved by a heavenly fire he yet did not understand, replied, “Then make me a Christian, that I may play with you.”
O miracle of providence! The children agreed, and they cast lots: one to be a priest, another a deacon, and Athanasius to be ordained a bishop in play. But lo! Saint Alexander, the patriarch of that time, beheld the children and was struck by the image. Seeing Athanasius, he discerned with spiritual eyes the Lord’s call. From that day, he took the child to himself, catechized him, baptized him, and raised him in the bosom of the Church.
II. A Mind Anointed for Truth, a Voice Clothed with Honey
Though but a youth, Athanasius overflowed with wisdom beyond his years. His speech was like the dew on Hermon gentle, refreshing, irresistible. His intelligence astonished the elders; his piety, his chastity, and the grace that clung to him like a mantle announced to all that the Spirit of the Lord had made him His vessel.
When Arius the heretic of heretics rose like a plague in the Church, sowing confusion about the divinity of the Son, the Church convened a great council at Nicaea. The 318 fathers of the Church gathered, and among them, Saint Athanasius stood not as a mere scribe, though he was still only a deacon, but as a warrior robed in light. He contended with Arius not with malice, but with the sword of truth. Arius, though aged and experienced, could not stand before the fire of this young man’s conviction. He was struck dumb by Athanasius’ arguments. Thus, Athanasius helped the holy fathers compose that blessed symbol of our faith, the Nicene Creed, which proclaims for all ages: Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God.
III. The Patriarch Shepherd and His Exiles
In time, by divine ordination, he was made the twentieth Patriarch of Alexandria. Yet the glory of this office did not spare him the furnace of affliction. For 48 years he shepherded his flock, and for more than 15 of those years, he was exiled five times cast out from his own see. Yet never did he abandon his sheep. From deserts, from lonely mountains, from hiding places, he wrote letters that nourished the faithful. These were no mere words, but oases in a barren wilderness of doubt and persecution. The Creed of Saint Athanasius yes, that which burns with clarity and thunders with faith was forged in these days of exile.
IV. The Cross and the Crown of Suffering
The king who ruled then Constantine the Younger, son of Constantine the Great turned away from the Orthodox faith and became a devotee of the Arian lie. He, too, persecuted the Church, and first among the sufferers was Saint Athanasius. The tyrant deposed the holy patriarch, set a heretic in his place, and unleashed a wave of unjust murders against the faithful. For six years the saint was tormented, but he did not grow silent.
Continues👇🏽