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The Church of Fathers: Council of Nicaea (Athanasius)
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Paul Jang
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2008-12-03 14:36:53, hit : 3,598 |
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(2) Athanasius
1) He stands out as the preeminent defender of the Trinity in the Arian conflict.
2) He was born at the end of the third century (295 AD).
3) After Alexander the bishop of Alexandria died in 328 AD, Athanasius succeeded him as bishop of Alexandria (forty-five years, dying in 373).
4) Most of His life was the struggle against Arianism.
5) He knew the deity of Jesus Christ as the foundation of the Christian faith.
6) Seventeen of his forty-five year as bishop were those spent in five different exiles (the most important exile in Rome 340-346).
7) He took advantage of the death of Constantine in A.D. 337 to return home. but he was forced to flee to Rome in 339 because his opponents protested.
8) He was supported and pronounced as the rightful bishop of Alexandria, and then he remained in Alexandria until his death in 346 A.D.
9) He had little leisure of advanced theological reflection, but he found the time to compose the forceful demolition of Arian that would pave the way the establishment of the faith of Nicaea as official orthodoxy.
10) The central point of Athanasius's theology is thus twofold:
① The Father and the Son are essentially the same.
② This similarity is intrinsic to the nature of God.
11) Athanasius was a prolific writer, on a variety of themes:
① Anti-Arian works: Most of his works were dedicated to the struggle against Arianism (Orations against the Arians).
② Apologetic works: He wrote two parts on a apology: Against the Greeks and The Incarnation of the Word.
③ Easter Letter: He wrote a letter to the Egyptian churches each year, to be read at easter. His 367 letter is to do with the first NT canon.
④ Life of Anthony: whom he portrays as the first monk (ascetic life-single, poverty, prayer and fasting).
12) Athanasius fought so hard for the deity of Jesus Christ because he saw that our salvation depends on it. Only a divine Christ could save us.
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Introduction
History 