St. Athanasius is the fourth century bishop known as "the father of orthodoxy" for his absolute dedication to the doctrine of Christ's divinity.
He was born to Christian parents living in the Egyptian city of Alexandria in 296. His parents took great care to have their son educated, and his talents came to the attention of a local priest who was later canonized as St. Alexander of Alexandria. The priest and future saint tutored Athanasius in theology, and eventually appointed him as an assistant.
Around the age of 19, Athanasius spent a formative period in the Egyptian desert as a disciple of St. Anthony in his monastic community. Returning to Alexandria, he was ordained a deacon in 319, and resumed his assistance to Alexander who had become a bishop. The Catholic Church, newly recognized by the Roman Empire, was already encountering a new series of dangers from within. The most serious threat to the fourth-century Church came from a priest named Arius, who taught that Jesus could not have existed eternally as God prior to his historical incarnation as a man. According to Arius, Jesus was the highest of created beings, and could be considered "divine" only by analogy. Arians professed a belief in Jesus' "divinity," but meant only that he was God's greatest creature.
Opponents of Arianism brought forth numerous scriptures which taught Christ's eternal pre-existence and his identity as God. Nonetheless, many Greek-speaking Christians found it intellectually easier to believe in Jesus as a created demi-god, than to accept the mystery of a Father-Son relationship within the Godhead. By 325, the controversy was dividing the Church and unsettling the Roman Empire.
In that year, Athanasius attended the First Ecumenical Council, held at Nicaea to examine and judge Arius' doctrine in light of apostolic tradition. It reaffirmed the Church's perennial teaching on Christ's full deity, and established the Nicene Creed as an authoritative statement of faith. The remainder of Athanasius' life was a constant struggle to uphold the council's teaching about Christ.
Near the end of St. Alexander's life, he insisted that Athanasius succeed him as the Bishop of Alexandria. Athanasius took on the position just as the Emperor Constantine, despite having convoked the Council of Nicaea, decided to relax its condemnation of Arius and his supporters. Athanasius continually refused to admit Arius to communion, however, despite the urgings of the emperor.
A number of Arians spent the next several decades attempting to manipulate bishops, emperors and Popes to move against Athanasius, particularly through the use of false accusations. Athanasius was accused of theft, murder, assault, and even of causing a famine by interfering with food shipments.
Arius became ill and died gruesomely in 336, but his heresy continued to live. Under the rule of the three emperors that followed Constantine, and particularly under the rule of the strongly Arian Constantius, Athanasius was driven into exile at least five times for insisting on the Nicene Creed as the Church's authoritative rule of faith.
Athanasius received the support of several Popes, and spent a portion of his exile in Rome. However, the Emperor Constantius did succeed in coercing one Pope, Liberius, into condemning Athanasius by having him kidnapped, threatened with death, and sent away from Rome for two years. The Pope eventually managed to return to Rome, where he again proclaimed Athanasius' orthodoxy.
Constantius went so far as to send troops to attack his clergy and congregations. Neither these measures, nor direct attempts to assassinate the bishop, succeeding in silencing him. However, they frequently made it difficult for him to remain in his diocese. He enjoyed some respite after Constantius' death in 361, but was later persecuted by Emperor Julian the Apostate, who sought to revive paganism. In 369, Athanasius managed to convene an assembly of 90 bishops in Alexandria, for the sake of warning the Church in Africa against the continuing threat of Arianism.
He died in 373, and was vindicated by a more comprehensive rejection of Arianism at the Second Ecumenical Council, held in 381 at Constantinople. St. Gregory Nazianzen, who presided over part of that council, described St. Athanasius as "the true pillar of the church," whose "life and conduct were the rule of bishops, and his doctrine the rule of the orthodox faith."
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Mathew 28:19-20.
We have the command from Jesus to “Go and make disciples,” yet, for the sake of comfort, convenience, or some other excuses, we stay home and never even cross the street for the sake of sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. But the Lord’s commission stands steadfast and uncompromising. Our mission is to go and make disciples. To obey this call is very important for every Christian. It’s the love of Christ that compels us to follow the Great Commission and to go share Christ with others. This command is for everyone, we all have to go and make disciples and to preach the word of God. But this command must be our daily activity that is to be a natural daily part of our lives and it includes everyone.
The demons, therefore, if they see all Christians, and monks especially, laboring cheerfully and advancing, first make an attack by temptation and place hindrances to hamper our way, to wit, evil thoughts. But we need not fear their suggestions, for by prayer, fasting, and faith in the Lord their attack immediately fails. But even when it does, they cease not, but knavishly by subtlety come on again. For when they cannot deceive the heart openly with foul pleasures they approach in different guise, and thenceforth shaping displays they attempt to strike fear, changing their shapes, taking the forms of women, wild beasts, creeping things, gigantic bodies, and troops of soldiers. But not even then need you fear their deceitful displays. For they are nothing and quickly disappear, especially if a man fortify himself beforehand with faith and the sign of the cross.
I’m still struggling to follow the commandment to love my enemies, so what can I do to succeed in this conflict?
It is good to hear that you are faithful and want to fulfill Christ’s commandment to unite with Him in the Holy Spirit.
I will give you steps to help you to succeed in attaining forgiveness for those who offend you and to love them.
First, make your battle with the evil spirit that bound this person who offended you, not with the person himself. The devil is the one behind that person hurting you, he is so wicked, and he always likes to hit two birds with one stone, you, and him.
Second, you must pray and intercede for this bounded person, and at the same time, you rebuke this evil spirit in the name of Jesus and resist it.
Thirdly, the most potent weapon to triumph over the spirit of hostility and hurt is the forgiveness of the blood of Christ by sprinkling the blood of Christ on the person who offended you, meaning that you send him the forgiveness of Christ in the Holy Spirit.
The human being in the old world in general, and in the east specifically, suffered from intellectual oppression and religious dictatorship on the one hand and authoritarian political regimes and confiscation of freedoms on the other. Therefore, benefits, positions, and gains go to the ruling classes, religiously and politically authoritarian, at the expense of the crushed human being and the societies neglected by the authorities. That is why human regiments flocked to America as other immigrants, and they pursued the dream of freedom while others dreamed of rapid wealth in the good virgin land and domination.
Then the civil war in our country, America, was a milestone in its history and the history of humanity by abolishing slavery. We have a constitution in a new world from which the intellectual human being made a beautiful, flourishing, and fruitful country with wealth and all human needs. But did the dream we came here for come true? Or have the instruments of enslavement and oppression that we survived in our ancient world have been replaced by softer and subtler ones, and the contemporary human being became bound and enslaved, but this time not by rough oppression, but by man’s total awareness and will and with all the tools of seduction or persuasion?!
On the financial level, the capitalist system and money now own everything, and credit cards with massive advertising programs have become a big trap enslaving people. Also, the misery of debts that it is easy for them to borrow, and the possessions they were tempted to acquire. And in a way that goes beyond the idea of obtaining what we need to use, to using all forms of temptation and the love of the world, pride, and boasting about collectibles and having and wearing brands.
On the humanitarian and social level, sex was unleashed at the expense of family, its interdependence, and humanity, under the name of sexual and personal freedom, starting with cinema, then all various social media tools which are widely spread to the extent of legalizing homosexual marriages by a law constituted by the Supreme Court. The question here after this analysis of the American society is, has the dream of freedom and happiness been fulfilled for the American people, or has the majority become enslaved to sex and money? and what are the consequences of all this on the mental and physical health of the Americans, the children, and the American family as a whole. I fear that Lucifer has succeeded in robbing and stealing man’s freedom and his eternal happiness with the temptations of the love of the world and the trap of sex.
The question now that everyone of us should ask himself is, whether we have been able to achieve deep peace, comfort and happiness by running after these lustful desires and bad habits that we have learned from this world, or we are now bearing the fruits of that anxiety and depression that has clouded our heart and mind without giving us true happiness?
Let me firmly assure you that the way to salvation from Lucifer’s constraints of slavery that he has placed on man, and the only solution to restore freedom, is only through Jesus Christ, who was able to break all his chains and free man from his bondage. Jesus Christ promised and fulfilled His promise because He is the only one who defeated him on the cross and invalidated all his weapons that he fought man with, which is the bondage of sin “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36).
Whoever wants to gain his freedom and be released from the bondage of sin and Lucifer, must abide by Christ and surrender himself to Him.
Finally, I want to leave you with a question that I would like you to answer and that is, was Christ's call to humanity to be isolated from the world or rather, it was His call for us to enjoy God's good creation which He created for us without being enslaved by evil lustful desires in the constant quest for emptiness and the unknown which will lead us to anxiety, depression, loneliness, and grieve?!
Father God,
Please help us find your mercy and goodness when trials and the storms of life come our way. If we are prone to grumble and complain, may the Holy Spirit convict our hearts and remind us to be thankful for your promise of eternity because of the cross. May we look for opportunities to comfort those around us who are suffering as well, so we can help hold each other up. We live in a fallen world, and although we cannot escape suffering, we know that heaven is our home and that the crown of life awaits those who stand firm in the faith, trusting that you have overcome the world and there is no reason to fear. We give you praise and thanksgiving that you will never leave us alone to walk through suffering alone. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
“...the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.”
St. Paul is praying to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, asking Him to give us:
First: The Spirit of Wisdom
Second: The Revelation in the knowledge of Him
Third: The eyes of our understanding to be enlightened
WHY?
In order for us that we may:
FIRST: know what is the hope of His calling
SECOND: know what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints
THIRD: know what is the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believed
And all this is according to:
God’s working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ (when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him on His right hand in the heavenly places).
This mighty power of God the Father is FAR ABOVE ALL:
1- Principality
2- Power
3- Might
4- Dominion
5- Above every name that is named
