St. Athanasius (May 2nd)

After a number of weeks of very few Saints on the Liturgical Calendar, this week we have quite a few:

April 28 -- Saint Peter Chanel, Priest and Martyr

April 28 -- Saint Louis Grignion de Montfort, Priest

April 29 -- Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor of the Church

April 30 -- Saint Pius V, Pope

May 1 -- Saint Joseph the Worker

May 2 -- Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

May 3 -- Saints Philip and James, Apostles

May 4 -- THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

May 4 -- Saint Peregrine Laziosi, OSM, religious


Of the fairly large choice, I’ve decided to write about St. Athanasius sometimes called St. Athanasius of Alexandria (where he was from) and even St. Athanasius the Great (because of his impact on the Church).


To be honest, there is a part of me that has always found St. Athanasius to be “boring”, the “patron saints of ideologies / bureaucrats.”  However, his concern in the Church at his time were key in preserving it.


At issue was the very nature of Christ and importance of Jesus’ salvific act – dying and rising for us.


The controversy perhaps kept under a lid during the first three centuries while the Church was being persecuted, it exploded into the open in the generation after Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity and then made it the official religion of the Roman Empire.


The Controversy was this: Was Jesus completely divine?  Was his divinity equal to that of the Father?  A bishop named Arius, contemporary to the future St. Athanasius, proclaimed that “no,” that Jesus was subordinate and hence not equal to God the Father, hence arguably not fully divine.  


 And of course, we’d know the verses, mostly in the Gospel of John, where Jesus would say that he was subordinate to the Father.   But subordinate how?  


Perhaps the best way to understand the problem, is to imagine the Holy Trinity to be “The Divines” (the Divine Family).  There’s Father Divine and Jesus Divine and Holy Spirit Divine, but all three are Divine.  


One can’t say that “Joe Divine” is less a Divine than his father “Ed Divine,” even though “Joe” is “Ed’s” son,  Both are Divines.


But this was unclear in Arius’ doctrine, who when pushed began to say that naturally Jesus, the Son (the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity), was at least somewhat, perhaps only a little bit “less” but still _less_ than God the Father (the First Person of the Most Holy Trinity), and hence _less divine_ than the Father.


The future St. Athanasius, taking Arius’ position to its logical conclusion declared that this this then would necessarily “cheapen” Jesus’ salvific act, that someone “somewhat less than God, perhaps _only a little bit less_ but nevertheless _less_ than God died and rose for us.”


In the future  St. Athanasius’ view, which became the Catholic / Orthodox view, Jesus, FULLY divine (not 99% or 99.99% divine) died and rose for us allowing us to say that GOD TRULY DIED / ROSE FOR US.  


On one hand it can seem like a small point.  On the other, in the controversy the whole of the Christian faith is in play:


Did for instance, GOD become flesh and dwell among us (cf. John 1:14), or someone who may have been 99% God but still NOT FULLY GOD “become flesh and dwell among us.” 


So we give thanks for St. Athanasius for both pointing this out and being willing to suffer for his “annoying position” (there were plenty of people, including to some extent Constantine himself, who would have preferred that he just keep quiet).


Certainly we have to choose our battles wisely, but sometimes we do have to stand up.  


St. Athanasius, pray for us!

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