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Saint Athanasius, a short version
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St. Athanasius the Great is the twentieth Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church. He was enthroned to the See of St. Mark 328-373 A.D. For a period of time he was an attendant of St. Antony the Great, the founder of monasticism. St. Athanasius also lived an ascetic life and is one of the most forceful figures in the whole history of the church.
He was ordained by his predecessor, Pope Alexander, as a deacon. In 325 A.D., he accompanied his teacher the Pope to the Council of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council. Although he was but a deacon, he distinguished himself there among all the members of the Council by his zeal and ability in refuting Arianism, one of the most aggressive heresies in the history of the Church. St. Athanasius accomplished this by affirming the eternal divinity of Christ and His co-essentialness with the Father.
In 328 A.D., after the death of Alexander, he was ordained Patriarch of Alexandria. The Arians regarded him their chief enemy, doing all in their power to destroy him. To silence St. Athanasius, the Arians enlisted the aid of the secular powers and the corrupt ecclesiastical authorities. They caused him to be banished five times from his Papal See. Consequently he spent more than seventeen years in exile. This long period of struggle is summarized in the traditional phrase, "Athanasius against the world, and the world against Athanasius."
Every student of the fourth century Church history knows that it was St. Athanasius' efforts more than the Council of Nicea that saved Christian Monotheism and rescued faith in the Godhead of Christ. In addition, he was the first to cherish and encourage monasticism and he was the first to write a biography of St. Anthony directly after his death. Also, he was the first Pope who ordained bishops from amongst the monks.
On the 15th day of May in 373 A.D. this great hero of the faith departed to paradise in a wonderful manner before the final victory for orthodoxy which occured at the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D. Like Moses, he was called away from the earthly scene before the goal was reached.
To exalt his valiant struggle for faith, the Coptic Church honors him with several titles, like "The Great", "the Defender of faith", and "the Apostolic" to signify that his struggle is similar to theirs. The Greek Church consideres him "the father of orthodoxy", whereas the Roman Catholic Church counts him amongst the four great Fathers of the East. In his memorial, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, one of his contemporaries, said, "In praising Athanasius, I shall be praising virtue." He calls him "the pillar of the Church."
May his intercession be for us, Amen