This excerpt from a Easter letter by St. Athanasius was written around 340 AD to prepare the people of Alexandria, Egypt for the celebration of the Paschal Feast of Easter. It clearly demonstrates the sacramental and liturgical nature of worship in the early church....
Excerpt from Athanasius' famous Life of Antony, recounting the story of the call of St. Anthony of the Desert, father of monks and great supporter of Christian Orthodox belief in the divinity of Christ against the Alexandrian heretic Arius....
Athanasius sees a marvelous unity and order in creation that is held together and orchestrated by the divine word. He uses the metaphor of harmony in music to describe the magnificent unity found among the magnificent diversity of the world's creatures. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color=''...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things. He had then to take a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she...
This reading by St. Bernadino of Siena on St. Joseph, the Foster Father of Jesus, is so clear and powerful that it is used by the Church for the Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19 to honor the Guardian of the Lord and his...
Athanasius here writes of the only begotten Son as the eternal Word, his perfect image, God's creative Wisdom Incarnate through whom the Father made the universe and all its creatures and in whom he takes delight. Athanasius is anxious to show that...
A strong affirmation, by Athanasius, of the full Divinity of Christ in an age when that doctrine was under attack. The heresy of Arianism, which taught that Jesus was inferior to the Father, originated in Alexandria, Egypt, the native place of St. Athanasius....
Athanasius here identifies the only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ as God's uncreated Wisdom Incarnate. He insists that the "Wisdom" praised in Sirach, Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and other biblical books is not a creature but is rather the Creator, the Divine Word in whose...
Athanasius writes that God the Word assumed our nature and took a human body in order to offer it in sacrifice, winning us salvation from sin and death....
With Introduction by C. S. Lewis ________________________________________ Athanasius stood contra mundum ("against the world) in defense of the biblical doctrine of Christ. He opposed Arius when it seemed all the world would follow Arius's heresy. Athanasius's work remains even today one of the definitive statements of...