Life and significance
A steadfast shepherd of Alexandria
St Athanasius served the Church of Alexandria during the great fourth-century struggle over the teaching of Arius, who denied the full divinity of the Son. As a young deacon he accompanied Patriarch Alexander to the Council of Nicaea in 325, and he later became Patriarch of Alexandria. His long episcopate was marked by repeated exile as imperial politics and theological conflict divided the Christian world. Through these trials, Athanasius remained a firm defender of the Nicene confession that the Son is truly God, of one essence with the Father.
Athanasius also taught the saving meaning of the Incarnation with exceptional clarity. In On the Incarnation, he explains that the Word of God became man to conquer corruption and death and restore humanity to communion with God. His Life of Antony helped spread the example of Egyptian monasticism throughout the Christian world. The Orthodox Church remembers him as a courageous bishop, theologian, and confessor whose witness helped preserve the Church’s teaching about Christ.