Well Done: Athanasius (contra mundum)

" The whole world against Athanasius, and Athanasius against it; half a hundred of years spent in doubtful trial which of the two in the end should prevail --the side which had all, or else the part which had no friends but God and death--the one a defender of his innocency, the other a finisher of all his troubles."

A staunch defender of the Incarnation of Christ against the heresy of Arianism, Athanasius of Egypt (297-373 A.D.) repudiated the belief that Jesus was not fully God. In defending the full deity of Christ, Athanasius was exiled five times, spending nearly twenty years in hiding or on the run.

This heresy has been revived by the Watchtower Society (JW) who agree with Arius and thus deny Christ and damn themselves.

Cardinal Newman said, Athanasius stands as "a principal instrument after the Apostles by which the sacred truths of Christianity have been conveyed and secured to the world."

Athanasius is also responsible for the New Testament canon used by Protestants and Catholics.

"Let what was confessed by the Fathers of Nicaea prevail", he wrote to a philosopher-friend and correspondent in the closing years of his life .

The traditional prayer that remembers Athanasius is as follows:

Uphold thy Church, O God of truth, as thou didst uphold thy Servant Athanasius, to maintain and proclaim boldly the catholic faith against all opposition, trusting solely in the grace of thine eternal Word, who took upon himself our humanity that we might share his divinity; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.


Through God's grace, the mighty efforts of Athanasius were blessed. Today, we too affirm the Nicene Creed.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Amen.