St. Athanasius: Champion of Christ's Divinity

Saturday, May 2nd Readings Reflection: Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

“I am in the Father and the Father is in [M]e.”

Christ’s declaration of His divinity in today’s Gospel is appropriate for the Feast of St. Athanasius, who has earned the title of “Champion of Christ’s Divinity” due to his staunch defense of Christ’s divinity against the heresy of Arianism. Arianism denied that Christ and the Father are co-eternal, falsely holding that the Son was begotten of the Father at a certain point in time. Arianism also falsely taught that the Son is subordinate to the Father, which is a terrible heresy and denial of Christ’s divinity.

The truth about the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity—which St. Athanasius soundly defended, thereby earning himself the title of Doctor of the Church—is that Christ is the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. All three Persons of the Blessed Trinity are co-equal and co-eternal, for they share the same divine nature. The Son is begotten of the Father from all eternity, and the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father and the Son from all eternity. This is a supernatural mystery that our human intellects cannot fully grasp, but as the Athanasian Creed summarizes, “[I]n this Trinity none is afore or after Other, None is greater or less than Another, but the whole Three Persons are Co-eternal together, and Co-eternal.”

While our intellects can never fully comprehend this great mystery, we are obliged under pain of grave sin to believe that the three divine Persons are co-equal and co-eternal, being three distinct Persons Who share the same divine nature. St. Athanasius devoted his entire life to defending the truth of the Trinity, even when subjected to false accusations against his character. Eventually, the slander mounted; his enemies falsely accused St. Athanasius of murdering a bishop, and shortly thereafter, the saint was exiled to Germany. When he returned from exile, his enemies continued to calumniate him, resulting in his second exile and deposition from the see of Alexandria.

The rest of St. Athanasius’ life was spent experiencing false accusations and five different exiles, for a total of seventeen years spent in exile for his unwavering defense of Christ’s divinity (Catholic Online). He died in Alexandria on May 2, 373. On the feast of this great saint and defender of the truth, may he intercede for us to deepen our faith in the truth of the Blessed Trinity and Christ’s divinity, without which we cannot truly know and love God.

St. Athanasius, ora pro nobis!

Icon of St. Athanasius. Public domain.