St Athanasius was Archbishop of Alexandria. He was born in 296 and died in 373. He was a renowned father of the church, and while yet a young man he attended the council at Nice in 325, where he gained the highest esteem of the fathers by the talents which he displayed in the Arian controversy. He had a great share in the decrees passed here, and thereby drew on himself the hatred of the Arians. Shortly afterwards he was appointed archbishop of Alexandria. The complaints and accusations of his enemies at length induced the Emperor Constantine to summon him in 334 before the councils of Tyre and Jerusalem, when he was suspended, and afterwards banished to Treves.
The death of Constantine put an end to this banishment, and Constantius recalled the holy patriarch. His return to Alexandria resembled a triumph. Deposed again in 340, he was reinstated in 342. Again in 355 he was sentenced to be banished, when he retired into those parts of the desert which were entirely uninhabited. He was followed by a faithful servant, who, at the risk of his life, supplied him with the means of subsistence. Here Athanasius composed many writings, full of eloquence, to strengthen the faith of the believers, or expose the falsehood of his enemies. When Julian the Apostate ascended the throne toleration was proclaimed to all religions, and Athanasius returned to his former position at Alexandria. His next controversy was with the heathen subjects of Julian, who excited the emperor against him, and he was obliged to flee in order to save his life.
The death of the emperor and the accession of Jovian in 363 again brought him back; buf Valens becoming emperor, and the Arians recovering the superiority, he was once more compelled to flee. He concealed himself in the tomb of his father, where he remained four months, until Valens allowed him to return. From this period he remained undisturbed in his office until he died. Of the forty-six years of his official life he spent twenty in banishment, and the greater part of the remainder in defending the Nicene Creed. His writings, which are in Greek, are on polemical, historical, and moral subjects. The polemical treat chiefly of the doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation of Christ, and the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The historical ones are of the greatest importance for the history of the church, for example the Athanasian Creed. Research St Athansius
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