Saint Athanasius the Great of Alexandria

c. 296 – 373 · Post-Nicene Greek Fathers · Alexandrian

Commemorated January 18 → · with St. Cyril; relics May 2

Archbishop of Alexandria; the great defender of the Nicene faith during the long Arian controversy and the chief architect of the Orthodox understanding of the consubstantiality (ὁμοούσιος) of the Son with the Father. Exiled five times by Arianizing emperors. His On the Incarnation of the Word laid the foundation of all subsequent Christological reflection; his Discourses Against the Arians are the locus classicus of the Trinitarian and Christological argument against Arianism; his Life of Antony spread Egyptian monasticism throughout the Christian world. Numbered among the Three Holy Hierarchs and the Pillars of Orthodoxy.

Icon: Athanasius of Alexandria · Byzantine Institute staff · CC0