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Encyclical Letter (339)

Saint Athanasius the Great of Alexandria · c. 339 AD

Ante-Nicene Fathers (Roberts–Donaldson), Roberts, Donaldson, and Coxe (eds.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1885–1887; digitized by CCEL.

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.

Contents

  1. Circular Letter.
  2. Violent and Uncanonical Intrusion of Gregory.
  3. Outrages which took place at the time of Gregory's arrival.
  4. Outrages on Good Friday and Easter Day, 339.
  5. Retirement of Athanasius, and tyranny of Gregory and Philagrius.
  6. All the above illegalities were carried on in the interest of Arianism.
  7. Appeal to the bishops of the whole Church to unite against Gregory.