Saint Athanasius of Alexandria ( c296- 373) Feast Day 2nd May

Saint Athanasius is probably best known for the creed named after him.

He was the 20th bishop of Alexandria (328-373) which included 5 exiles spread over 5 years when he was replaced by 4 Roman emperors! He struggled against emperors Constantine, Constantine 11, Julian the Apostate and Valens. He was known as Athanasius against the world.

Althanasius was a Christian theologian and a noted Egyptian leader of the 4th century. He played a leading role against a powerful people called Ariana. It was Althanasius’s clear thinking that the teaching of Arius did not spread any further and eventually died away . Arius claimed that Jesus was created by God and that they were not equal.

Athanasius lived until he was about 77. (died 373). A few years later in a Great Council held in Constantinople Arianisn finally gave way.

Gregory of Nazianzus called him the Pillar of the church. His writings were well regarded as was his interest in monasticism. He is counted as one of the 4 great
doctors of the catholic church. He was the first to identify the same 27 books of the New Testament which we use today.

I have included a copy of the Althanasius creed.

Sources used wikipedia, the Prayer Book and *The Church’s Year * by Charles Alexander