|
St. Athanasius the Stubborn
“Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”
Luke 3:21-22
In the Book of Common Prayer, today is the commemoration of St. Athanasius, who served many years as bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, until his death in 373. Few servants of Christ have been more consequential than St. Athanasius, for his lifelong battle for the truth that Jesus was fully man and fully God was finally, thank God, to prevail.
As C.S. Lewis remarks in his preface to Athanasius’s little masterpiece "On the Incarnation," he faced such opposition that of him it was said, "Athanasius contra mundum," meaning Athanasius against the world. To many who belonged to the party of Arius (a rival leader), it was unreasonable that Jesus was fully God. It just made more sense, Arians thought, that Jesus as the Son of God was a creature of God — to be sure, the best creature God ever made, but still just a creature. Arius even composed a little advertising jingle that went “There was a time when he was not,” meaning that there was a time when there was no Son of God.
Well, Athanasius would have none of this. He wrote books, argued in church councils, preached, taught, was exiled from his episcopal see no fewer than five times and frequently had to flee Alexandria in fear for his life. (Whenever I bemoan present-day church conflicts, I call Athanasius to mind!) Eventually, by God’s providence, the councils of Nicaea and Constantinople gave us what we now confess each Sunday as the Nicene Creed, that Jesus as God’s Son was begotten, not made — that is, always in relationship with the Father within the Trinity, rather than made by God at some point.
Does all that seem like much ado about nothing? Well, Athanasius was stubborn, but it wasn’t for the sake of being right. He saw very clearly that our salvation is in Christ and that if Christ is not truly God, then we were not saved. He saw that Christ is the center of our worship and that if Christ were not truly God, then it would be idolatrous to worship Him.
There may well be times today when we are called to be like Athanasius, contending for the truth even while all the world is against us. If that is you, take heart. Keep on speaking the truth in love. Yes, you may well suffer for it, like Athanasius did, but God will use it for His glory in His good time. Of course, we are always called to be humble, to be charitable, to recognize that we have more to learn, but sometimes, like St. Athanasius against the world, we are also called to be a little stubborn.
| 
