Saint Athanasius and Cyril prayer. Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria

Saint Athanasius the Great (c. 295-373) was one of the prominent church leaders who belonged to the Alexandrian school of patristics. At first he was the successor of Patriarch Alexander of Alexandria, replacing him in the chair. Athanasius the Great was known as the most outspoken opponent of Arianism. By 350 A.D. e. was practically the only bishop of the Roman Empire (more precisely, its eastern half) of a non-Arian persuasion, who was expelled and exiled several times. He is canonized as a saint and is revered in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox and

Saint Athanasius the Great

Athanasius was born in the Egyptian city of Alexandria. As a boy, his mother brought him to the temple to Patriarch Alexander and gave him to serve God. He was a very capable and intelligent young man, zealously fulfilling the commandments of God.

In the year 319, after 6 years of his service in the church as a reader, the Patriarch blessed the young man as a deacon of the Church of Alexandria.

In 325, Athanasius the Great accompanied St. Alexander on the First in Nicaea as a secretary. And there they were very active in violent heretical disputes about the nature of Christ. Arianism was condemned, Arius himself was expelled, the statement about the consubstantial Trinity sounded as a creed.

At the same time, Athanasius begins to write his first works. He did not see piety in those who came to the church of Christ, since many of them idle talk, idle talk, seek corruptible glory for themselves, bring their pagan customs and wrong beliefs into the Christian life.

Arius

The vain Arius spoke all kinds of blasphemy and derogatory words about Jesus and the Mother of God, believing that Christ is not equal to God. He also taught the people things unacceptable to the Church of Christ, thereby outraging the masses. The number of followers of this heresy increased, and therefore they were called Arians. The false doctrine spread by them swept over the entire Christian Church.

In 326, Patriarch Alexander died. Instead, Bishop Athanasius was elected. He took his work very seriously, spoke to the people a lot, denouncing the Arians and fighting their non-Christian creeds. The Arians, in turn, began to slander him.

Constantine the Great

At that time, the Roman Empire was ruled by Constantine I the Great (306-337), who in 324 won a victory over the treacherous pagan accomplice Licinius. Constantine was considered the true patron of the Christian Church. He wanted to turn Christianity into the state religion. This ruler was well versed in public affairs and was an excellent diplomat, but he did not particularly know the Gospel teachings, so it was difficult for him to decide where the truth was and where the lie was, and what was better to choose - Arianism or Orthodoxy? Taking advantage of this uncertainty in their views, heretics penetrated all positions and whispered to him all sorts of rumors and gossip, conspired and split.

Constantine was a supporter of the consolidation of power, but began to receive mutual complaints from the supporters of Arius, then from the supporters of Athanasius. In Egypt, this took on more violent forms, people began to triple skirmishes in the streets.

Blatant lie

Against Archbishop Athanasius turned whole war, they began to accuse him of being a criminal, a sorcerer and a fornicator who does not obey the ruler and commits illegal deeds.

The matter once reached the point of absurdity, when he was accused of doing all sorts of sorcery with the help of some kind of severed dead hand that belonged to the cleric Arseny. Arseny was a reader, at that time he was hiding from the authorities for some of his misconduct, but when he heard that Athanasius the Great was slandered, he appeared before the court alive and unharmed. Thus the supporters of the Arians were convicted of lies.

But for them this lie was not enough, and they added another one, bribing some shameless person who declared that St. Athanasius wanted to abuse her. Afanasy's friend Timothy, listening to this heinous accusation behind the door, unexpectedly entered the courtroom and appeared before the woman, as if he were Afanasy, with the words: "My dearest, forgive me for having committed violence against you this night." The false witness hysterically screamed that she would never forgive this intruder and corrupter of her purity. The judges, seeing the comedy played out, laughed and drove her away.

The saint was acquitted by the emperor and sent to the Alexandrian see.

Bullying and persecution

He saw the depth of the hostility, which could develop into a real religious war, and then he asked St. Athanasius to leave for a while.

Meanwhile, in 330, Arianism began to be supported by the state, Constantine called Eusebius of Nicomedia out of exile, and then Arius.

In 335, Athanasius condemned the Council of Tire. He was again falsely accused of involvement in the murder of the Meletian priest Arsenius and exiled to Trier. But after the death of Emperor Constantine in 337, he was returned to his homeland from his exile.

Emperor Constantius

Constantine's second son, Constantius, became emperor. The entire imperial court stood up for the Arians, the persecution of Orthodox Christians began, the bishops were exiled, the thrones began to be occupied by wicked people. Athanasius the Great fled to Rome for three years.

In 340 he was sent back again. He returned to the See of Alexandria only in 345 after the death of Bishop Gregory. But in 356 he again condemns him, after which he flees to upper Egypt and hides there until 361, until the emperor Constantius dies.

Athanasius the Great spent more than 20 years in exile, now hiding, then returning to his native places. At that time he was strongly supported by the fathers of monasticism venerable Anthony and Pahomy. He would later write a book about it.

Athanasius, being a bishop, did not recognize the equal existence of the orthodox and Arian branches of Christianity.

God's judgment

Over time, the Lord judged everything with his fair judgment: Arius and his heretic associates were punished, and the wicked king died. After that, Julian the Apostate came to replace him, Jovinian the Pious began to rule after him, after Valens, who, although in many ways harmed the Church, but being afraid of rebellion, allowed Athanasius to return to the Alexandrian See and rule it peacefully and calmly until the end of his days. Bishop Athanasius the Great reposed on May 2, 373 at the age of 76.

For 46 years he was Bishop of Alexandria, persecuted and slandered. But he always returned to preach the gospel truth about Christ the Savior.

Athanasius the Great: creations

The essence of his theology was that God became man in order for man to become God. Athanasius the Great spent his whole life defending the truth. "On the Incarnation of the Word" - his work, which became the central text of Christianity, describing without any excesses all the dogma about Christ.

Bishop Athanasius was the first to record the experience in the book The Life of Anthony. The ascetic does what the philosopher simply talks about. He contrasts asceticism with the philosophy of Athanasius the Great. The Interpretation of the Psalms has become a brilliant classic of patristic exegesis, allowing one to read the texts and correctly understand their true meaning and significance.

This article contains: Saint Athanasius and Cyril prayer - information taken from all over the world, electronic network and spiritual people.

The Christian name Cyril, which is not popular today, has a very rich history and powerful spiritual patrons. Its origin is ancient Greek, in literal translation it means "lord", or "lord". Men bearing this name should be aware of their patron and remember the need to honor the day of St. Cyril.

The righteous with the name Cyril

The Orthodox Church, starting from the IV century, canonized three dozen righteous people who bore this name and lived on the territory of Byzantium, the Western Roman Empire and Russia. Cyril, the patriarch of the Egyptian city of Alexandria, is one of the first in this personality. He was glorified approximately in 451. Our most famous compatriots are Reverend Kirill Radonezhsky, father of Sergius of Radonezh, who took monastic vows at the end of his life, and Kirill Belozersky. Saint Cyril is the founder of the idea of ​​enlightened monasticism and the comprehensive social service of the church.

Most often, boys at baptism are called an ancient Christian name in honor of St. Cyril, the Enlightener of the Slavs. Every saint has his own iconographic image. The day of celebration of the heavenly patron is called the day of the Angel. And the heavenly patron himself is sometimes called a guardian angel. This term is conditional and not entirely correct. This is a completely different personal non-material essence. One of the manifestations of respect for one's heavenly patron is a prayer appeal through his icon-painting image. An icon is a window to the higher world. It should contribute to the inner concentration of a person.

beware of fetishism

In fact, a completely different picture emerges. On countless sites, it is offered to purchase icons of saints and the Virgin with detailed instructions on what exactly this or that image helps. Moreover, one can meet supposedly competent believers who will advise whom and in what case one should pray. This reduces the lofty meaning of the icon to an ordinary object of religious worship. The reasons are both the ignorance of the clergy and the banal desire for profit: clients pay for the result. In some churches, you can see a price tag similar to offers in the secular service sector, offering to serve a prayer service to a saint with almost a guaranteed result: about a lost thing, about a successful search for a groom so that your teeth do not hurt, etc. This is also facilitated by the incompetence of believers who identify the holy image with medication in a pharmacy. I bought paracetamol, swallowed it - and it became easier. A very pernicious delusion that can lead to negative consequences over time. After all, fire can not only warm, but also cruelly burn. You can have huge treasures with you all your life and not be able to properly use them. Grace will not be added from a huge number of icons, but, on the contrary, a careless and unworthy attitude towards them can be punished. sacred image requires due respect. You should know that prayer in front of any icon can help in alleviating any trouble.

An icon should not be treated like a book or a photograph stored on a shelf, which can be used from time to time. If you have acquired a holy image, then even the smallest icon requires an appropriate reverent attitude. When venerating the icons of saints, one must first of all study the earthly life of the archetype. This brings the inner world of the praying person closer to the heavenly patron. And on the other hand, a personality located in another dimension is located in a somewhat special way towards the microcosm of an earthly person, which shows reverent attention to it.

Icon of the heavenly patron

You should definitely have in your house an icon of your heavenly intercessor, that is, the saint in whose honor the person is named. It is not easy to store somewhere in a sideboard behind glass, as a kind of souvenir. When looking at the icon, one should daily pray to the patron, even if it is brief. It is also preferable to pay attention to a righteous man close in occupation - the patron labor activity. For example, Saint Cyril, the Enlightener of the Slavs, is traditionally considered the patron of teachers and students due to the labors incurred during earthly life. As well as the apologist of the ancient church, Patriarch Kirill of Alexandria earned the fame of a great preacher and writer. The icon of St. Cyril, the guardian angel and patron of Orthodox theologians, enjoys reverent veneration among theologians.

Outstanding Personality of the Middle East

Saint Cyril was an extraordinary church figure, and on the other hand - a typical representative of his era. Exact date his birth is unknown. He came from a noble Greek family. In Alexandria, there was a kind of dynastic succession in the hierarchy. The tradition was started by Patriarch Athanasius, who was succeeded by his nephew Peter. So Cyril took the chair after the death of his uncle Theophilus. According to the church historian Socrates Scholasticus, Cyril's enthronement was accompanied by riots in the city. Many parties fought for the throne, including heretics. It was possible to calm down the citizens only thanks to the intervention of the troops. Saint Cyril was a very active person and, having settled down in the pulpit, he began to claim to possess the powers of a secular ruler. Then it was the call of the times. The first Christian communities were not only engaged in preaching the doctrine among the non-believers and spiritually nourishing the flock, but also carried a huge load of social service to society.

In the 5th century, the Church struggled with numerous heretical teachings. By order of Cyril, all the parishes of the Novatians were closed in Alexandria. Contemporaries testify that Saint Cyril not only waged an uncompromising struggle against heresies and the remnants of pagan ideology, but was also distinguished by aggressive anti-Semitism. The persecution of the Jews led to clashes with the Roman governor Orestes. The authority of the Egyptian see allowed the patriarch to openly fight the heresy of Nestorius, who in 428 occupied the See of Constantinople. It was on the initiative of Cyril that the III Ecumenical Council was convened, which approved the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God. He ruled the local church of Alexandria for 32 years and died in 444. Cyril wrote many dogmatic treatises. The most outstanding exegetical works are the interpretations of the books of the Old Testament prophets, the Gospel of Luke, John the Evangelist and the epistle of the Apostle Paul.

Iconographic image of Cyril of Alexandria

The tradition of Christian painting has ancient roots of Syro-Palestinian origin. It is customary to depict saints on icons in accordance with the image of their earthly life. As a rule, a picturesque image is created by the time of the canonization ceremony. Sometimes, more than a dozen years pass between the death of a righteous person and his canonization, and the image on the icon may not quite correspond to the portrait resemblance. Unfortunately, due to the iconoclastic heresy that raged on the territory of Byzantium in the 8th century, many ancient icons were irretrievably lost. The most ancient images, which depict the great patriarch of Alexandria, St. Cyril, have not been preserved either. The icon in a modern version depicts the saint in liturgical vestments corresponding to his hierarchical service. An obligatory detail of the composition is the Gospel in the hands. In accordance with the iconographic tradition, emphasizing the reverent attitude to the Holy Scriptures, the saint holds the book not with an open hand, but through the fabric of his vestments.

Saints Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria

The memory of St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, is celebrated on June 22 according to the new style. However, the church established another veneration - January 31. On this day, the triumph of Cyril is celebrated together with another outstanding teacher of the church, his predecessor in the department, Athanasius of Alexandria. The joint celebration is determined in memory of the recognition of their merits and deeds in defense of the dogmatic teaching of the Church. Saints Athanasius and Cyril are two great representatives of the Alexandrian theological school. Their works are of great importance not only for internal church use, but also very relevant for sociologists, historians and psychologists.

Apostle of Eastern Europe

The greatest contribution to the culture of our fatherland was made by two brothers, Cyril and Methodius. Saint Equal-to-the-Apostles Cyril, before taking monastic vows, bore the name Constantine. He and his brother Methodius came from a pious Slavic family. Their father was a military commander in the Greek city of Thessalonica (modern Thessaloniki). Constantine received a brilliant classical education at the court of the emperor, for which he received the nickname of a philosopher. They became famous in connection with the unprecedented work on the enlightenment of the East Slavic tribes. For the effective impact of Christian preaching, they compiled and put into circulation a new alphabet for Slavic tribes speaking related languages. By the name of one of the creators, this monument was named Cyrillic. The brothers translated many liturgical books and the Gospel into Slavonic. In order to be able to perform divine services in a dialect understandable to the Slavs, Konstantin was consecrated to the rank of bishop. Shortly before his death, which followed in 869, he took the monastic rank.

It should be noted that the clergy of the Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian and some other East Slavic churches have been using the original script for more than a millennium. And if modern languages related peoples are already incomprehensible to each other, then the language of worship is absolutely identical. The feat of the preaching activity of Constantine-Cyril is equated by church consciousness with the feat of the apostles, therefore, during the canonization, the saint was given the title "equal to the apostles", and the days of celebration were not set on May 24 and February 27. In every Orthodox educational institution, in a place of honor is the icon of St. Cyril, the guardian angel and patron of students and teachers.

Images of the Enlightener of the Slavs

Artistic images of the great teacher are widespread. In Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe, you can find authentic frescoes depicting St. Cyril. The icon has several canonically approved versions. Konstantin-Cyril is most often depicted in the vestments of a monk-schemnik. He took monastic vows of special severity - the schema. When the two brothers-enlighteners are jointly written, Cyril is depicted only in monastic vestments. Since the saint was ordained to the priesthood, there are icons where he is written in the liturgical robes of a bishop. Invariably in the hands of the saint are either a scroll with Slavic alphabet, or open book, most often the Gospel of John with the first lines of Scripture. Cyril passed away at the age of 42. IN modern tradition He is depicted at about the same age. On the few surviving ancient icons, the Slavic guardian angel Saint Cyril appears as an old man with a rather long, forked beard at the end.

Name day

Primate of the Russian Church, His Holiness Patriarch of All Russia Kirill took this name during his monastic vows. The new name is named as a sign of renunciation of the past life and the beginning of a new, ascetic, subject to completely different worldview principles. At the same time, the enlightener of the Slavs, Saint Cyril, became the heavenly patron of the future hierarch in monasticism. The Patriarch of Moscow sets an example of honoring his heavenly patron. According to Christian canons, on the day of your Angel, you should certainly partake of the holy Mysteries of Christ. May 24 Orthodox world celebrates the holiday of Slavic writing and culture. On the day of his heavenly patron, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill without fail celebrates the Liturgy, if possible in a church dedicated to the saint. Also, every believer bearing the name Cyril, if he really wants to honor his heavenly patron, must take part in public worship on this day, or at least go to the temple to light a candle.

spiritual conversation

Regardless of whether a person believes or not, the laws of the spiritual world operate. An analogy can be drawn with the laws of physics. Even if a person has never heard of Newton's law and the acceleration constant free fall, universal gravitation works, and those who neglect it can suffer greatly. The world of metaphysics is still waiting for its researchers and discoverers, but for now, one should listen to the thousand-year experience of the church. Appeal to the saints is usually called prayer. There are canonical prayers for liturgical use, which believers can also use at home. In prayer to St. Christians turn to Cyril of Alexandria as an assistant in the defense of all truth and piety. Preservation and spread of faith is impossible without preaching. The success of a speaker is based on talent, comprehensive education and dedication. Such in the church consciousness is Saint Cyril, the guardian angel, for all those striving for enlightenment. Prayer to the Righteous Equal to the Apostles expresses requests for granting assistance in overcoming fraternal strife between peoples and preserving fatherly traditions and traditions.

Mirtesen

What we think about will happen, ... what we send into the world, then it will return to us ...

January 31 - Day of Saints Athanasius and Cyril, Archbishops of Alexandria.

Heretics have been poisoning the life of the pious ascetics of the church for as long as Christianity has existed. Many saints suffered from their evil tongues and hatred seething in rotten souls, but still did not deviate from their own convictions. Especially got from carrying heresy to representatives of the clergy. A similar fate did not bypass the archbishops of Alexandria, Athanasius and Cyril, whose memorial day the church celebrates every year on January 31.

Childhood of Athanasius of Alexandria.

The future saint was born around the year 297 in Alexandria. His family strictly adhered to Christian dogmas, therefore the boy grew up in an atmosphere of piety and virtue. It is not surprising that from the very early childhood he had a love for worship. Moreover, the lad preferred the game of priests to ordinary children's entertainment, arranging this action together with his peers, who were also brought up in Christian families. Often, children of pagans joined them, but no one persecuted the children of opponents of the Jesus faith. On the contrary, Athanasius tried to convey the word of God to such children, talking about life and service to people and God the Savior. He converted the believing youths to Christianity by performing the rite of Baptism on them.

Such a zealous and at the same time reverent attitude towards God and the church theme in general was formed in the young Athanasius, including under the influence of his mother's act. She brought her son to the church to St. Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, thus consecrating her to the Lord.

Spiritual activity of Athanasius.

At the age of 21, the ascetic was ordained a deacon by his mentor. It was then that the collision of the future archbishop with heresy began. Athanasius, not without sorrow, observed the situation developing in the Church. New converts to the faith of Jesus did not possess desirable qualities, such as piety, virtue, humility. On the contrary, their entire existence and service in the temple were aimed at achieving selfish goals - fame, high priestly titles. These people continued to observe pagan customs.

One of these heretics - Arius - laid the foundation for a new false doctrine: Arianism - the followers of which called themselves Arians. He taught to live for his own pleasure, heaped abuse on Jesus and the Mother of God, put Man above God. This heresy acquired a mass character, but St. Athanasius tried to fight it. In 325, the ascetic spoke publicly against Arius at the Council of Nicaea. A year later, having become a bishop after the death of the Patriarch of Alexandria, he continued the good deed, using all his strength, using new powers.

Such a zealous rebuff of the new false religion caused an uprising of Christians, unstable in faith. Saint Athanasius became the object of slander. The heretics entwined the imperial court like snakes. Taking advantage of the soft-heartedness of the then ruler Constantine the Great, they now and then informed the emperor about the saint. Athanasius had to leave the city, hiding for a long time. True, his friends did not leave him without support: the holy reverends Pachomius and Anthony.

The malice of the heretics, alas, did not subside. Athanasius experienced many sorrows from them, but everywhere he came out victorious, he refuted all the denunciations against him, presenting evidence of his own innocence. However, this did not help. It got to the point that the imperial court took the side of the Arians. The ruler at that time was already the son of Constantine the Great Constantius. Terrible Christian persecutions began, and Saint Athanasius was forced to take refuge for 3 years in Rome.

After all, God punished the wicked. The saint returned to Alexandria already under the emperor Valens, who gave the go-ahead to the ascetic to take up the former position of bishop. In general, Athanasius served in this rank for 46 years. He passed away on May 2, 373, at the age of 76.

Childhood and youth of Cyril of Alexandria.

The second archbishop, whose commemoration day the Orthodox Church celebrates together with that of St. Athanasius, on January 31, had a noble origin. The family in which he was born also adhered to Christian canons and was distinguished by piety.

Parents made sure that their son grew up as a smart and educated child. Cyril studied many secular sciences, including philosophy. The future archbishop showed special diligence in mastering knowledge on the subject of the faith of Jesus. As a young boy, the ascetic entered the monastery of St. Macarius, located in the Nitrian mountains. Saint Cyril lived in this monastery for 6 whole years. By his zealous attitude towards the faith, he deserved the rank of deacon, which was bestowed on the ascetic by Patriarch Theophilos of Alexandria himself.

At this time, in Alexandria, the opponents of Christianity were actively promoting a new false doctrine - the heresy of Novatian. This “teacher” inspired everyone and everyone that believers who had fallen away during the period of persecution against the Church could never be accepted into her bosom again. Saint Cyril, already patriarch in place of the deceased Theophilus, fought against this heresy and achieved positive results: the wicked were driven out of Alexandria.

But there was another problem that threatened the Christian religion. The danger was represented by the Jews, who periodically rebelled against the Church, moreover, they dealt with the righteous with particular cruelty. The archbishop had to wage a long and stubborn struggle with such a problem. He also successfully coped with the final eradication of paganism by building a temple on the site of the temple.

And then a new trouble of global proportions happened: the presbyter of the Church of Antioch, Nestorius, was elected to the See of Constantinople. Thus, he had a great opportunity to promote his own false doctrine to the masses.

Another heresy had the main dogmas:

* two essences of God - God the Father and God the Son - do not merge into one, and must be considered separately;

* The Virgin Mary should be called in connection with this the Mother of God, because she gave birth to the man Jesus.

Of course, St. Kirill resented such absurdity to the depths of his soul. He tried to reason with Nestorius, but in vain. And the bishop decided to take extreme measures: he wrote accusatory treatises to the clergy of several large Churches, Patriarchs and Popes. Nestorius began an open war with Christianity, and St. Cyril hated, constantly slandered him. As a result, an Ecumenical Council was convened to solve the problem that had arisen, which subsequently called the teachings of Nestorius a heresy. Well, Bishop John of Antioch, who was on the side of the wicked, reacted by convening his unofficial Council, where he accused St. Kirill.

The emperor put an end to this matter. He sent Memnon of Ephesus to prison, St. Cyril and Nestorius. After a while the defenders true faith were released, Nestorius, as a result of the meetings of the Council, was defrocked and exiled to Sasim, in the Libyan desert. There he died of a terrible disease.

The episcopal activity of St. Cyril and completed it was very fruitful: there was no trace of heresies. He died in 444, having given the Christian world many theological works.

Prayer to Saint Athanasius the Great.

O all-praiseful and glorious Saint Athanasius the Great, for the Orthodox faith you were in long labors, many labors, in five exiles and flight, you endured many slander and slander, many times you want to kill you for your nudes, and only God Himself miraculously save you from death. And you endured all this from the ungodly heretics - the Arians, you also fought with them, and having immersed them in the abyss of words, you overcame them with your patience, and, driving away their evil faith from the Church and planting the Orthodox teaching, you multiplied the seed of the faith of Christ. Truly, you are a brave warrior of Christ, like a warrior, until the end of your days you gloriously fought for the right faith with heretics. Truly you are the pillar of the Orthodox faith, for your Orthodox faith has not shaken in any way from these heretical persecutions, but rather be established and strengthened, and not only among you and your flock, but also in the whole Church of Christ. We pray to you, servant of God, ask Christ our God and we have unshakable faith and do not deviate from the right path of it, but remain on it until the end of your days, not fearing either flattery, or punishment, or even persecution, and inherit the Kingdom of Heaven in the glory of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, where you and all the saints abide. Amen.

Prayer to Saints Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria.

O all-holy fathers Athanasius and Cyril, our intercessors are warm, consumers of heresy, defenders of piety, healers who are ill, helpers in troubles and all those who flow to you warm representatives, help us sinners in this life, and beg the Lord God to grant us forgiveness of sins and the Kingdom Heavenly heritage, may we always glorify the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and your gracious intercession, now and forever and forever and ever. Amen.

Troparion of Saints Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria.

God of our fathers, / do with us always according to Your meekness, / do not depart Your mercy from us, / but by their prayers / / rule our life in peace.

John Troparion of Saints Athanasius and Cyril, Archbishops of Alexandria

The deeds of Orthodoxy that have shone forth, / all that have extinguished slander, / conquerors, victorious ones, / have enriched everything with piety, / the Church has been greatly adorned, / worthy of gaining Christ God, / who grants us great mercy.

Troparion of St. Athanasius the Great

You were a pillar of Orthodoxy, / Confirming the Church with divine dogmas, / Hierarch Athanasius: / Having preached to the Father of the Son of the same essence, / You put Arius to shame. / Reverend Father, / pray to Christ God / / Grant us great mercy.

Troparion of Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Orthodox mentor, / piety to the teacher and purity, / universal lamp, / divinely inspired fertilizer of the bishops, / Cyril the wise, / with your teachings you enlightened all, / spiritual barn, / pray to Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion of St. Athanasius of Alexandria

Having planted the doctrines of Orthodoxy, / Thou hast cut off the patience of slander, having multiplied the seed of faith by the infusion of the Spirit, reverend, / we sing the same to you, Athanasius.

Kontakion of Saints Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria

Hierarchs of the greatest piety / and good champions of the Church of Christ, / observe everything, singing: / save, Bountiful, / by faith honoring Thee.

Kontakion of St. Athanasius the Great

Having planted the teachings of Orthodoxy, / you cut off the slander of thorns, / multiplying the seed of faith by the infusion of the Spirit, reverend, / we sing the same to you, Athanasius.

Kontakion of Saint Cyril of Alexandria

You exuded an abyss of teachings of theology for us / from the source of the Spasovs, / plunging heresy, / blessed Cyril, / and saving the herd unharmed from troubles, / mentor to all countries, reverend, / as if divine.

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Introduction

Saint Athanasius, nicknamed the Great by the Holy Church for his outstanding virtues, for his unshakable character and for the courageous struggle he waged to save Orthodoxy from the danger posed by the heresy of Antichrist Arius, was a major historical figure of one of the most important periods in the history of mankind. It was then that the Roman Empire, realizing its inability to strangle Christianity with barbarian persecution, was forced to recognize it and rely on it in an attempt to prolong its existence. The details of the life and work of Athanasius the Great give us a clear idea of ​​that vague era when the ancient pagan religion was already on its last legs, and the state was rebuilt on a new religious basis- based on Christianity. At the same time, disputes were going on in the Church, and local and ecumenical councils were convened to formulate the dogmas of faith and regulate problems related to the organization and management of the Church.

Origin and Education of Athanasius the Great

Saint Athanasius was born in Alexandria in 295 after R.Kh. from Greek Christian parents who nurtured and nurtured him on the sources of Christian and Greek education. From an early age, Athanasius stood out for his sharp mind, devoted love for the Church, and thirst for knowledge. Having received a secular education, he continued to study theology and philosophy in more depth in the Alexandrian schools, which were then flourishing, thoroughly studied the Holy Scripture and the works of the holy fathers of the Church and church writers dedicated to it, as well as ancient Greek poets, philosophers, rhetoricians and historians, especially Homer, Plato and Aristotle. Thus, he acquired deep knowledge in Christian and secular (ancient Greek) science and philosophy.

Simultaneously with his education, Athanasius labored in a righteous life, in love and devotion to Christ, the Church and Orthodoxy, in the name of which he experienced unheard-of persecution, persecution and exile. The following legend testifies to his boundless love for Christ and the Church: once, while still a child, while playing on the seashore, Athanasius baptized several children of pagans, and since he strictly observed all the rules of this Church Sacrament, Patriarch Alexander the First of Alexandria (313- 328) recognized this baptism performed by little Athanasius as valid, and took Athanasius himself under his protection, taking care of his education since then.

In the future, Patriarch Alexander, highly appreciating the righteousness, learning and outstanding personal qualities of Athanasius, gave him the post of secretary of the Patriarchate, dedicating him to church dignity reader. Later, at the age of twenty-four, the patriarch ordained him a deacon. Even at a young age, Athanasius met the illustrious desert ascetic Anthony the Great (250-355 BC), lived for some time next to him, acquiring rich spiritual fruits from communication with him. His respect and reverence for Anthony the Great was so great that he subsequently wrote a most detailed life of the great ascetic of the desert.

Battles for Orthodoxy, persecution and persecution

In 318, when Athanasius the Great was 23 years old, the heresy of Arius arose in Alexandria, proclaiming in his sermons and books that Christ was not God, but a creature of God. Three years later, this heresy also appears in a philosophical guise, starting to gather crowds of followers around it and shake the foundations of the gospel faith. On this occasion, it was decided to convene a Council in Alexandria, which happened in 321. During the Council, Athanasius, armed with theological and philosophical knowledge, provided invaluable assistance to Patriarch Alexander in the fight against the false teachings of Arius.

However, the main battle of the Orthodox faith against the heresy of Arius took place a few years later, at the First Ecumenical Council, convened in 325 AD. in the Bithynian city of Nicaea. The young hierodeacon Athanasius took part in this Council, accompanying the aged Patriarch Alexander and “abbots serving with him” (Socrates Scholastic. Church. History. I 25). There Athanasius, thanks to learning and, above all, ardent faith, became the most courageous and invincible warrior for the Orthodox faith against the attacks of "Antichrist Arius." It was he who, in the main, struck the malady of Arianism, supporting with all his theological and philosophical learning and oratory the term "consubstantial" (with the Father) for the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, Jesus Christ. Based on the teachings of St. Athanasius, the Council formulated the first seven members of the Creed, beginning with the words "I believe ...". (The remaining five members of the Creed were formulated at the Second Ecumenical Council, held in Constantinople in 381 AD). So the name of Athanasius has since become a symbol of Orthodoxy in its struggle against the attacks of the Arians, many of whom occupied high leadership positions.

The First Ecumenical Council so strongly strengthened the glory and influence of Saint Athanasius that already three years later, that is, in 328 after A.D., when the aged Patriarch of Alexandria Alexander the First (313-328 A.D.) reposed in the Lord. ), he ascended the patriarchal throne at the age of thirty-three by “the verdict of the whole people,” as Gregory of Nazianzus aptly notes in his “Eulogy to Athanasius the Great.”

Athanasius served as patriarch on the throne of Alexandria for forty-six years and throughout his long term as bishop remained a "pillar of the Church" and the greatest "father of Orthodoxy." Immediately after his accession to the patriarchal throne, he began to actively take care of the organization of the Church. Traveling through his bishopric, he visited Thebais, Pentapolis, the oasis of Ammon (Siva) in southern Egypt, in order to get acquainted on the spot with the needs of his flock, who everywhere met him with indescribable joy and love. In the cities he visited, he installed worthy bishops, among whom was Frumentius, an outstanding man with a fervent missionary ardor. Athanasius ordained him bishop of Aksum and provided him with every possible help and support in the work of spreading Christianity in Abyssinia.

Meanwhile, Arius, despite the fact that he was deposed by the First Ecumenical Council, together with his followers caused much grief to Saint Athanasius and did not cease to sow confusion in the Church. Active activity of Athanasius in solving church issues in his vast diocese, his special interest to the spread of Christianity in Abyssinia, his unsurpassed theological, philological and philosophical learning and education, the strength of his personality and the inflexibility of his character, as well as the boundless respect from his flock, worried the leader of the heretics Arius and his associates. They came to the conclusion that by remaining on the patriarchal throne of Alexandria, Athanasius could deal the death blow to their heresy.

For this reason, the antichrists, the Arians, began to slander the saint, trying to throw him off the patriarchal throne with the help of intrigues and intrigues. He, keeping firm and unchanging his convictions and unshakable faith in the Divine nature of Jesus Christ, endured with extraordinary courage the cruel persecutions of his opponents and their impious intrigues and slanders raised against him.

The Arians, having persuaded even the emperor himself to their opinion, with unprecedented dexterity weaved a myriad of intrigues and slanders, the falsity of which was constantly revealed, so that the intriguers themselves were ridiculed. However, these slanders led to the fact that the saint was deposed from the patriarchal throne five times, and out of the forty-six years of his patriarchal service, he spent sixteen in exile.

The reason for the cruel controversy of the Arians against Saint Athanasius was the fact that the saint refused to accept Arius into the bosom of the Church, despite his confession of faith, which he presented in 330 or 331 to Constantine the Great, where the most crafty heretic, of course, diligently avoided talking about his heretical and false views of Jesus Christ. Constantine the Great, despite all his respect and admiration that he had for Athanasius the Great for his uncompromising disposition, learning and courage, fell under the influence of the intrigues of the Arians against the saint and convened in 335 after A.D. Council in Caesarea Palestine to study the accusations against Athanasius. The council eventually met in the Phoenician city of Tyre.

To be continued…

Translation from modern Greek: the editors of the online publication "Pemptusia".

Life of Our Holy Father Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria

Saint Athanasius the Great, this living and immortal image of virtue and pious life, was born in the famous capital of Egypt, Alexandria. His parents were Christians, pious and virtuous people. Even in the days of Athanasius' adolescence, the following incident foreshadowed his future great hierarchal activity.

Once Athanasius was playing with his peers on the seashore. The children imitated what they saw in the church, depicting with their play the priests of God and church rites. They chose Athanasius as their bishop; he also called some of them presbyters, others deacons. These latter brought other pagan children to him, who had not yet been baptized. Athanasius baptized them with sea water, pronouncing the words established for the sacrament of holy baptism, as he once heard from a priest in the church; to this he added teaching, according to his childhood. At the same time, Saint Alexander was Patriarch of Alexandria. Accidentally looking from the windows of his house, which was located on an elevated place, not far from the sea, to the seashore and seeing a child's game, he followed with amazement the baptism performed by Athanasius. He immediately ordered all the children to be brought to him. Questioning the children in detail, the patriarch tried to find out who exactly they baptized, how they were asked before baptism, and what they answered, and found out that in their game they did everything according to the church charter. After that, after consulting with his clergy, he recognized the baptism of pagan children performed by Athanasius as true and completed it with chrismation, then he called the parents of the children, who acted as presbyters, and advised them to bring them up for the priesthood. Having called Athanasius' parents, St. Alexander instructed them to educate him in piety and book learning, and then, when he comes of age, to bring him to him and consecrate him to God and the holy Church.

When Athanasius had sufficiently studied the sciences and received a broad intellectual education, his parents brought him to the holy Patriarch Alexander and, just as Anna-Samuel had once (1 Samuel 1), consecrated him as a gift to God. Shortly thereafter, the patriarch appointed him a clergyman and ordained him a deacon in the Church of Alexandria. How, in this rank, from his youth, he courageously fought against heretics, and what he suffered from them, it is impossible to enumerate everything; but it is impossible to remain silent about some of his most remarkable deeds and deeds. At that time the wicked Arius spread his insane heresy and shook the whole Church with his pernicious teaching. Although he was already cursed at the first Ecumenical Council of the Holy Fathers in Nicaea, excommunicated from communion with the Church of Christ and sentenced to imprisonment, however, overthrown and barely alive, he did not stop his struggle against Orthodoxy. He began to act through his disciples and like-minded people, spreading the poison of his heresy everywhere. Having many intercessors for himself before the king, especially Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, with other bishops who held the same heresy, Arius, through them, asked Constantine the Great for mercy for himself, so that he would be released from imprisonment and allowed to return to Alexandria. Eusebius treacherously convinced the king that Arius did not introduce any teaching contrary to Orthodoxy and did not preach anything inconsistent with the teachings of the Church, but out of envy he suffered from the slyness of the bishops, and that between them there was a dispute not about faith, but only because of empty, abstract words. The king, in his simple-heartedness and gentleness, unaware of heretical cunning and deceit, believed the false assurances and ordered to stop the dispute and not to quarrel over words, so that there would be no contention between the churches. Without investigating the case at all, he, in his mercy, allowed Arius to return to Alexandria. And so this impious heretic, to the general ecclesiastical disaster, returned to Alexandria. This circumstance was very difficult and regrettable for the Orthodox, and especially for Saint Athanasius, as a warrior of Christ and a firm defender of the true traditions of Orthodoxy. At that time, he was already awarded the archdeacon rank. This warrior of Christ persecuted the heretic who, like a wolf, invaded the Church of Christ, exposing his evil intentions both with his Scriptures and with his sermon. At the same time, Athanasius also encouraged His Holiness Archbishop Alexander to write a letter to the Tsar, and he wrote with him, exposing the innocence, according to which the Tsar, believing in seductions and heretical fables, now accepts Arius, who has turned away from the Orthodox Church, rejected by God Himself and all holy fathers, and allows him to shake the paternal laws. But the king, at the suggestion of Eusebius, answered them with an even sharper message, threatening them, if they did not stop, with the eruption of the dignity. The pious and good king acted thus, not to satisfy his anger, and not because he was disposed towards Arianism, but having a zeal, although not according to reason, that there should be no contention between the churches. Loving the world with his meek heart, the tsar sought peace where it absolutely cannot exist: for how can heresy live in peace with Orthodoxy?

Soon after this holy Alexander passed away; Athanasius was unanimously chosen as his successor to the Alexandrian see by all Orthodox, as a vessel worthy of such a world. Then the secret spit-sowers - the Arians fell silent for a while, not entering into an open struggle with Athanasius; but then, by demonic instigation, they revealed their cunning and clearly revealed the poison nestling within their malice, since Saint Athanasius did not accept the impious Arius into church communion, although the latter had a royal prescription to that effect. Everywhere the Arians began to stir up enmity against the innocent and spread evil slander, trying to ensure that the one who is worthy of the heavenly villages was not only cast down from the earthly hierarchal throne, but also expelled from the city. But Athanasius remained unshakable, singing with David: "If an army takes up arms against me, my heart will not be afraid" (Ps.26:3).

The head of the insidious plan was Eusebius, who only bore the name of piety, but in fact was a vessel of wickedness. Taking advantage of the king's mildness with his like-minded people and assuming that now the time had come convenient for that, he excited everyone in order to depose Athanasius from the throne. Eusebius thought that if he deposed Athanasius, then he would easily overcome other Orthodox and approve the Aryan doctrine. He began to spread unfair and false news about the righteous, which the heretics seemed to be reliable. To do this, he hired for money a follower of Meletius Ision, who was sophisticated in the deceit of Eudomon and Kallinikos, who was strong in malice. The accusations against Athanasius were as follows: 1) that he forced the Egyptians to pay taxes on priestly vestments, linen clothes, altar curtains and fabrics, and other church utensils; 2) as if he is hostile to the king and despises the royal prescriptions; 3) as if he was greedy and sent a box full of gold to one of his friends for safekeeping. To this was added another accusation regarding the false priest Ishir, who was crafty, cunning and cunning in his malice; having appropriated to himself, without the usual consecration, the name of a presbyter, he committed so many evil, lawless and criminal deeds that he deserved not only eruption and reproach, but also severe punishment. Having learned everything about Iskhir, blessed Athanasius, always careful and careful in solving such cases, sent the presbyter Macarius to Mareoty to investigate everything about the lawless deeds of the Iskhirovs. Ishir, fearing interrogation and exposure, fled from there and, having brought him to Nicomedia, began to slander Athanasius before Eusebius. Eusebius and his accomplices accepted Ishir, this apostate of God and the violator of sacred rules, as a true priest, and treated him with reverence: for it is natural to love your like in malice or in virtue. Themselves, burning with anger at Athanasius from extreme hatred, they met Ishir with great joy. They encouraged his audacity and arrogance and promised to honor him with the episcopal rank, if only he could bring some kind of slander and slander against the righteous. Iskhir, being cunning and skillful in such matters, intensified to bring accusations against the innocent Athanasius. He said that, on the orders of Athanasius, presbyter Macarius, having robbed the church, dragged him away from the throne with great fury, overturned the throne, broke the cup with the Divine Mysteries and holy books burned. Accepting this slander of Ishir for the truth and adding it to other slanders, the enemies of Athanasius approached Tsar Constantine, slandering Saint Athanasius. In particular, they tried to arouse the anger of the king, accusing Athanasius of not paying attention to the royal written instructions and not listening to the king’s commands, not accepting Arius into church communion. In addition, they also accused the blessed one of some kind of dead hand, that Athanasius, as if, through it, magically worked miracles and charms (themselves, being truly cursed and obvious sorcerers); this hand, as if, belonged to a certain cleric Arseny, and was cut off according to the machinations of Athanasius.

The king, having considered the case, was perplexed: he knew well the virtue of Athanasius, and at the same time the accusations raised against him were more or less probable to him. Therefore, he chose the middle path: without condemning Athanasius, he at the same time did not refuse to investigate his case. And since at that time the feast of the renewal of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ was being celebrated in Jerusalem, and bishops from all countries gathered here, the king, taking advantage of this opportunity, ordered the bishops to gather in Tire for a thorough investigation of the accusations against Athanasius the Great, as well as to consider the case of Arius whether he really, as he himself claims, teaches according to the teaching of the holy faith and clings to true Orthodox traditions: if he is cast down out of envy, then to be again received by the clergy and the council, and joined, as one of the members, to the body of the Church; but if he believes contrary to its teaching and teaches impiously, then let him be judged according to the sacred laws and accept a worthy punishment according to his deeds. In the case of Arseny, the king ordered that an investigation be carried out first so that, if Athanasius turned out to be guilty, he would be condemned in accordance with the laws. For a reliable study of this matter, Constantine sent one of his stewards, named Archelaus, along with the Phoenician prince Non. When these latter came to Tire (Athanasius was here at that time, waiting for the exposure of the slander raised against him regarding the dead hand and sorcery), they postponed the investigation until the expected slanderers came from Alexandria, claiming that Athanasius’s iniquity (cutting off the hand of Arsenius and sorcery) saw with their own eyes. This postponement of the inquiry was by the will of God, as the end of the case clearly showed. For God, looking down on everyone from above and delivering the offended from those who offend him, extended the time so that Arseny himself could come to Tyre. Arseniy was one of the clerics of the Alexandria church, a reader by position; having committed one great crime, he had to undergo a severe trial and cruel punishment; Fearing this, he fled and hid for a long time - no one knows where. The insidious opponents of Athanasius, having refined themselves in intrigues and not at all expecting that Arseny would ever appear because of fear and shame about the sin he had committed, boldly wrote that there was a dead hand of Arseny and spread the rumor everywhere that Athanasius had committed this heinous crime. When the rumor that Athanasius was being tried for the truncation of Arseny's hand spread throughout all countries, this rumor reached Arseny himself, who was hiding in unknown places. Condoling for his father and benefactor, and grieving in his heart that truth is lawlessly conquered by lies, he secretly came to Tire and appeared to Athanasius himself, falling at his honest feet. Blessed Athanasius, rejoicing at the arrival of Arseny, ordered him not to show himself to anyone until the trial.

It was the thirtieth year of the reign of Constantine, when bishops from various cities gathered in Tyre. Presbyter Macarius was brought by the soldiers; among them was the voevoda, who wanted to prosecute the court together with the bishops, as well as some of the other secular authorities; The slanderers also appeared, and the judgment began. Then Athanasius was also called. At first he was falsely accused of linen church vestments and a veil, and also of covetousness; but the lie of this slander was immediately exposed, and the malice of the slanderers became clear to all.

Meanwhile, the vicious hatred of the opponents of Athanasius was not tamed; they were still not satisfied with the false slanders against Athanasius, but they applied one intrigue to another, to one lie another new one. The impious heretics bribed a shameless woman to slander Athanasius that, while staying with her, against her will, he committed iniquity with her.

When the trial began, the judges sat down in their places and the slanderers appeared, and this woman was brought in. Weeping, she complained about Athanasius, whom she had never seen, and did not even know what he looked like.

For the sake of God, I accepted him into my house,” she said of Athanasius, “as a venerable and holy husband, wishing blessings to myself and my house. And, on the contrary, I suffered from it. At midnight, when I was sleeping on the bed, he came to me; and forcibly abused me, since no one freed me from his hands, for everyone in the house fell into a deep sleep.

While the shameless woman was so slandering and slandering with tears, Athanasius’ friend, Presbyter Timothy, standing with him outside the door and hearing the mentioned slander, was troubled in spirit and, unexpectedly going inside the judgment seat, hastily stood before the eyes of that slanderer, as if he were Athanasius himself; he boldly addressed her with the following words:

Did I do violence to you, woman, at night, as you say? Am I?

That woman, with even greater shamelessness, cried out to the judges:

This man is my corrupter and intruder against my purity; he, and not another who, staying with me, repaid me with abuse for my good deed.

Hearing this, the judges laughed, while the opponents of Athanasius were very ashamed, for their lies were clearly revealed. Everyone was surprised at such impudent slander and recognized Athanasius as completely innocent of the sin brought against him. But the opponents of Athanasius began to accuse the holy man of sorcery and the murder of Arseny, brought before the eyes of everyone some kind of terrible-looking dead hand and, shamelessly waving it at the saint, exclaimed:

This hand silently cries out to you, Athanasius, this hand convicts you; she catches you and holds you tight so that you do not escape condemnation; you will not be able to escape its testimony, neither by speeches, nor by cunning, nor by any wiles. Everyone knows Arseny, to whom you cut off this hand unjustly and without any mercy. So, tell us, finally, why did you need it and for what purpose did you cut it off?

Athanasius patiently listened to them, imitating Christ his Lord, once condemned by the Jews and at the same time not arguing, not crying out, but "like a sheep led to the slaughter" (Is.53:7); At first he was silent, then, answering the accusation, he said meekly:

Is there anyone among you who would know Arseny well? is there no one also who would definitely admit that this is really his hand?

When many rose from their seats, claiming that they knew Arseny himself and his hand well, Athanasius immediately opened the curtain behind which Arseny stood and ordered him to stand in the middle of the meeting. And so Arseny became alive and well in the middle of the court, having both hands intact. The blessed one, looking with anger at the slanderers, said:

Isn't that Arseny? Isn't this the one whose hand you say has been cut off? Is this not the one whom all Alexandrians know?

And, commanding Arseny to stretch up first the right one, then left hand, exclaimed loudly, as if calling those who are far from the truth:

Here, men, and Arseny! here are his hands, which were not cut off at all! Show me your Arseny, if you have one, and tell who owns the severed hand that condemns you yourself as having committed this crime.

When the trial was carried out in this way, a message came from the king to the council, strongly denouncing the slanderers, while Athanasius ordered to be released from the unjust accusation and graciously calling him to the king. It happened in this way. Two presbyters of the Church of Alexandria, Apis and Macarius (not the one who was brought bound to trial, but another of the same name), having come to Nicomedia, told the king everything about Athanasius, about how the enemies raised false accusations against the holy husband and made up unfair meeting. The king, having comprehended the truth and the slanders that occurred out of envy, wrote to the bishops for judgment in Tire such a message that when it was read at the trial, the adherents of Eusebius were seized with fear, and they did not know what to do; However, prompted by great envy, they did not cease to rage, did not limit themselves to the fact that they had already been defeated and put to shame once, and, turning to other false accusations, they slandered Macarius, who was brought to trial. Ishir was the false accuser, and the adherents of Eusebius, whom Athanasius had previously rejected as false and unworthy of faith, were false witnesses. Athanasius wanted to be reliably investigated about Ishir, whether he really was a true priest, and only then promised to answer about the accusations brought against him. The judges did not agree to this and continued to prosecute Macarius. After the slanderers had exhausted all their slanders, the hearing of the case was postponed, because it was necessary to conduct an investigation at the very place where, allegedly, Macarius had thrown down the altar, i.e., in Mareoty. Seeing that those same slanderers were sent to Mareots for this, who from the very beginning were rejected by him as liars, Athanasius, unable to bear the injustice being committed, exclaimed incessantly:

Truth has died away, truth has been trampled on, justice has perished, legal investigation and careful consideration of cases have disappeared from judges! Is it lawful that the one who wants to justify himself should be kept in chains, and the judgment of the whole matter should be entrusted to slanderers and enemies, and that the slanderers themselves should judge the one whom they slander.

So St. Athanasius the Great, in the hearing of all, cried out about this and testified to the whole cathedral. Seeing that he would not have any success, due to the increasing number of enemies and envious people, he secretly went to the king. And immediately that council, or, to put it better, the crafty assembly, condemned the absent Athanasius. At the end of the unfair investigation in Mareots on the above-mentioned case, carried out according to the will and desire of the enemies of Saint Athanasius, the judges, themselves worthy of overthrow, decided that Athanasius should be finally overthrown. Then they went to Jerusalem, where they accepted into church communion the God-fighting Arius those same people who kept their piety only in words and at the former Council of Nicaea, feignedly signed the dogma about the consubstantiality of the Son of God with God the Father. But those who both heart and mouth contained the Orthodox faith, carefully considering the words and speeches of Arius and carefully examining them, recognized the seduction that lurked under the cover of many words and speeches, and, catching him like a fox, denounced him as the enemy of truth. . At this time, another message came from the king (Athanasius had not yet managed to reach the king), commanding Athanasius and all his slanderers and judges to immediately come to him. This produced great fear among the members of the council, for the enemies of Athanasius, who had carried out an unlawful judgment, were afraid that their untruth would be exposed; therefore, many of them dispersed to their countries. Eusebius and Theognius, Bishop of Nicaea, and some others, having contrived to come up with some plausible pretexts in order to slow down in Tire, remained here for quite a long time, and the king was answered by letters. Meanwhile, Athanasius, having appeared before the king in Nicomedia, acquitted himself of the accusation of covetousness brought against him. And while the adherents of Eusebius hesitated and were in no hurry to come to the king, the latter sent Athanasius to the Alexandrian cathedra with his message, in which they testified to the groundlessness and injustice of all slander against the saint.

When, therefore, Saint Athanasius ruled his see, and Arius was in Alexandria, the Arians produced great confusion and a rumor among the people. Blessed Athanasius, unable to see that Arius was indignant and swaying not only Alexandria alone, but all of Egypt, reported all this to the king in writing, admonishing him to punish the theomachist and rebel of the people. In response to this, the king immediately sent an order to Alexandria to present Arius bound to the royal court. On the way to the king from Alexandria, Arius, having reached Caesarea, saw his like-minded people: Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, Theognius of Nicaea and Marius, Bishop of Chalcedon; having consulted together, they composed new slanders against Athanasius, neither fearing God, nor sparing an innocent husband, but having one desire - to cover the truth with a lie, as the divine Isaiah says: "those who conceive evil and give birth to villainy" those who said: We have made a refuge for ourselves, and by deceit we shall cover ourselves" (Is. 59:4, 28, 15). Such efforts were made by lawless heretics in order to depose the blessed Athanasius from his patriarchal throne and seize power over the Orthodox. So, they came to the king - Arius, wanting to justify himself, and Eusebius and his accomplices - to contribute to his unjust cause, and openly testify against the truth and Athanasius. When they appeared before the king, they were immediately interrogated about the cathedral that was in Tyre, about what they determined there and what kind of judgment they pronounced on Athanasius. They answered the king:

Tsar! we do not particularly grieve over the errors of Athanasius, but we are seized with grief and jealousy over the altar that he destroyed, and over the chalice with St. Mysteries, which he crushed and smashed to pieces, as well as the fact that he forbade and forbade sending wheat usually sent to Constantinople from Alexandria: this especially saddens us, it stung our soul. Witnesses of such atrocities of his were the bishops: Adamantius, Anuvion, Arvestion and Peter; accused by them of all this, Athanasius escaped the judgment that he justly deserved for his deeds, but he could not avoid the overthrow, but was unanimously cast down by the whole council for daring to such lawless deeds.

Listening to these speeches, the king was initially silent, embarrassed in his soul; then, not being able to stop the slanderers, he ordered that the righteous man be sent to Gaul for a while, - not because he believed the slander or was overcome with anger, but for the sake of appeasing the Church (as people who reliably recognized the royal intention testify). The king saw how many bishops rebelled against Athanasius, and how great confusion arose because of this among the people of Alexandria and Egypt. And so, wishing to calm such a storm, to stop the rumor and heal the pains of so many bishops. He ordered the holy man to leave the city for a while.

After that, Tsar Constantine himself, in the 31st year of his reign, died, being sixty-five years old. Dying, he left three sons as heirs to his kingdom: Constantine, Constantius and Constans, between whom, according to his will, he divided the kingdom, appointing the eldest son Constantine most kingdoms. But since at the death of Constantine the Great there was not one of his sons, he handed over his will to one presbyter, who was a secret follower of Arius. Secretly hiding heresy within himself, this presbyter also concealed the royal testament; when many asked him whether the king, dying, made a will, he said nothing about it. As secret accomplices in this matter, he had some of the royal eunuchs. While the eldest son Constantine was slow to come to his dead father, Constantius hastened to leave Antioch as soon as possible and came first of all. The aforementioned presbyter secretly handed over to him the testament of his father, and, in gratitude, did not ask himself any reward, except that he went over to the side of the Arians and helped them; he wanted Constantius, instead of gratitude to the immortal King Christ for his earthly kingdom, madly recognizing him not as God and Master of all and not as the Creator, but as a creature! The aforementioned Eusebius and all his accomplices contributed to this, rejoicing that the time they longed for had come; they hoped to spread and strengthen the heretical teaching of the Aryans only in the event that the new king also approved the decision on the imprisonment of Athanasius, as just and completely legally held. At that time, they bowed to their heresy and unanimity with themselves the preposite, who was in the royal chambers, and through him the ailment of Arian heresy penetrated other eunuchs, who, by their very nature, are very prone both to the perception and to the spread of any evil among others. Then the wife of the king, gradually corrupted by blasphemous speeches, herself became infected with the same heretical poison. Finally, the king himself, deceived by Arian false wisdom, rose up against Christ, his Lord and Master, so that the words of the Divine Jeremiah were fulfilled on Him: "The shepherds have fallen away from Me" (Jer. 2: 8). And Constantius publicly commanded that the false Arian doctrine be approved, and that all bishops should be wise in the same way as he, and ordered those who disobeyed to be persuaded by threats.

In the midst of this great storm and confusion, the true helmsmen for the churches were the following archpastors: Maximus of Jerusalem, Alexander of Constantinople and Athanasius of Alexandria (whom we are talking about), who, although he was imprisoned, nevertheless did not leave the helm of the Church, affirming Orthodoxy by word and epistles. Eusebius of Nicomedia, with his like-minded people, spread his heretical false teaching with all his might, raising a struggle against the Orthodox and oppressing the Church of Christ. In particular, they armed themselves against her after the terrible death of Arius. The cunning and treacherous Eusebius, with great honor, brought Arius to Constantinople to the great seduction and temptation of the believers, for then there was no one there who would oppose Arius, after many of the authorities joined him, since Athanasius was in captivity. But God, wisely from above, arranging everything, destroyed their plans, stopping the malice and life of Arius. And with what force his tongue during his lifetime spewed blasphemous words against Orthodoxy, with the same and even greater force his womb burst, his insides fell out, and, cursed, he wallowed in his blood in unclean places. Thus, a worthy judgment was accomplished on an unbridled tongue and an evil vessel filled with the fetid pus of heresy, which Arius was!

After this heresiarch destroyed his soul and body in such a terrible way, Eusebius and his accomplices took upon themselves all the work of defending and spreading heresy and produced confusion everywhere, and at the same time they were zealous assistants to the eunuchs, as if their own hands. They especially tried to block the mouth of Athanasius, who was in exile, so that he would not spread his messages in defense of Orthodoxy. But God's Providence bowed to mercy the heart of the eldest son of Constantine the Great, by name - also Constantine, who for years and birthright was the first among the brothers. This latter freed Saint Athanasius from imprisonment and sent him with his message to Alexandria, to the cathedra. In this message it was written: "The winner Constantine of the Church of Alexandria and the people wants to rejoice. I think that among you there is not one who would not know about what recently happened to the great preacher of Orthodoxy and teacher of the law of God - Athanasius. About how a general struggle was raised against him by the enemies of truth, and that he was told to stay with me in Gaul, in order to be able to escape for a while from the disasters that threatened him, but he was not condemned to permanent exile. courtesy, taking care that no unforeseen trouble should happen to him, although he is truly patient like no one else; ignited by zeal for God, he can easily endure any hardship. Our father Constantine wanted to soon return him to the patriarchal throne, but, having died and not having time to carry out his intention about him, he left this matter to me, his heir, bequeathing the last commandment about this husband. we wish you to accept him now with all honor and a solemn meeting.

With this royal message, Saint Athanasius reached Alexandria, and all the Orthodox greeted him joyfully. And those who adhered to the Arian heresy began to organize malicious gatherings among themselves and again raise persecution against the saint and stir up confusion among the people; they invented various reasons for slandering the saint: as if he had returned to the patriarchal throne and of his own free will entered the church; they also accused him of being the cause of various confusions, murders and exiles, and they raised other accusations against him, old and new. At the same time, a people heavily infected with the Arian heresy revolted against Saint Athanasius; Once a crowd of people surrounded the saint, cursing him with insulting words and raising their hands to tear and kill him. Athanasius barely managed to escape and secretly leave the city. Meanwhile, the Arian bishops, sending messages everywhere, announced that Athanasius, legally, by a conciliar decision, deposed, without a conciliar definition, again took the throne of Alexandria; at the same time, the violence that allegedly accompanied his return to Alexandria was publicized. Thus, they closed for him access in all countries to cities and churches. Meanwhile, Constantine, the patron of Afanasiev, was gone: he was killed in L'Aquila by soldiers. The enemies of Athanasius took advantage of this and aroused such anger against the saint, who patronized him, that he promised property and honors to those who would announce the whereabouts of Athanasius, if he was alive, or bring him the head of the murdered archpastor. Athanasius, on the other hand, hid for quite a long time in one deep, waterless and dry ditch of an abandoned well, and no one knew about him, except for one God-lover who fed him, guarding him in that place. Then, when some began to suspect the presence of Athanasius here, for everywhere they carefully searched for him and asked about him, and already wanted to capture him one morning, he, guided by Divine Providence, came out of the ditch at night and moved to another place; fearing that they would find him and seize him there, he withdrew from the eastern countries to the confines of the western empire.

At that time, in the west, after the death of Constantine II, the youngest of the sons of Constantine the Great, Constans, reigned. Having reached Europe, blessed Athanasius went to Rome and, appearing before Pope Julius and Tsar Constant himself, told them everything in detail about himself. Meanwhile, in Antioch, a council of eastern bishops was then taking place, who came together to consecrate the church, which Constantine the Great began to build, and his son Constantius completed. For this purpose, all the eastern bishops gathered there, among whom there were many Arians. These latter, using the patronage of the king, gathered an unlawful council and again declared Saint Athanasius, who was then in the west, deposed, writing in a letter to the pope slandering Athanasius, prompting the pope to recognize him as deposed. In Alexandria, on the patriarchal throne, they first elected Eusebius of Emesses, distinguished by eloquence, but he refused, knowing how deeply the Alexandrians revere their archpastor Athanasius. Then they placed a certain Gregory, a Cappadocian by birth, on the Patriarchal Throne of Alexandria; but he did not have time to reach Alexandria, when Athanasius arrived there from Rome. It happened in the following way.

Pope Julius, having carefully considered the slanders leveled against Athanasius, recognized them as false, and therefore again released him to the Alexandrian throne along with his message, in which he sharply, with threats, exposed those who dared to overthrow him. The saint was received by the Orthodox Alexandrians with great joy. His opponents, having learned about this (their head, Eusebius of Nicomedia, had already died at that time), were very embarrassed and immediately inspired the king to send an army to Alexandria along with Gregory in order to elevate him to the patriarchal throne. And so the king sent, together with the heretic Gregory, who was elected by the heretics to the patriarchal throne, a voivode named Syriana, with many armed soldiers, ordering him to kill Athanasius, and to raise Gregory to the archbishop's chair. One day, on the eve of a certain feast, when in the Alexandrian cathedral church a all-night vigil, and all the Orthodox prayed in the church with their shepherd Athanasius and sang church hymns, Syrian suddenly burst in with armed soldiers. Bypassing the church, he was looking for only Athanasius to kill him. But the Saint, covered by the providence of God, secretly left the church, surrounded by the people, and, since at that time the darkness of the night came, he passed unnoticed among the general confusion and the multitude of the people, thus avoiding death, like a fish from the very middle network, after which he again returned to Rome. After that, the wicked Gregory occupied, like a predator, the throne of Alexandria. A great excitement arose among the people, so that the rebels even set fire to one temple, called Dionysius.

Saint Athanasius stayed in Rome for three years, enjoying the deep respect of Tsar Constant and Pope Julius. There he had a friend of St. Paul, Archbishop of Constantinople, also expelled from his throne by impious heretics. Finally, by common consent of both kings, Constantius and Constans, Sardica, a council of eastern and western bishops was convened on the question of the confession of faith, as well as on the case of Athanasius and Paul. Among them, there were more than three hundred western ones, and a little more than seventy eastern ones, among which was the previously mentioned Ishir, at that time already the bishop of Mareota. The bishops who had come down from the Asian churches did not even want to see the Western ones until they removed Paul and Athanasius from the cathedral. Western bishops did not even want to hear about it. Then the eastern bishops set off on the return journey and, having reached the Thracian city of Philippopolis, they formed their council there, or, rather, they openly anathematized the lawless assembly and those of the same essence; this wicked definition they sent in writing to all the churches dependent on them. Having learned about this, the holy fathers, who gathered in Sardica, first of all, anathematized this blasphemous assembly, their heretical and impious confession; then they cast out the slanderers of Athanasius from the hierarchical degrees they occupied and, having approved the definition of faith drawn up in Nicea, they clearly and accurately confessed God the Son as consubstantial with God the Father.

After all this, the Western king Constans, in a letter to his brother Constantius about Paul and Athanasius, begged him to allow them to return to their thrones. When he kept postponing their return, King Constant wrote to him again in harsher terms. “If you,” he wrote, “will not listen to me voluntarily, then, even without your consent, I will put each of them on his throne, for then I will go against you with armed force.” Frightened by the threat of his brother, Constantius received Paul, who had come earlier, and honorably sent him to his throne. Then, through an epistle written in the spirit of meekness, he called Saint Athanasius to himself from Rome and, after a conversation with him, he saw that this man was very wise and divinely inspired. Marveling at the great wisdom of Athanasius, Constantius showed him great honor and with glory returned him to the patriarchal throne; At the same time, he wrote to the people of Alexandria and to all the bishops and princes who were in Egypt, to Augustus Nestorius, and to the rulers who were in Thebaid and Libya, so that they would receive Athanasius with great honor and respect. Equipped with the aforementioned royal message, the blessed one went through Syria and Palestine and visited the Holy City of Jerusalem, where he was lovingly received by His Holiness the Confessor Maximus; they told each other about their calamities and misfortunes that they had endured for Christ. Having summoned the Eastern bishops, who, out of fear of the Arians, had previously given their consent to the overthrow, Athanasius. He drew them to like-mindedness and fellowship with him - and they gave him a worthy honor; but he gladly forgave them the sin they had committed against him. This was the third return of Saint Athanasius to the patriarchal throne after his three exiles. And so, after countless labors, sorrows and illnesses, he finally rested a little and thought of spending the rest of the time in relief from them and in peace. Meanwhile, new unrest and cruel disasters were approaching him. At this time, the impious Magnentius, the head of the Roman troops, conspired with his like-minded people, killed Constans, his sovereign. Then the Arians raised their heads and raised a fierce struggle against the Church of Christ. Against Athanasius, slander and persecution began again, and all the old evil resumed. Again, royal decrees and threats appeared against Athanasius, again Athanasius had to experience flight and fear, again they began to search for him throughout the country and across the sea. The king sent to Alexandria to occupy the patriarchal throne the Cappadocian George, who, having come to Alexandria, shook Egypt, shook Palestine and led the whole east into confusion. Again they were cast down from their thrones: Saint Maximus from the pulpit of Jerusalem, Saint Paul from that of Constantinople. And about what was happening at that time in Alexandria, Saint Athanasius himself tells the following: “Again, some, seeking to kill us,” Saint Athanasius narrates, “came to Alexandria, and disasters came, the most severe of the previous ones. The soldiers suddenly surrounded the church, and, instead of prayers, cries, exclamations and confusion were heard, all this happened on the holy fortecost. Having seized the patriarchal throne, George of Cappadocia, elected by the Macedonians and Arians, increased evil even more. orphans and widows were plundered, and the most complete robbery took place in the city. Christians went out of the city at night, sealed their houses; clergy, while in poverty for their brethren; all this was truly extremely disastrous, but an incomparably greater evil followed soon after. After Holy Pentecost, the people fasted and I was going to pray at the tomb of the Holy Hieromartyr Peter; for everyone abhorred George and avoided fellowship with him. Upon learning of this, the insidious George stirred up against them the stratilate Sebastian, who adhered to the Manichaean heresy. Sebastian, with a multitude of warriors armed with naked swords, bows and arrows, broke into the church itself and attacked the people who were there, but found few worshipers, since most of them retired due to the late time. To those who were in the church, Sebastian inflicted the most severe grief. He ordered a huge fire to be kindled and, placing the virgins near the fire, forced them to confess the Aryan heresy. But when Sebastian was unable to force them to do this, since he saw that they did not pay any attention to either fire or threats, he exposed them and ordered them to be beaten without mercy, but their faces were so pronounced with wounds that, after for a long time, relatives could hardly recognize them. The husbands, who numbered forty people, he betrayed to new torment: the tormentors subjected them to terrible scourging with hard and prickly branches of a date palm tree that had just been cut down and tore off their shoulders, so that some had to cut out the body several times, due to the fact that the needles were deeply stuck in him; others, unable to endure the pain, died of ulcers. All those virgins whom he tortured with particular cruelty, he sent to prison in the great Oasim, and neither the Orthodox nor his own allowed the dead bodies of those killed, but the soldiers hid them in one place unburied, thinking that in this way such cruelty would remain unknown to anyone. ; so they did, being mad and corrupted by meaning. The Orthodox, on the other hand, rejoiced over their martyrs for their firm confession of the Orthodox faith, but at the same time they wept over the bodies that they were located - no one knows where. And through this, the wickedness and cruelty of the tormentors were even more exposed. After that, the following bishops were exiled from Egypt and Libya: Ammonius, Moin, Gaius, Philo, Hermias, Peacock, Psinosir, Linamon, Agathon, Agamtha, Mark, and other Ammonius and Mark, Draconis, Adelphius, Athenodorus and the presbyters Hierax and Dioscorus ; the tormentors oppressed them so cruelly that some died on the way, and others in places of confinement. The Arians condemned more than thirty bishops to eternal imprisonment; for their wickedness, like Ahab, was so strong that, if it were possible, they would be ready to banish and destroy the truth from the face of all the earth.

Meanwhile, King Constantius, after the death of his brother, King Constant, having defeated Magnentius, began to possess the east and west. Both in the east and in the west, he began to spread the Arian heresy, inclining the western bishops in all sorts of ways: both through fear and through caresses, gifts and various temptations, so that they agreed to the Aryan creed and accepted their heresy. To this end, he ordered to build a cathedral in the Italian city of Mediolanum - to overthrow Athanasius: he thought that Arianism would only be established when Athanasius was completely overthrown and exterminated from among the living. Many like-minded people appeared then at the king, some accepted Arianism out of fear, others - attracted by royal honors; those who were firm in Orthodoxy turned away from this lawless council. These were: Eusebius, Bishop of Vercellinus, Dionysius of Milan, Rodan of Tolosan, Peacock of Trivirin and Luciphorus of Calaritan; they did not sign the decree on the overthrow of Athanasius, considering his overthrow a rejection of the right faith and truth. As a consequence, they were sent into exile in Arimin; the rest of the bishops, gathered in Mediolanum, condemned Athanasius to overthrow. Here it must be said how Eusebius and Dionysius did not sign the decrees of this lawless council. When the Arian bishops gathered at Mediolanus and, not expecting other Orthodox bishops, formed a council and signed their names under the decree on the overthrow of Athanasius, Dionysius of Milan, recently elevated to the episcopal rank and still young in years, was persuaded by the Arian bishops to sign the council decree: for he he was ashamed of so many noble and well-served bishops, and, against his will, he signed his name with them. After that, the Orthodox Bishop of Vercellinus Eusebius, venerable for years, came to Mediolan (when that lawless council had already ended with the signing of names) and questioned Dionysius about what was happening at the council. Dionysius, speaking about the unlawful trial that had taken place against Saint Athanasius, confessed with much regret and repentance his sin, how he was deceived and signed his consent to the overthrow of Athanasius. And the blessed Eusebius reproached him for this, as the father of his son: for Dionysius had for himself in the person of Eusebius, as it were, a spiritual father, partly because of his advanced old age, partly because he had been bishop for many years; at the same time, and in his position, the bishop of Vercellinus was superior to that of Milan. Seeing the heartfelt repentance of Dionysius, Eusebius did not order him to grieve: "I know," he said, "what I must do so that your name will be blotted out from among them." And the following happened.

The Arian bishops, having learned of the coming of Eusebius, called him to their assembly, and, having shown him their condemnation of Athanasius to overthrow with the signature of their names, they wanted him to sign his name under the definition. Eusebius, however, pretending to agree with their council, and, as if wishing to sign, took the charter and began to read the names of the signatory bishops. Having reached the name of Dionysius, he exclaimed, as if offended:

Where will I sign my name? under Dionysius? No way! Dionysius will not be higher than me! You say that the Son of God cannot be equal to God the Father: why did you prefer my son to me?

And the elder refused to sign, until the name of Dionysius was blotted out from the highest place. The bishops of the Arians, very much seeking the signature of Eusebius and wishing to reassure him, commanded that the name of Dionysius be blotted out. Dionysius with his own hand erased his signature from the charter, as if giving the highest place to the oldest bishop Eusebius of Vercellinus, and himself, as if wishing to sign under him. When the name of Dionysius was blotted out, so that no trace of writing remained, the blessed Eusebius ceased to pretend to agree with the council of the Arians and openly confessed the truth, mocking the Arians.

Neither I will be defiled by your iniquities, - he said, - nor will I allow my son Dionysius to be participants in your wickedness, for it is illegal to sign an unlawful condemnation of the overthrow of an innocent bishop - this is forbidden by the law of God and church rules. Let it be known to all that Eusebius and Dionysius will no longer sign your condemnation, full of malice and lawlessness. Thanks be to God, who delivered Dionysius from complicity with you and taught us how to blot out from among your names his name, which was unlawfully signed.

The Arians, seeing themselves ridiculed by Eusebius and Dionysius, raised their hands against them in order to inflict violence on them, and, having offended them with numerous curses, they sent both to prison, each separately, and oppressed blessed Eusebius in prison so much that he was suffering and suffering there. died. Hearing about this and learning that the diocesan soldiers, by royal command, were coming to seize him, Saint Athanasius, enlightened by some divine manifestation, left the bishopric at midnight and hid with a virtuous maiden, who was consecrated to God and lived like a true slave Christ. He hid with her until the very death of King Constantius, and no one knew anything about him at all, except for God and only that girl who herself served him and brought him books from others that he demanded; during his stay there, Athanasius wrote many writings against heretics.

Meanwhile, the people of Alexandria were looking for their shepherd, Saint Athanasius, going around everywhere for this purpose; everyone grieved for him greatly and searched for him with such zeal that everyone was ready to gladly give his life for finding him, and the holy Church was oppressed by deep sadness. The Aryan heresy was greatly intensified not only in the east, but also in the west. By royal command, in Italy and throughout the west, those bishops who did not agree to sign the "otherness", the heretical doctrine that the Son of God is a being other than the Father, were deposed from their thrones. At that time, Saint Liberius, the Pope of Rome, who was the successor of the blessed Julius, heir to Saint Sylvester, was expelled from the throne of Rome for his Orthodoxy; one of the heretics was chosen to take his place, by the name of Felix. After the holy Church had been oppressed and persecuted from everywhere for a long time, the death of King Constantius drew near. Being between Cappadocia and Cilicia, in a place called - "Mopsian springs", - he lost both his kingdom and his life there. In the same way, the false bishop of Alexandria, appointed by heretics, suffered the judgment of God, "and the wicked will perish with a noise," being killed by the Hellenic people, who revolted because of one place in Alexandria that belonged to him, which George wanted to take away.

After the death of Constantius, Julian took the royal throne, who began to destroy the Constantius statutes and laws and returned everyone from exile. Athanasius also found out about this, but he was afraid that the Arians would attract Julian to their wickedness (at that time Julian's apostasy and his complete renunciation of Christ had not yet been discovered). Nevertheless, Saint Athanasius, in the dead of night, left the aforementioned house of the maiden, in which he was hiding, and appeared in the middle of the Alexandrian church. Who is able to depict the joy that seized all the Orthodox - how they flocked from everywhere to see him, with what great pleasure the clergy and citizens and the whole people looked at him and hugged him with love?! His arrival aroused courage in the Orthodox, and they immediately expelled the Arians from Alexandria, while the city and themselves were entrusted to Athanasius, their shepherd and teacher.

Meanwhile, the lawless Julian, formerly a secret pagan, now clearly showed his rejection. Having established himself in the kingdom, he denied Christ in front of everyone and blasphemed his most holy name, worshiped idols, built temples everywhere and commanded to bring abominable sacrifices to the impious gods: and altars were erected everywhere, stench and smoke spread, slaughters of animals were performed, and their blood was shed. Rebuked by the great pillars and teachers of the Church, Julian raised a cruel persecution against the Church, and at the very beginning of the persecution he took up arms against Saint Athanasius. When the king consulted with his like-minded people and his wise sorcerers and also asked magicians and sorcerers how to exterminate Christianity from the face of the universe, everyone came up with the idea that Athanasius should be destroyed from the face of the earth and destroy. They reasoned thus: "If the foundation is cast down, then it will be easy to separately ruin the other parts of the Christian faith." A lawless trial was again drawn up against Athanasius, again an army was sent to Alexandria, again the city was in turmoil. The church was surrounded and shaken by the hands of armed soldiers, but only one Athanasius was sought to kill him. He, as before, covered by the providence of God, having passed among the crowd, escaped the hands of those who were looking for him, and at night reached the river Nile. When the Saint boarded one ship with the aim of sailing to Thebais, those who loved him overtook him and said with tears:

Where are you leaving us again, father? To whom do you leave us like sheep without a shepherd?

The saint replied:

Do not weep, children, for this rebellion, which we now see, will soon cease.

Having said this, he set sail on his way. Meanwhile, he was hurriedly followed by one commander, whom the tormentor ordered to immediately kill Athanasius, as soon as he overtook him. When one of those who were with Athanasius noticed from a distance that commander, who was sailing after the ship and was already overtaking them, and recognized him well, he began to exhort his rowers to row more quickly in order to escape from their pursuers. But Saint Athanasius, after a little delay, and seeing what was to come with him, ordered the rowers to send the ship back to Alexandria. When they doubted about this and were afraid to fulfill the command of Athanasius, he followed them in courage. Then, turning the ship to the right, they sailed to Alexandria directly to meet the persecutors; when they approached them, the eyes of the barbarians were darkened, as it were, by a haze, so that seeing - they did not see - and sailed past. Athanasius asked them:

Who are you looking for?

They answered:

We are looking for Athanasius: did you see him where?

He swims, - answered Athanasius, - a little ahead of you, as if he is running from some pursuers: hurry up, and then you will soon catch up with him.

Thus the Saint was saved from the hands of the murderers. Having reached Alexandria, he entered the city, and all the believers rejoiced at his return; however, he went into hiding until the death of Julian. When the wicked king perished shortly thereafter, Jovinian, who was a pious Christian, succeeded to the throne. And again Athanasius fearlessly sat on his throne, carefully managing the church. But Jovinian did not reign long - only seven months - and died in Galatia. Valens, infected with the Arian heresy, ascended the throne. Again disaster befell the Church. The wicked king, having assumed power, did not care about the general world, not about victories over enemies, but began again to try how to spread and establish Arianism. Orthodox bishops those who did not consent to his heresy, he deposed from their pulpits. Thus he expelled, first of all, Saint Meletios, archbishop of Antioch. When this internal struggle, oppressing the Church of Christ everywhere, reached Alexandria, and, at the command of the eparch, the soldiers were to take Saint Athanasius into custody, the blessed one secretly left the city and, hiding in the family crypt, remained there for four months, - and no one knew where he was. Then all of Alexandria, mourning and mourning for Saint Athanasius, raised a great revolt, disturbed by the kings with such great and so many sorrows. The Alexandrians already wanted to fall away from Valens and prepared weapons for an uprising.

Having learned about this, the king, fearing their falling away, and courage, and internecine war, allowed Athanasius, albeit against his will, to fearlessly rule the Alexandrian church. Thus, Athanasius, the aged warrior of Christ, after long labors and many feats for Orthodoxy, before his very death, having lived for a short time in silence and peace in his pulpit, reposed in the Lord and joined his fathers, patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs and confessors, like whom he labored on earth. He episcopated for forty-seven years and left Peter, his blessed friend, a participant in all his troubles, as his successor in the Alexandrian see. He himself died to receive bright crowns and recompense ineffable blessings from Christ his Lord, to him with the Father and the Holy Spirit, glory and power, honor and worship, now and always, and forever and ever. Amen.

Troparion, tone 3:

The pillar of Orthodoxy, confirming the church with divine dogmas, priest Athanasios: Having preached consubstantially to the Father, thou hast put Arius to shame. Reverend Father, pray to Christ God, grant us great mercy.

Kontakion, tone 2:

Having planted the teachings of Orthodoxy, he cut off the slander of thorns, having multiplied the seed of faith, by the blessing of the Spirit of the reverend: the same we sing to Athanasius.

1. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria was born about the year 297, shortly before Diocletian's cruel persecution of Christians, of which, however, he had no personal memories.
2. St. Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, a zealous defender of Orthodoxy against the Arians, ruled the Church of Alexandria from 312-326.
3. Alexandria, the birthplace of Athanasius, provided him with many means for the education of the mind, and he acquired various information: he studied law, got acquainted with the works of pagan sages and poets of Greece, in a word, in the words of the biographer of St. e. in the sense of the Alexandrian scholars; but he spent a little time on this, as St. Gregory the Theologian. The main attention was paid by him to the study of the Holy Scriptures, under the guidance of experienced mentors; and Saint Athanasius so studied all the books of the Old and New Testaments, as another did not study even one. As can be assumed from one of the first writings of St. Athanasius, these were the teachers of the catechumens school in Alexandria. Athanasius' mental education was completed in the company of ascetics, whom he loved and with whom he looked for opportunities to get acquainted; many times he saw Rev. Anthony the Great, and Athanasius himself, for a strict life, were considered among the ascetics.
4. It is known that Athanasius, while still a little more than a boy, took a place as a favorite member in the house of St. Alexandra, lived with him "like a son with his father", and thus spent several fruitful years in the center of church activity, under the roof of the primate, whose authority was recognized by more than a hundred bishops of Egypt, Libya and Pentapolis. Athanasius became, as it were, an assistant and house secretary in written communications on church matters. Saint Athanasius was ordained to the rank of deacon in the year 319. Already at this time, Athanasius made famous especially his writings: "Against the Gentiles", and "On the Incarnation of God the Word"; these were his first writings, written early; but they gave the right to hope for a lot from him.
5. The 1st Ecumenical Council in Nicaea (a city in Bithynia, northwestern part of Asia Minor) took place in 325. It exposed and condemned the heresy of the Alexandrian Presbyter Arius, who taught that the Son of God is not born pre-eternally from the being of God the Father, but was created by Him from non-existence in time, is not consubstantial with him and is not equal in honor; hidden in this heresy was a resolute denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ and our redemption by Him, in short, the overthrow of all Christianity. - When the wickedness of Arius was revealed, Athanasius took an active part in the struggle of St. Alexander, Archbishop of Alexandria, with Arius, and thereby stirred up the Arians against himself. So it was even before the ecumenical council; and at the Council of Nicaea, St. Athanasius, who was then in the rank of archdeacon of the Church of Alexandria and accompanied St. Alexander to the cathedral, Arius triumphantly refuted, to the consolation of the fathers of the council.
6. Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, was a friend and supporter of Arius, and patronized him. At the 1st Ecumenical Council, he defended Arius, and although he agreed to sign the Creed drawn up at the council, he did not agree to the excommunication of Arius from the Church, for which, as well as for relations with the excommunicated heresiarch, he himself was exiled. But, thanks to the patronage of Constance, the emperor's sister, Eusebius was returned from exile and, having taken the chair again, began to act against the Orthodox.
7. At the 1st Ecumenical Council, the advocates of unthinking, due to a lack of truth on their side, thought to help themselves with cunning, offering the other members of the Council such a creed, in which the vagueness of expressions about the Son of God gave room for reinterpretations of the Arians. But St. the fathers, confessing the Son of God "from the essence of the Father" as born and "of the same essence to the Father", included these expressions in their symbol, and thereby confirmed the ancient faith "in the true God from the true God." This symbol was signed by all the members of the council, even those who held the Aryan side, but insincerely; at the same time, they read the Greek term, expressing the consubstantial Son of God "omousios", as "omiusios" - similar in essence, or, at least, understood in the latter sense. Eusebius wanted to present the matter to the king in such a way that only misunderstanding and disputes occur between Orthodox and Arians due to different understanding of the terms and expressions of the Symbol, and not because of the essence of faith, and that Arius completely agrees with the symbol of the Council of Nicaea.
8. Death of St. Alexander of Alexandria followed five months later on his return from the 1st Ecumenical Council. Athanasius was not in Alexandria at that time. Leaving his flock, the dying elder looked around with a wandering gaze, to whom to entrust her. "Athanasius, Athanasius!" - Alexander called out, - you are thinking of running away. Not! you will not escape." Indeed, Athanasius did not escape the lot assigned to him from above. Chosen by the departed shepherd and the desire of the flock, as soon as he appeared in Alexandria, the people relentlessly began to demand from the assembled bishops that they consecrate him Bishop Athanasius, and for the time being did not calm down until did not get what he wanted, although against the will of Athanasius himself.
9. Eusebius from Greek. means pious.
10. Ishir was not a priest. True, he was ordained to this dignity, even under St. Alexander, Kolluf, who arbitrarily enraptured episcopal rights for himself; but at the Council of Alexandria in 324, this Kolluf was deposed as an impostor, and all those appointed by him were not recognized as initiated.
11. The Marsotian region lay in northwestern Egypt, south of Alexandria, along the shore of the bay, and in ecclesiastical terms was under the authority of the Bishop of Alexandria.
12. Meletius, Bishop of Lykopol (in Thebaid), rebelled against the return to the church of those who had renounced it in the persecution of Diocletian. St. Peter, Archbishop of Alexandria, more indulgent towards the fallen, as the supreme archpastor of all Egypt, excommunicated him from the Church for this. But Meletios, with the bishops of his like mind, arrogated to himself the rights of the chief regional bishop and did not recognize the authority of the successors of St. Peter. At the 1st Ecumenical Council, the schism of Meletius was condemned, but Meletian bishops existed until the middle of the 5th century. In the year 326, Meletios and his associates prevented the election of St. Athanasius to the Alexandrian see, and when this election took place against their will, they began to spread the slander that Athanasius was elected illegally, by six or seven bishops, secretly from others. The Meletians were thus the opponents of Athanasius, on a par with the Arians, whose side they took.
13. Bishops gathered in Jerusalem for the feast of the consecration by Emperor Constantine the Great of the magnificent Church of the Resurrection of Christ, over the burial place of the Body of the Savior and His Resurrection. The temple was consecrated on September 13, 335.
14. The city of Tire was located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It was one of the oldest, fortified and beautiful seaside trading cities of Phoenicia and together with its capital city.
15. Here, the reign of Constantine the Great is considered not from the beginning of his autocracy, but from the very beginning of his reign (from 306-324 he ruled the western half of the empire, and from 324-337 the entire empire).
16. The council at Tire took place in 335, under the supervision of the imperial official Dionysius. All the bishops came to the cathedral up to sixty people. Saint Athanasius arrived with 48 bishops of Egypt. Bishops of eminent thrones were present here: Antioch - Flakilli, Jerusalem - Maxim, Thessalonica Alexander. Saint Athanasius, upon arrival, wanted to take the place that belonged to him by the merit of his see, but he was ordered by the chairman of the council, Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea (a well-known church historian, a supporter of the Arians), to stand as the accused person. The meetings of the council were conducted with partiality, in favor of Arius and his like-minded people and to the faith of Saint Athanasius.
17. Theognius, Bishop of Nicea, together with Eusebius of Nicomedia, - before others accepted the teachings of Arius, supported him at the 1st Ecumenical Council, after which, although he signed the Orthodox Creed, he was exiled for intercourse with Arius, upon the return of Arius, and Theognius was summoned from exile. Obviously, he renounced false doctrine, but secretly patronized the Arians.
18. Marius, Bishop of Chalcedon, like Theognius of Nicaea and many others, shared the teachings of Arius, accused Athanasius at the Council of Tyre, and was among the investigators in the Mareota case, along with Theognius and other adherents of Arius.
19. The prophet here speaks of those whose sins separate them from God. Like such sinners, the accusers of Athanasius acted, covering the truth with a lie.
20. From ancient times, Egypt, famous for its fertility, sent a fleet loaded with grain to Rome through Alexandria to distribute to the needy people. When Constantine the Great founded in 330 a new capital in Byzantium, named after him Constantinople, as well as Constantinople, then, taking care of strengthening its population and the means to maintain it, he changed the purpose of this fleet: the mercy of distributing bread was given to Constantinople. In total, up to 80,000 measures of bread were distributed. The enemies of Athanasius, thus, calculated by divulging a new slander, arousing the anger of the king, at the same time producing indignation of the people in the capital. The mob, dissatisfied with Athanasius, could produce a revolt and during it, as the bishops hostile to Athanasius hoped, kill St. husband. "How can I do this (stop the transport of wheat)," Athanasius objected to the new slander; am I a private and poor person? Eusebius of Nicomedia answered: "No, Athanasius is a strong, rich man; he will get everything!"
21. All these were Arian bishops, supporters of Eusebius of Nicomedia.
22. Gaul - present-day France.
23. St. Athanasius was sent to the city of Trevas - now Trier - populous, flourishing main city northeastern region of ancient Gaul (the so-called Belgica). Here Constantine the Great himself often lived when he was the owner of only the western half of the empire; now Constantine, the eldest son of the emperor, had a sojourn there, and in 335 he became ruler of Gaul, Spain, and Britain. The Bishop of Trier at that time was Maximin, the defender of Orthodoxy. He received Athanasius with love and respect, who mutually retained affection for him. And Constantine the Younger, having respect for the saint, tried to alleviate the grief of exile. Saint Athanasius stayed in Trier for two years and four months.
24. To the Arian presbyter Eudoxius, the same one who had a strong influence on Constance, the sister of Emperor Constantine the Great, in the matter of the return of Arius and his like-minded people from exile.
25. Preposit - head of the royal court and eunuchs. The power of attorney of Constantius was especially used by the eunuch Eusebius, an Arian.
26. In ancient times, eunuchs were called persons who served at the royal courts as guards at the bedchambers of queens and princesses. For the most part, eunuchs were eunuchs. At the Byzantine court, the position of eunuchs was very honorable; they were in general the courtiers of the nobles, and had a great influence on the sovereigns and the government of the country. Constantine the Great began to appoint them to lower positions and thus limited their influence; but under Constance, the eunuchs acquired strong meaning at the yard.
27. This verse reads in detail as follows: The priests did not say, "Where is the Lord?" and the teachers of the law did not know me, and the shepherds fell away from me, and the prophets prophesied in the name of Baal and followed those who do not help. Here, on behalf of the Lord, the prophet Jeremiah denounces the priests, rulers and prophets of Israel, who forgot the mercy of God and apostatized from Him. The life writer of St. Athanasius of Alexandria in a figurative sense refers these words to Constantius and the Arian bishops, who apostatized from the true faith in Christ God.
28. St. Maximus III, Patriarch of Jerusalem, occupied the see from 333 to 350. He suffered for the name of Christ and was a confessor. When at the Council of Tyre, the Arians demanded from the Orthodox bishops that they sign the lawless verdict on Athanasius, then Paphnutius, bishop of the city of Thais, in the upper Thebaid, a confessor who had suffered in the reign of Maximian II, took Maximus by the hand, led him out of the assembly and said: " it is indecent for us confessors to take part in such a council." - Memory of St. Maxima is celebrated in the Greek church on November 17th.
29. St. Alexander, Patriarch of Constantinople, ruled the cathedra from 325-340. Irina. St. Alexander, then (in 336) an old man for almost centuries, did not want this and for several weeks he prayed with his flock for the aversion of this menacing evil. On the eve of the adoption of Arius, Alexander entered the church of St. Irina, fell prostrate before St. throne and prayed that he would not have to witness such sacrilege, and that it would be better for him or the heresiarch to be taken from this world. It is known that Arius died suddenly when he solemnly went to church the next day.
30. Greek church historians of the 5th century Socrates and Sozomen describe the death of Arius in this way. On the fateful morning, when, according to the order of Emperor Constantine the Great, Arius was to be accepted into church communion, he, haughty more than usual and making various empty remarks, was on his way to the church, surrounded by like-minded Eusebians and a curious, excited crowd. But suddenly he was seized by a sudden attack of pain in the stomach and went to a latrine behind Konstantinovskaya Square. Soon afterwards he fainted here, and his entrails came out with the stool, with prolapse of the intestines, liver and spleen, and a profuse outpouring of blood, so that he almost immediately died. Meanwhile, the persons accompanying him were waiting for him for quite a long time. Finally, going to him, with the intention of calling him, they were struck by a terrible sight. Arius (he was then over 80 years old) had his womb burst, and he lay swimming in his blood and presenting a terrifying sight. This terrible death of Arius involuntarily caused her to be compared with the death of Judas the traitor. It caused deep despondency in the ranks of his supporters and, naturally, was accepted by the Orthodox as the highest sentence over all his work. And indeed, if the death of Arius was even natural, in any case, it was a terrible sudden death, and one cannot but see in it the highest judgment of God.
31. Constantine II - the eldest son of Constantine the Great; when the empire was divided, as emperor, he received Gaul in control and western part northern Africa.
32. This was at the end of 338.
33. The enemies of Athanasius referred to the fact that by the decree of the Council of Tyre, he was deposed and now occupies the chair by order of the secular authorities, contrary to church rules.
34. Aquileia - in ancient times a large and significant city in Upper or Northern Italy, north of the Adriatic Sea. - Here in March 340 there was an internecine battle between Constantine and Constans, in which the former was killed, and Constans became the owner of the entire West.
35. In his secret refuge, Saint Athanasius wrote a strong appeal to the bishops of all churches, in which he depicted all the horrors of wickedness that had happened before his eyes, and begged for help to be given to the glorious church of Alexandria, trampled on by heretics. But the pious shepherds could only cry and ask for help from above: so great was the confusion produced in Alexandria by the surging hordes of the Arians, and there was no one to look for help, since the self-will of the heretics enjoyed the full patronage of the emperor Constantius.
36. Saint Julius - Pope of Rome, zealous defender of Orthodoxy from the Arians, patron of Athanasius, occupied the throne from 337-352.
37. The so-called Golden Church, magnificently founded by Constantine the Great and rebuilt by Constantius. This is where the Council of Antioch took place in January 341. Up to ninety bishops attended the council. The fathers of the council rejected the symbol of the Ecumenical Council, and at the same time, disagreeing with each other, one after another, three of their symbols (semi-Arian), and then a fourth, did not want to include in any of the expression that clearly defined Orthodoxy: consubstantial. Having solved the matter of faith in their own way, they then turned to the affairs of the Alexandrian church.
38. Eusebius of Emesses was famous for his education; he studied in Alexandria, and then - with Eusebius of Caesarea. He is called Emesa after the city (Emesa is a city in Syria, south of Antioch), in which he was a bishop. He was a favorite of Constantius, whom he accompanied on campaigns.
39. Gregory the Cappadocian (Cappadocia - the eastern region of Asia Minor) was educated in Alexandria and once enjoyed the favor of St. Athanasius. Gregory was a man of a rough and violent nature.
40. Eusebius of Nicomedia died in 342.
41. St. Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, elected at the direction of his predecessor, St. Alexander of Constantinople, occupied the throne of three races as patriarchy: the first time in 340, but was soon expelled, and Eusebius of Nicomedia was transferred to his place by Emperor Constantius; when Eusebius died two years later, the Orthodox again chose Paul, and the Arians chose Macedonia. For the second time, Paul occupied the patriarchal throne from 342 - 344, but then he was overthrown by Constantius from the throne, and the heretic Macedonius was erected in his place. But even after that Paul, when Orthodox party won the upper hand, was called to Constantinople and occupied the chair, - for the third time from 347 - 350 - modern or alternately with Nestorius. Then Paul was exiled by Constantius to the city of Kukuz (in Lesser Armenia) and in 351, tormented by hunger, was strangled in captivity by his own omophorion by the Arians. His memory is November 6th.
42. Sardine was on the border of the possessions of both brothers: Constantius and Constant, in Illyria, - now Sofia is the capital of present-day Bulgaria.
43. Constantius agreed to the convening of a council, yielding to the demand of his Orthodox brother, who was requested by the Eastern bishops, and who, deeply respecting Saint Athanasius, desired his justification. The council took place in 344. He 1) approved the Nicene symbol, 2) having examined the matter, acquitted Athanasius, and 3) declared the leaders of Arianism deposed, forbade the Orthodox to have communion with them, and subjected the condemned to anathema.
44. Ishir was made bishop by the Arians.
45. Asiatic, i.e. Eastern; chief among them were Theodore of Heraclius, Narcissus of Neronopol, Menophantus of Ephesus, Stephen of Antioch, Akakios of Caesarea, and George of Laodicea.
46. ​​Philippopolis - a city in Thrace, southeast of Sardica. - The Council of Philippopolis was held under the presidency of Stephen of Antioch. This council again condemned Athanasius, Paul of Constantinople, Roman Julius, Sardic Protogenes, and other Orthodox bishops. Constantius supported the decision of the Philippopolis Council, and Athanasius, along with other persecuted, had to remain in exile. - He retired to Naissus, in Dacia.
47. The Council of Philippopolis drew up a new symbol, more Arian than the symbols of the Council of Antioch.
48. Augustalius - royal governor in the Roman province.
49. Thebaid - southern region of Egypt; Libya is in northern Africa, west of Egypt.
50. This was in 348.
51. Magnentius stirred up his army against Constans, which dethroned him; Constans fled, but on the way he was killed by Magnentius. This was at the beginning of the year 350.
52. This George was a man without education, a rude character, and at first he was a supplier of meat for the army of George, he was a false bishop for about four years (357-361) and during this time caused many sorrows and oppressions not only to the Alexandrian church and the Orthodox population, but and pagan.
53. This was in the absence of Athanasius.
54. Here, of course, the Holy Hieromartyr Peter, Archbishop (Patriarch) of Alexandria, martyred in the year 311. His memory is celebrated by the Church on November 25th.
55. Stratilat - commander, governor.
56. Oasim, or the great Libyan Oasis, lies to the west of the Thebaid desert, in the eastern part of the present Sahara, an ancient Greek pounder, which often served as a place of exile.
57. Ahab - the eighth king of Israel, at the insistence of his wife Jezebel, an evil, power-hungry and depraved woman, spread idolatry among the Israelites and maliciously persecuted the servants of the true God.
58. Magnentius for three and a half years, after the death of Constans, retained the title of Caesar in the west. Constantius scattered his adherents, and Magnentius committed suicide. The whole empire, after that, was united under the leadership of Constantius, until his death, which followed in 361.
59. Mediolan - an ancient city, the so-called. Cisalpine Gaul or present-day northern Italy, the center of the prosperity of sciences and arts; now - Milan - the main flourishing city of the Italian region of Lombardy, with a large population.
60. The Council was convened at the request of the Pope, St. Liberius, successor of Julius, in 355. Up to 300 Western bishops attended the council. The Arians demanded the condemnation of Athanasius on it, but the Westerners insisted on the original signature of the Nicene symbol. Then Constantius, listening from the next room to all the arguments of the fathers of the cathedral, entered the conference room with a sword in his hands and said that he himself accused Athanasius. Those who refused to sign the condemnation of Athanasius were threatened with exile, so some signed, and those who disagreed were exiled.
61. Vercelli - a city in northwestern Italy; Tolosa - on the river. Garonne, in southern France; Trier (otherwise Treva or Trivirium) - on the river. Moselle, in eastern France, Calaria - on the island of Sardinia (on the Mediterranean Sea).
62. Arimin, now Rimini, the oldest flourishing city of Umbria, in the north-eastern part of Italy, on the shores of the Adriatic Sea.
63. That is, the episcopal see of Vercellus was considered hierarchically superior to Mediolan.
64. Saint Athanasius the Great was one of the most famous writers of the ancient Church. He was distinguished by a deep knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and theological talent. Since he spent his whole life in the struggle with the arcana, his writings bear the imprint of this struggle and are directed mainly against the Arians. The most important of the writings of Saint Athanasius are the following: 1) four words against the Arians, where Athanasius makes a complete refutation of all their objections, 2) an epistle to Epictetus, Bishop of Corinth - about the divine and human nature in Jesus Christ, 3) four letters to Saint Serapion, to the Bishop of Tmuit, in which he proves the Divinity of the Holy Spirit and its equality with the Father and the Son against the Macedonians, who taught that the Holy Spirit is a servant creature, having no part in the Divinity and glory of the Father and the Son, 4) an epistle on the definitions of the Nicene Council in defense of consubstantiality 5) a book about the Holy Spirit. In many of his writings, Saint Athanasius described the unrest and deeds of the Arians, accompanying the descriptions with remarks in favor of the truth of Christ; such, for example, is his history of the Arians, written to the monks. A lofty example of a pastoral apology (defence) is the letter of St. Athanasius to the Emperor Constantius. In addition, the writings of St. Athanasius are known, relating to the explanation of Holy Scripture; of these, first of all, attention is drawn to the Paschal letter of St. Athanasius, which is very important in the sense that it lists the books of the Old and New Testaments, the epistle to Marcellinus about the psalms; also remained brief excerpts interpretations of it on the books of Job and the Song of Songs, on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Among the moralizing writings are his epistle to Ammun against those who condemn marriage, and his epistle to Rufinian on how to receive heretics into the Church. One of the most instructive writings of Saint Athanasius is the life of Anthony the Great; Saint Chrysostom advises everyone to read the life of Anthony, no matter what state they are.
65. After the death of Jovinian, on the 26th of February, the army chose Valentinian as his successor, who after a month gave eastern half empire to his brother Valens, a zealous Arian. Valens reigned from 364-378.
73. Meletios, Patriarch of Antioch, occupied the see from 358-381. He was a defender of Orthodoxy, for which, in the machinations of the Arians, he was several times removed from the see.
74. Saint Athanasius the Great reposed on May 2, 373.
75. Of these, he spent more than 20 years in exile.
76. Peter II, Patriarch of Alexandria, ruled the Church from 373-380.

With the saint, Athanasius was born in Alexandria; his mother, like Anna, who brought her son Samuel to the temple of the Lord (1 Samuel 1:28), also brought him to St. Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, and gave it to the temple to serve God. And he began to spend his life at the temple, zealously fulfilling the commandments of God.

In 319, the patriarch ordained him a deacon of the Church of Alexandria. Already at this time St. Athanasius began to write compositions. The future saint saw that the newcomers to the Church of Christ did not have zeal, they did not have true piety, many of them sought glory for themselves, idle talk, idle talk, and all the pagan customs that they had before were transferred to the Christian life. A certain Arius appeared who blasphemed Christ, humiliated the Mother of God and revolted the people, teaching the people to achieve honor, glory, to penetrate into the Church, to achieve priesthood and even bishopric. And many listened to him and became followers of this heresy - the Arians. And this heresy spread so much that it almost overwhelmed the whole Church - there was great strife. In 325 St. Athanasius was at the Council of Nicaea, where he opposed Arius.

In the year 326, after the death of Patriarch Alexander, Saint Athanasius was elected to the See of Alexandria. Bishop Athanasius traveled around the churches, spoke a lot, fought against the Arians, wrote, denounced them, and all untrue Christians rose up against him and began to slander him. At that time, Constantine the Great reigned (306-337), he was considered the patron of the Church of Christ. He understood well military strategy, diplomacy, state affairs, but did not know church affairs and the preaching of the Gospel, therefore he hesitated between Arianism and Orthodoxy.

Taking advantage of the kindness and simplicity of the emperor, the heretics surrounded his entire court, penetrated into all positions and began to whisper heresies and falsehoods and introduce schisms. They accused Archbishop Athanasius that he was a bad person, that he did not obey the king, that he levied taxes separately from the royal treasury and did bad deeds, that he was a sorcerer, a criminal, and a fornicator. The emperor saw a great strife, enmity, tried to establish peace, but there were times when war could break out, then he suggested to St. Athanasius that he retire somewhere for a while. And the saint spent most of his long reign in exile, and then he often enjoyed the support of the monks, was on friendly terms with both fathers of monasticism - the holy reverends Anthony and Pachomius.

In particular, heretics and evil people tried to accuse Saint Athanasius of not listening to the emperor’s commands, not paying attention to his instructions, not accepting Arius into church communion, that he was a sorcerer and sorcerer, being themselves obvious sorcerers, and that by means of some then the dead hand, allegedly belonging to the cleric Arseny, creates charms The emperor ordered an investigation. Arseny was a cleric, a reader, having committed some kind of misconduct, he hid for a long time, and when the rumor about this began to spread everywhere, he manifested a sense of truth, justice, because St. Athanasius of Christ was innocent, and Arseny himself did not suffer at all, it was not his hand that was cut off, another person was found somewhere by villainous judges, although many of them were bishops. Compassionate about his father and benefactor and grieving in his heart that truth is lawlessly conquered by lies, he secretly came to Athanasius himself, falling at his honest feet. Blessed Athanasius, rejoicing at the arrival of Arseny, ordered him not to show himself to anyone until the court.

Meanwhile, the malicious hatred of the opponents of Athanasius increased so much that they added another lie to one lie: they bribed one shameless woman to slander Saint Athanasius that he had committed iniquity with her. When the trial began, the judges sat down in their places and the slanderers appeared, and this woman was brought in. With weeping, she complained for a long time about the saint, whom she had never seen, and did not even know what he looked like. Everyone listened in bewilderment. And she did not want to know the piety of the Gospel, rejoicing that they gave her a lot of money. At that time, a friend of Athanasius, Presbyter Timothy, standing with him outside the door and hearing everything, was troubled in spirit and, unexpectedly going inside the judgment seat, hastily stood before the eyes of that slanderer, as if he were Athanasius himself; he boldly addressed her: "Did I do violence to you at night, as you say?" And she, even more shamelessly, cried out to the judges, "This, this man is my molester and intruder against my purity; he is." The judges laughed, seeing the meanness, the comedy played out and drove her away. But the opponents of St. Athanasius, although they were ashamed, did not calm down and began to accuse him of killing Arseny, showing some kind of terrible-looking dead hand. Saint Athanasius patiently listened to them and was silent, then asked: “Are there among you who knew Arseny well? Who among you can confirm whether this is really his hand?” And most of the unrighteous judges got up, jumped up and began to assert that this was really the hand of Arseny. And then, when they showed their dirty heart and their deceit, the saint pushed back the curtain behind which Arseny stood, brought him out in front of the assembly and asked: “Who is this standing in front of you? You said that Arseny is not alive, this is his hand” . And everyone was horrified. “Here, men, and Arseny!” declared Saint Athanasius. “Here are his hands, which were not cut off at all! committed this crime." But the judges continued to conduct the trial, exhausting all their slanders. And St. Athanasius, unable to bear the injustice being committed, testified aloud to the entire council: “Truth has died away, truth has been trampled, justice has perished, legal investigation and careful consideration of cases have disappeared from judges! entrusted to slanderers and enemies, and that the slanderers themselves judge the one who is slandered? The saint was justified by the emperor and sent to his Alexandrian see.

When Constantine the Great died and his second son Constantius took over the throne, the entire imperial court went over to the side of the Arians. They began to persecute Orthodox Christians, to exile bishops, to put on thrones wicked people, treacherous, fornicators, heretics who did not recognize Jesus Christ as God. And Saint Athanasius had to flee to Rome, where he stayed for three years.

Then the Lord judged everything by His judgment: he punished Arius and the heretics, and the impious king perished. After him, Julian the Apostate reigned for two years, followed by Jovinian the pious, then Valens, who, although he did much evil to the Church, but being frightened by the revolt of the Alexandrians, allowed Saint Athanasius to return and fearlessly govern the Church of Alexandria. And it is described in the life of St. Athanasius that the last time of his life he lived in peace and tranquility, reposed in the Lord on May 2, 373 at the age of 76 years.

For 46 years St. Athanasius was the bishop of the city of Alexandria and many times he was expelled from the see and returned back, because the Arians, who call themselves Christians, believers in the Gospel, searched for, invented guilt in order to condemn and put to death the saint. And the Lord, proclaiming the Gospel, did not preach to kill his enemies; these same villains feigned acceptance of baptism, Christianity and believed without piety.