Saint Athanasius of Alexandria

The mission of the Bishop of Cordoba was not, however, without result. He understood, on one hand, the full gravity of the controversy; on the other, the error and bad faith of Arius; and, by making them known to the emperor, he inspired in him a great thought: that of convening the bishops of all Christendom, to give to the attacked truth the authority of an irrefutable decision. Had the Apostles not acted in this way to settle the dispute over Mosaic observances?

Moreover, it was the first time, since the spread of the Gospel, that circumstances allowed for recourse to this extraordinary means. It was the end of 324, the very year of the defeat and death of Licinius, the unworthy brother-in-law of Constantine, the last of the survivors of that fatal league of upstart shepherds, of debauched and cruel monsters, who, for nearly half a century, intoxicated themselves with Christian blood and devoured the substance of the peoples. Now, under the gentle and glorious scepter of Constantine, the empire rejoiced in an unaccustomed freedom and prosperity, and was astonished to see gathered around this prince the ambassadors of all the nations of the universe, who admired his virtues and feared his arms, to which victory was never unfaithful. In one of those moments too rare and too short for the happiness of humanity, the whole world was at peace.

From the spring of the year 325, upon the invitation and with the help of the powerful emperor, who had consulted with the head of the Church, the bishops from all parts of the world traveled to Asia, to the city of Nicaea, near Nicomedia. The faithful people, mov ed by Nicée Episcopal see of Theophanes after the persecution. the novelty and importance of the debate they were about to settle, and the reputation of their virtues, flocked along their path, prostrated themselves before them, and accompanied them with their prayers and hopes. Constantine, who had preceded them to Nicaea, welcomed them with the dignity that characterized him, and, at the same time, with the most touching testimonies of faith, deference, and affection. How they deserved this eagerness, these homages from the populations and from the first Christian emperor, men of whom most, besides their sacred character, commanded respect and admiration by their age, their courageous fidelity in persecution, their knowledge, and their holiness! This one, a former hermit, had been torn against his will from the desert, of which he retained, in his high office, simple and austere habits; that one was famous for his miracles; several still bore on their limbs or on their faces the stigmata of martyrdom. What worthier interpreters of the great mystery of the Holy Trinity!

These prelates, not counting the priests, deacons, and enlightened laymen who assisted them, were gathered to the number of three hundred and eighteen, among whom only seventeen were counted as infected with Arianism. For two months, from June 19 to August 25, they held numerous and long conferences on various questions of dogma and discipline. Arius presented his doctrine. Upon hearing him utter these impious novelties, the Fathers of the council covered their ears. It required a great effort of reason and prudence for them to consent to examine them. Finally, the question was explored and discussed on both sides with all the knowledge and skill that one could desire. The decision was deferred to a solemn session, which took place, in the presence of the emperor, in the largest hall of his palace. The bishops were arranged on seats placed around this enclosure. A throne rose in the middle: the book of the Gospels was placed upon it. Hosius presided over the assembly in the name of the Pope, whom his age, his infirmities, and the r equire Hozïus Bishop of Corduba, advisor to Constantine, and president of the Council of Nicaea. ments of his rank had kept in Rome. At the back of the hall, an empty seat, less elevated than the others, but all resplendent with gold, was intended for the emperor. At nine o'clock in the morning, he appeared without arms, without soldiers, accompanied only by a few dignitaries who professed Christianity. At his sight, the Fathers of the council, who were waiting for him in silence, rose and stood. Everything in the bearing, the air, and the stature of Constantine showed a man superior to other men by the happy gifts of nature, as he was by the eminence of his dignity. At fifty years old, he still had the brilliance and grace of youth. The frankness of his character and the purity of his morals shone on his serene brow. He advanced into the middle of this assembly, the holiest and most august that had ever been seen under heaven, with a magnificence of attire that announced the master of the empire, with a respect and modesty that revealed the Christian. Arrived before his seat, he waited, before taking his place, to be invited by the bishops, who sat down after him. Then began between the Fathers of the council a discussion from which emerged the thunderbolt that crushed the heresy. The blasphemies of Arius could no longer hold up against the term consubstantial, an expression as concise as it was energetic of the unity of na ture in the th consubstantiel Theological term affirming the unity of nature between the Father and the Son. ree divine persons. The universe repeated with transport the Nicene Creed, a magnificent development of the Apostles' Creed, a sublime hymn of faith, love, and gratitude. The Arian bishops subscribed to it, after more or less resistance, with more or less good faith, with the exception of two, who were deposed by the council, and, with Arius, condemned by the emperor to banishment: a punishment due to the rash violators of the laws of the highest society that has appeared on earth.

In this solemn debate, in the midst of these venerable and learned prelates, of these glorious athletes of the faith, one saw rise, by their counsel and to their great joy, a young Levite, who struggled hand-to-hand with Arius. By the superiority of his reason, by the profound knowledge and understanding of the holy books, by the lucidity and strength of his argumentation, by the warmth of a simple, true, and natural eloquence, he repelled the audacious attacks of this formidable adversary, thwarted all his ruses, pursued him into all his detours, and confounded him, by illuminating with the brightest light his darkest strongholds. He charmed the council no less by his modesty, by the sincerity of his faith and his devotion than by the brilliance of his victory; for this young man loved the Church more than the tenderest son loves his mother: more than ever Greek or Roman loved his country: we have named Athanasius.

Child of a distinguished and Christian family of Alexandria, he had attached himself early on to Saint Alexander, who had raised him and cherished him as a son.

The first meeting of Saint Athanasius with Saint Alex ander had Alexandre Patriarch of Alexandria, predecessor and mentor of Athanasius. a truly providential character. In the early days of his pontificate, says Rufinus, the holy patriarch Alexander had invited all the clerics of his church, one Sunday evening, to a meal he wished to give them at his house, located on the seashore. After the solemnities of the day, Alexander, while waiting for his guests, had his eyes fixed on the shore, when he caught sight of a group of children who were indulging in the games of their age. They had elected a bishop; they made him sit in their midst and listened gravely to his words; then they bowed under his blessing hand, and the child-pontiff imitated on some of his companions all the ceremonies of baptism. At this sight, Alexander feared a profanation; he sent his deacon, with orders to bring him the children. In the presence of the true bishop, they were afraid and answered only by stammering to all his questions. Finally, reassured by the air of gentleness and kindness that was painted on his face, they told him that they had elected one of their own, Athanasius, as bishop; that he had catechumens instructed by his care, to whom he had just conferred baptism. The child who answered to the name of Athanasius then appeared, but with a confusion easy to guess. The patriarch asked him if he had really administered baptism according to the rites of the Church and with the intention of conferring a sacrament. The answer of Athanasius was affirmative; he repeated before the patriarch the formulas he had used. Saint Alexander gave the order to his priests to supply the neophytes thus baptized with the other ceremonies of the Church, but without repeating the baptism, "because it had been validly conferred." From that day on, Athanasius and those of his companions who fulfilled the functions of priests and deacon near his person were raised, with the consent of their parents, in the ecclesiastical school of Alexandria. Athanasius made rapid progress there.

Athanasius occupied himself early on with writing well. He granted only a little time to profane letters, enough however not to remain completely a stranger to them, and so that one could not attribute to ignorance the subordinate rank where they were relegated in his esteem. This noble and manly genius was loath to consume his efforts in vain studies.

Studies that related to religion occupied the greater part of his time. The rest of his life and the reading of his writings will show to what extent he excelled in them. He cites the holy books so often and so aptly that one would think he knew them by heart: at the very least, it will be agreed that meditation had made them very familiar to him. It was there that he had drawn this rare piety and this profound intelligence of the mysteries of the faith. As for the true meaning of the divine oracles, he sought it in the tradition of the Church, and he teaches us himself that he read with care the commentaries of the ancient Fathers. He says in another place that he learned the tradition of the holy inspired masters and the martyrs of the divinity of Jesus Christ. As he had much zeal for the discipline of the Church, he also acquired a great knowledge of canon law. One also sees from his works that he knew civil law, and it is this which caused him to be given by Sulpicius Severus the title of jurisconsult.

For the nourishment of his thought, he chose the Old and New Testaments. To these habits of contemplation were added treasures of virtue, increased each day. Science and morals, shining in Athanasius with an equal brilliance and mutually strengthening each other, formed this golden chain, of which so few men succeeded in weaving the double and precious thread. The practice of good initiated him into contemplation, and contemplation in its turn guided him in the practice of good.

When he had finished his literary studies, the desire to advance in the ways of perfection led him to the feet of the famous solitary Saint Anthony. He remained a few years under his dire ction, and re saint Antoine Patron saint of hermits, first dedicatee of the chapel. turned to the patriarch Alexander, who raised him to the diaconate and employed him as secretary. It is thus, adds Rufinus, that Athanasius, a new Samuel, was attached to the person of the high priest, until he was later called to the honor of wearing the pontifical ephod himself.

Athanasius was still only a deacon when the patriarch brought him to the Council of Nicaea. But, immediately afterward, he was ordained a priest, and the following year, the august old man, feeling his death was near, designated him as his successor. Athanasius hid himself to escape, so young as he was, such a dignity. "You flee," said the saint before expiring, "you flee, Athanasius, but you will not escape." These words were an oracle. The people urgently requested and obtained from the assembled bishops that the young priest be named Bishop of Alexandria. He was barely thirty years old; but, in the circumstances in which this church found itself, genius, science, and holiness did not need the number of years. This choice made heresy tremble, which, though defeated, had not renounced its hopes. The day is not far off when, through crafty maneuvers and artful professions of faith, it will know how to gain the favor of the prince: and, once armed with public authority, how far will its audacity and excesses not go? Athanasius, what battles, what trials await you!

Athanasius marked the beginnings of his episcopate with his attention to providing for the spiritual needs of the Ethiopians. He consecrated Fru mentius Frumence Bishop sent by Athanasius to convert the Ethiopians. as bishop and sent him to them, so that he could complete the work of their conversion, which he had so happily begun; and when he had established good order within the city, he undertook a general visitation of the churches under his jurisdiction.

The Meletians gave much exercise to his zeal. They continued, after the death of Meletius, their leader, to hold assemblies and to ordain bishops on their own authority. Everywhere they fanned the fire of discord, and by this means they kept the people in a spirit of revolt. Athanasius tried every possible means to bring them back to unity; but none succeeded. Austere in their morals, they had gained a large number of partisans, especially among simple people, whom they had impressed. The Arians resolved to take advantage of the dispositions they saw in them: they therefore hastened to seek their friendship. The Meletians had not at first erred in any article of faith; they had even been among the first and most ardent to fight the doctrine of Arius; but soon after, they united with the partisans of that heresiarch to slander and persecute Athanasius. A solemn league was formed between them, so that the blows they would strike against him would be more effective. Saint Athanasius observes on this subject that, just as Herod and Pilate forgot the hatred they bore each other to unite against the Savior, so the Meletians and the Arians concealed their mutual animosity in order to form a kind of confederation against the truth. Moreover, such is the spirit of all sectarians; they cease their divisions when it is a question of tearing the bosom of the Church and declaring war on those who hold to Catholic doctrine.

Constantine soon gave new proofs of his attachment to the faith of Nicaea. Three months after the conclusion of the council, he indignantly exiled Eusebius of Nicomedia, who dared to attack its decisions and communicated openly with those who showed themselves rebellious to it.

But what dark clouds have suddenly veiled the glory, until then so pure and brilliant, of the great Constantine! What! Of a prince usually so gentle and prudent, history recounts reckless and barbaric acts, domestic murders! And then, under this same prince, who, until his last breath, never ceased to abhor heresy, the heretics are honored and triumphant, while the Catholics are repelled and persecuted! What, then, is the sad condition of fallen humanity? What impure alloy has suddenly come to soil in him the pure gold of Christian charity?

To make matters worse, he lost his mother, the glorious Saint Helena, at a time when, on the eve of the most astute machinations of error, the advice and influence of this mother, more enlightened than he in the faith, would have been so necessary and would undoubtedly have prevented new faults!

When Saint Helena was no more, all the family tenderness and confidence of the emperor were concentrated on his sister Constantia, widow of Licinius. She, moreover, a woman of merit and virtue, had long since allowed herself to be led astray into Arianism by Eusebius of Nicomedia, who had been a partisan of Licinius, and by a priest whose name history has disdained. Near to drawing her last breath, about a year after the death of Saint Helena, she pointed out to Constantine this obscure priest as the most suitable to guide him in matters of religion. "Follow his advice," she said, "I am dying, no interest attaches me to the earth anymore, but I fear for you the wrath of God; I fear that He will punish you for the exile to which you have condemned just and virtuous men." These counsels of a beloved and dying sister were only too well heeded. Arius was recalled along with the bishops exiled for his cause, by means of some equivocal or lying profession of faith. Reinstated in his see of Nicomedia, and in full credit, Eusebius would not be satisfied until Arius had reappeared and resumed his functions in the church of Alexandria. To obtain this, he employed in vain both solicitations and threats toward Athanasius. In vain did he have the emperor write to him. The patriarch was then subjected to all manner of calumnies. Summoned to the court, he justified himself with such evidence that Constantine, in dismissing him, handed him a letter addressed to the people of Alexandria, where, after having deplored the malice of those who disturb and divide the Church to satisfy their jealousy and ambition, he added that the wicked had been able to do nothing against their bishop, whose innocence and holiness he had recognized.

It was therefore necessary to remain silent and dissimulate for some time. But soon the calumnies began again with brazen persistence. The cabal led by Eusebius was at once the most deceitful and the most audacious that ever was. Professing their adherence to the Catholic faith, it was no longer the doctrine, but the character and conduct of Athanasius that they attacked; it was of crimes that they accused him. And of what crimes? Of murders, magical operations, and impure violence.

Athanasius tried in vain to justify himself again before the emperor, who, after inquiries made to the magistrates of Egypt, became irritated by these odious inventions and threatened, if they were repeated, to seek out their authors. The intriguer Eusebius obtained the convocation of a particular council at Caesarea, the residence of the second Eusebius, under the pretext of putting an end to the divisions, but in reality to have the patriarch of Alexandria condemned there, and he took care to have his partisans called in the majority. Thus, Athanasius refused for three years to appear before judges who were his enemies; but in 344, on the formal orders of the emperor, to whom he had been depicted as a proud man and a rebellious subject, he was forced to go to Tyre, where the synod had been transferred.

Among the imputations already destroyed, they dared, as Athanasius had foreseen, to reproduce those very ones whose implausibility alone should have shown their falsehood.

A woman was heard who declared that she had consecrated herself to God by a vow of virginity; but that, having lodged Bishop Athanasius in her house, he had not blushed to outrage the sacred rights of hospitality and the even holier rights of modesty. Athanasius, innocent, was also too clever to let himself be confounded by this easy and banal accusation. Having heard her, he remained motionless in his place, while Timothy, one of his priests and his confidant, rose and, advancing toward the impudent woman: "What," he said to her, "is it I who committed such a crime?" "Yes, it is you," she cried out with force, "agitated, all in tears, and with disheveled hair, it is you yourself, I recognize you." And she indicated with assurance all the circumstances of the imagined assault. This flagrant imposture was met with general laughter, and the miserable woman was ignominiously dismissed, despite the insistence of Athanasius that she be detained in order to make her reveal the authors of this unfortunate plot.

But here is another alleged crime.

Arsenius, bishop of a city in the Thebaid and one of the followers of Meletius, that schismatic bishop whose party Arius had embraced before becoming a leader of heresy himself, had suddenly disappeared. The Meletians, whom the Arians had managed to win to their cause, accused Athanasius of having put him to death. As proof, they carried and showed from city to city a man's right hand, claiming that it was that of Arsenius, which the patriarch had wanted to use for magical operations. At the sight of this withered hand, the members of the council were seized, some with horror, real or feigned, for the crime, others with indignation against the machinations of the hideous calumny. Athanasius, who had prepared himself to give a resounding denial, alone was not moved. Immediately, he sent for a man who was waiting at the door, and who entered, covered in a cloak. It was Arsenius himself, whose retreat Athanasius had managed to discover in the depths of some desert, and whom he had had brought secretly to Tyre. Several of those present knew Arsenius perfectly: his presence was a thunderbolt. Athanasius, having approached him and gradually lifting his cloak, revealed first the left hand, then the right. "There," he said, "is Arsenius with his two hands; the Creator did not give us any more. Let my adversary show where one took the third."

It was too much confusion for the accusers of Athanasius; this time, they forgave him neither their trickery and stupidity, nor his skill and innocence. This confusion suddenly turned into blind transports of anger, and the deliberation into a hideous tumult. If this hand is not the hand of Arsenius, if Arsenius is alive, it is the effect of some spell, it is a new act of magic, a new grievance against Athanasius. Their fury was such that they would have committed the ultimate violence against him, had it not been for the governor of Palestine, who snatched him from their hands and, to put him in safety, urged him to embark the following night. Athanasius set sail for Constantinople and went to demand justice from the emperor.

The other charges were no better established. What did it matter? The decision was such as one should expect from an assembly deliberating under the pressure of the Eusebians and Meletians united, and the armed force that the emperor had placed at their disposal. Troops were stationed around the sacred enclosure: it was no longer deacons, but soldiers or jailers who opened the doors. Athanasius was condemned and deposed by judges who were ill-intentioned, intimidated, or deceived. For fear that the emperor would not want to believe in the crimes of which they accused him, they took care to give as the final motive for this condemnation that Athanasius, by his pride and the inflexibility of his character, was a cause of division and trouble in the Church of Alexandria. However, numerous and courageous voices avenged Athanasius for the injustice of which he was a victim. The council consisted of one hundred and nine bishops; forty-nine bore witness to his innocence and virtues, and protested against the iniquity of this judgment.

From the opening of the council, the virtuous Potamon, bishop of Heraclea on the Nile, seeing Athanasius standing before the other seated bishops in the attitude of an accused before his judges, could not restrain his tears and his indignation: "What, Eusebius," he said to the bishop of Caesarea, "you are seated, you, to judge Athanasius who is innocent! Tell me, were we not both in prison during the persecution? I lost an eye there, you are here with all your limbs: how did you get out?" Thus, this Eusebius, as well as the first, had apostatized during the last trials.

The illustrious confessor, Saint Paphnutius, a former disciple of Saint Anthony and then a bishop in the upper Thebaid, he to whom Constantine rendered so many honors at the Council of Nicaea, taking Saint Maximus of Jerusalem, his companion in martyrdom, by the hand, led him out of the council, telling him that after having suffered together for Jesus Christ, they should not sit in the assembly of the wicked. He then informed him of the whole conspiracy that had been hidden from him and attached him forever to the cause of Athanasius.

It remained to lift the anathema with which the ecumenical council had struck Arius and to reinstate him in the church of Alexandria. But an order from the emperor having suddenly called the bishops to Jerusalem for the dedication of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which had just been completed, they resumed their deliberations in that city. Arius presented a profession of faith accompanied by letters of recommendation from the emperor, to whom this profession had appeared orthodox. The council hastened to approve it and to pronounce the reunion with the Church of Arius and all those who had followed his party.

Meanwhile, Athanasius, a refugee in Constantinople, could not reach the emperor. The Eusebians closed both the avenues of the palace and the heart of the prince to him. But Athanasius, by a bold move, thwarted the opposition of his enemies. The emperor was entering the city on horseback one day. Athanasius approached him, and as the emperor, already prejudiced by the decisions of the Council of Tyre, had difficulty listening to him: "Prince," he said to him, "God will judge between you and me, since, taking the side of my calumniators, you refuse to hear me. I solicit no favor. Let me only be confronted before you with those who have condemned me." This demand was too consistent with the principles of equity and moderation of the emperor not to be welcomed. The invitation to go immediately to Constantinople to explain the motives for the condemnation of the patriarch of Alexandria dismayed the bishops who had pronounced it and who were still gathered in Jerusalem. But the leaders of the party were skillful enough to induce them to return to their churches after having themselves delegated to represent their colleagues before the emperor.

There, did the deceivers have the nerve to repeat the accusations to which Athanasius had already given such thunderous denials? No; they improvised a new one whose success was infallible. Athanasius, they told the emperor, has threatened to stop in Egypt the grain destined for the supply of Constantinople. It was attacking Constantine in his most sensitive spot, he who was preoccupied, at that moment, with nothing so much as the prosperity of the city whose foundations he had laid in 328 on the enchanted shores of the Bosphorus, and which he wanted to make the first city of the world.

Despite the formal denials of Athanasius, the emperor, who knew the influence of the patriarch throughout Egypt, believed a calumny that Eusebius accompanied with oaths and exiled him to Trier, then the capital of the Gauls. Unjustly accused, Atha nasius Trèves Birthplace of the saint. had defended himself without fear; unjustly condemned, he obeyed without a murmur.

He left three sons: Constantine, Constantius, and Constans. To the first fell Great Britain, the Gauls, and Spain; to the second, Asia and Egypt; to the third, Illyria, Greece, Italy, and Africa.

Constantine the Younger hastened to fulfill his father's intentions and to restore liberty to Saint Athanasius, who reascended his see in the year 338, to the acclamations of the people of Alexandria and all of Egypt.

The restoration of Athanasius mortified the Arians significantly; thus, they set new schemes in motion to ruin him. They brought into their interests Constantius, who had received the East as his share, and represented Athanasius to him as a restless and turbulent spirit who, since his return, had incited seditions and committed acts of violence and murder. They further accused him of having sold for his own profit the grain intended for the sustenance of the widows and ecclesiastics who lived in regions where no wheat was grown. They formed the same accusations before Constantine and Constans; but their deputies, far from succeeding in persuading these two princes, were sent away with contempt. As for Constantius, he allowed himself to be seduced and gave credence to the last charge. It was not difficult for the patriarch to demonstrate its falsehood, and he had only to produce the attestations of the bishops of Libya, which stated that they had received the ordinary quantity of wheat. The calumny being exposed did not dissipate the prejudices of Constantius. This unfortunate prince was governed by Eusebius of Nicomedia and other Arians, who inspired him with their own sentiments and brought him to the point of allowing them to elect a new patriarch of Alexandria.

Permission being granted, the heretics assembled in Antioch without delay; they deposed Athanasius and elected in his place an Egyptian priest of their sect named Pistus. This wicked priest, as well as the bishop who consecrated him, had previously been condemned by Saint Alexander and by the Council of Nicaea. Pope Julius refused to communic ate with this Le pape Jules Pope who supported Paul and Athanasius against the Arians. intruder, and all the Catholic churches pronounced anathema upon him; thus, he could never take possession of a dignity he had usurped.

Athanasius, for his part, held a council in Alexandria where one hundred bishops were present. They took up the defense of the faith and recognized the innocence of the patriarch. The Fathers then wrote a circular letter to all the bishops and sent it specifically to Pope Julius. The Saint went to Rome himself in 341; but the long stay that circumstances forced him to make in that city gave the Arians time to overturn everything in the East.

In the same year, 341, there was a synod in Antioch on the occasion of the dedication of the great church. In this synod, composed of orthodox and heretical bishops, twenty-five canons of discipline were made; but no sooner had the orthodox prelates departed than the heretics added a twenty-sixth, which clearly concerned Saint Athanasius. It stated that if a bishop, deposed justly or unjustly in a council, returned to his church without having been rehabilitated by a council more numerous than the one that had pronounced the deposition, he could no longer hope to be restored or even admitted to justify himself. They then elected a certain Gregory, from Cappadocia, who filled the measure of his unworthiness with his monstrous ingratitude for the benefits of Athanasius.

The pretended patriarch, escorted by soldiers commanded by Philagrius, governor of Egypt, made his entry into Alexandria as if into a city taken by storm. The people protested against this nomination and these acts of violence, so contrary to the traditions and discipline of the Church. The governor gave these just complaints the reception one would expect from an apostate decried for the disorder of his morals and the hardness of his character. He called to his aid the Jews, the pagans, and the vilest populace, whom he joined to his cohorts. This hideous troop rushed upon the faithful gathered in the churches and gave themselves over to the most indecent and cruel excesses. Blood was shed, women were outraged, and the pagans offered sacrifices to their deities on the holy table. Thus, the most opposite errors tolerate and associate with one another to combat the truth.

The Holy See, for its part, was moved with tenderness and admiration at the arrival of such a devoted son, such a glorious defender of the faith and of apostolic traditions. The Eusebians, while Constantius was occupied with the war against the Persians, had accused Athanasius before the head of the Church, whose supremacy they thus proclaimed themselves; and Athanasius, to answer their calumnies, had addressed to him in writing a complete justification of his conduct, confirmed by the suffrages of the bishops of Egypt, eyewitnesses to the facts. Julius I therefore welcomed Athanasius with the regard, affection Jules Ier Pope who supported Paul and Athanasius against the Arians. , and honor due to his innocence, his zeal, his genius, and his misfortunes.

The patriarch took his rank at the council convened by the Pope to fully instruct this great trial that was dividing the East. His presence and the deserved benevolence of which he was the object disconcerted his accusers. They did not dare to stand against him before a purely ecclesiastical tribunal, where the absence of armed force and the prince's orders would allow truth and innocence to manifest themselves in full liberty, and they refused to appear at the council in order to escape the judgment they had been the first to provoke. This judgment took place despite their abstention, and Saint Julius proclaimed it in a letter addressed to the Eusebians, with that tone of calm authority and affectionate firmness that characterizes the supreme guardian of the faith, the common father of the faithful. The condemnations pronounced against Athanasius in the councils of Tyre and Antioch, and the nomination and installation of Gregory, were recognized as tainted by passion and violence, irregular in form, and unjust in substance. At the same time, the irrefragable authority of the ecumenical Council of Nicaea was invoked, as well as the anathema fulminated by that council against Arius and his partisans, and finally the prerogatives of the Church of Rome, its traditional and incontestable right to intervene in all major affairs concerning dogma and discipline.

The proud sectarians did not submit to these decrees, and, under the aegis of Constantius, they continued to exclude orthodox bishops from the principal sees, until, in 347, at the request of the Pope and the illustrious bishops of Trier and Cordoba, Constans obtained from his brother consent for a meeting of the bishops of the East and West in the city of Serdica, located in Illyria, on the borders of the two empires.

In this council, to which the Pope sent his legates and which was presided over by the great Hosius, the Church, independent and united to its head, pronounced the same oracles as in Rome and took, from the very first day, the symbol of Nicaea as the principle and rule of its deliberations. The right of appeal and recourse to the Holy See against the decisions of particular councils was again proclaimed, Athanasius was declared the sole legitimate bishop of Alexandria, and the intruder Gregory was excluded from the communion of the Church. Two Eusebian bishops, abandoning their party, came to unveil all their bad faith and guilty plots.

Here again, the enemies of Athanasius, not daring to face the discussion, persisted in taking no part in it, renewed their protests, and, having returned to the East, disturbed it with their ever-increasing audacity. In the city of Adrianople, ten Catholics who had refused to communicate with them were put to death by order of the magistrates. Everywhere, Catholic bishops were banished, mistreated, and odiously slandered.

The powerful emperor of the West, informed and indignant at these excesses, wrote to his brother in a tone that announced it would be dangerous to resist him. The outbursts of the Eusebians, moreover, opened the eyes of Constantius for a moment, and he himself was suddenly seized with admiration for the great bishop of Alexandria.

He wrote to him in his own hand on several occasions, not only to invite him to return to his church but also to express how happy he would be to see him, and to urge and conjure him to come to court. Athanasius was at first wary of such an unforeseen and sudden benevolence, but he had to yield to these repeated requests, which were accompanied, moreover, by the most decisive measures. The persecution had ceased in all the provinces; the priests of Alexandria, banished for their fidelity to their bishop, were recalled. Having taken leave of the Emperor Constans in Milan and of Pope Julius in Rome, Athanasius resumed his journey to the East and saw Constantius in Antioch. This emperor welcomed him with kindness, surrounded him during his stay with consideration and respect, and, upon his departure, promised him with an oath never again to open his ear to calumnies and never again to suffer him to be disturbed in his ministry.

Alexandria received him with the same transports of joy that had erupted at his first return; the memory of the intruder's cruelties doubled their intensity. His presence had more significant effects. It pushed back the evil passions around him and excited a passion for goodness and all evangelical virtues. Works of mercy multiplied and extended to all the unfortunate. How many young men and young women, under the influence of his example, embraced a life of sacrifice and heroic devotion!

Unfortunately, the benevolent dispositions of Constantius were not of long duration. The main support of the Catholics, the unfortunate Constans, lost his throne and his life in 350, at the age of twenty-seven, the victim of a conspiracy hatched by Magnentius, one of his generals. Delivered from the fear of the Persians by their rout under the walls of Nisibis, which he owed less to his arms than to the counsel and miracles of Saint James, the illustrious bishop of that city, Constantius soon avenged his brother's death. The victory he won over the usurper in the fields of Pannonia placed the world at his feet. Prosperity is fatal to vain and weak souls. He blushed at having yielded to his brother's remonstrances in favor of Athanasius. He forgot his oaths. The orthodox were subjected, in all parts of the empire, to a violent persecution which, under the son of Constantine, recalled the bloody era of the martyrs.

In the capital of Egypt, a military commander at the head of five thousand soldiers invaded, by night, the church where Athanasius was praying with a considerable multitude of people. Swords were drawn, and arrows were launched against the kneeling crowd. At this sudden and fierce attack, the people pressed around their bishop, whom they sought to take from them, or rather, whom they sought to immolate at the foot of the altars. In this frightful tumult, the patriarch raised his voice, which was always obeyed; he ordered the faithful to withdraw and to secure their own safety. As for him, he only left last, enveloped and carried away by a devoted group that managed to hide him from the arrows of the homicidal troop.

Proscribed and a fugitive, Athanasius could not believe that Constantius had ordered these sacrilegious acts of violence; moreover, he still counted on his former protestations and his good faith. To enlighten him, he addressed to him a great apology in which he refuted one by one all the grievances of the Arians. Let us hear him answer the accusation of an alleged correspondence with the usurper Magnentius: "The reproach of having wished to incite your brother, of happy memory, against you, had at least some pretext in the eyes of the slanderers. Indeed, I had the privilege of seeing him freely, and he defended me against you. Present, he honored me; absent, he often called for me. But this infernal Magnentius, God is my witness that I do not know him. What familiarity could therefore be established between a stranger and a stranger? How could I begin a letter to him? Was it like this: You did well to kill the one who showered me with honors and whose friendship I will never forget? I love you for having slaughtered those who, in Rome, welcomed me with such favor?"

This justification, sparkling with eloquence and truth, had no hold on th e prejudi Constance Roman emperor who exiled Eusebius for his opposition to Arianism. ced soul of Constantius. He only became more obstinate, and his fanaticism more violent. A new intruder by the name of George, formerly charged with supplying pork to the army, and worse than Gregory, dishonored and made the illustrious see of Alexandria—which had once been gladdened by the noble qualities, genius, and virtues of Athanasius—shudder with indignation through his coarseness, ignorance, avarice, and cruelty. Constantius assembled council after council, to which he imposed, with astute formulas of faith more or less favorable to the heresy, the inevitable condition of the condemnation of the patriarch. It was so at Sirmium in Hungary, at Rimini in Italy, and at Arles in France. The bishops who refused to subscribe to them were sent into distant and rigorous exiles.

Athanasius himself wandered from desert to desert, always sought after and often closely pursued by the soldiers and spies of the Roman governors. Sometimes, to escape them, he returned to the populous cities of Egypt, where the crowd hid him no less than the solitude. But his preferred retreat was in the monasteries and hermitages of the Thebaid, where he loved to share in their studies, silence, and austerities. There, a numerous and ardent militia, ready to die for him, knew how to shield him from searches, carried out his messages, and copied and propagated his writings in the Christian societies of the East. "It is from there," says M. Villemain, "that Athanasius encouraged the bishops of Egypt zealous for his cause; that he addressed apostolic letters to his church of Alexandria; that he answered the heretics learnedly; that he launched anathemas against his persecutors. From the depths of his cell, he was the invisible patriarch of Egypt."

He was not permitted to enjoy the company of the solitaries for long. His enemies put a price on his head. Soldiers were tasked with searching everywhere to discover him. They mistreated the monks in vain; they were firm and gave it to be understood that they would rather suffer death than reveal the place where Athanasius was hidden. However pleasant the company of these holy hosts was to the patriarch, he resolved to leave them so as not to expose them to harsher sufferings. He therefore withdrew into a cistern, where he could barely breathe. The only person he saw was a faithful man who brought him his letters and the things he needed to survive; even this faithful man ran great dangers, so persistent were the searches of the Arians.

The death of Constantius alone suspended the persecution. This prince was carried off by a sudden illness while he was rushing from the ends of the East to the Gauls to suppress the revolt of the Caesar Julian, whom the troops had just proclaimed Augustus, and who succeeded him.

Around the same time, the intrud Alexandrie Place of refuge and study during the persecution. er of Alexandria became odious to all parties, even to the pagans, who were emboldened by the accession of Julian the Apostate. They killed him in a popular sedition; then, loading his body onto a camel, they dragged it through the whole city, burned it with the animal, which seemed impure to them for having touched the corpse of this sacrilegious man, and finally threw his ashes into the sea. On the other hand, the philosopher prince, out of ostentation of tolerance, first recalled the bishops exiled by the Arian faction. The return of Athanasius, whose absence had been regretted more than ever, excited in Egypt a thrill of joy and popular enthusiasm of which history offers few examples. It was, for Alexandria especially, a festival such as the Roman Empire had not known since the abolition of the ancient triumphs. It lacked only the spectacles of chained captives and the pride of the victor. The populations of Egypt had flocked to join their transports to those of the inhabitants and foreigners of all nations who were flooding into this port, the center of the world's commerce. The Catholics revered in him a Saint, the most illustrious defender of their faith; all, a great man, a benefactor, a father. At the first rumor of his arrival, an immense crowd rushed out of the walls. The shores of the Nile were covered with spectators. People were content just to see him from afar, to hear the sound of his voice. Happier were those who could touch his robe, or at least encounter his shadow. In the triumphal pomp, the people were grouped by age, sex, class, and nation. The applause, the acclamations, the joyful songs, which followed or mingled with one another, resounded from all sides. When evening came, a thousand torches flooded the city with waves of light, while the sea was illuminated in the distance by the resplendent fires of the high towers of the Museum. Feasts and innocent pleasures prolonged the noise and movement of the day into the heart of the night. Since then, when one wanted to say that a governor had been well received in the capital of Egypt, it was said, as a proverb, that he had been shown as much honor as the great Athanasius. Heresy was defeated in Alexandria. The Catholics returned to all the churches; the Arians were reduced to holding their assemblies in private houses.

Some time later, Athanasius found himself exposed to new trials from Julian. This prince had finally lifted the mask and no longer disguised his feelings regarding paganism. The priests of the idols of Alexandria complained to him of the effectiveness of the means the patriarch used against their superstitions, and they added that if he remained in the city any longer, one would soon see the gods without any worshippers. Their complaints were heard favorably. The emperor replied that by allowing the Christians, whom he called Galileans in derision, to return to their country, he had not granted them the right to return to their churches; that Athanasius in particular should not have carried his temerity as far as the others, he who had been exiled by several emperors. He therefore had him notified to leave the city as soon as the order was received, under pain of being severely punished. He even ordered his death, and one of his officers was charged with the execution of this decree.

When the prince's orders arrived in Alexandria, grief and consternation seized all the faithful. Athanasius consoled them and told them to place their trust in God, assuring them that the storm would soon pass. Having then recommended his flock to his friends, he embarked on the Nile to go to the Thebaid.

The officer who had orders to put him to death had no sooner been informed of his flight than he pursued him with ardor. The Saint was warned in time of the danger. Those who accompanied him advised him to go deep into the deserts; but he would have none of it; he even ordered that they turn back toward Alexandria, saying: "Let us show that He who protects us is more powerful than he who persecutes us." The officer, having joined them without recognizing them, asked if they had seen Athanasius. "You are precisely on his tracks; it will not be long before you lay hands on him." The officer continued his route, while Athanasius went to Alexandria, where he remained hidden for some time.

Julian having given new orders for him to be put to death, he withdrew into the deserts of the Thebaid. He was often obliged to change his dwelling there to escape the searches of his enemies. He was at Antinoe when Saint Theodore of Tabennisi and Saint Pammon, both solitary abbots, came to visit him. They consoled him by assuring him that his troubles were about to end. They then told him how God had revealed to them the death of Julian. They added further that they had learned by the same means that Julian would have as a successor a religious prince, but that his reign would be very short.

This prince was Jovian. He refused to accept the empire offered to him until the army had declared itself for the Christian religion. Scarcely had he been placed on the imperial throne than he revoked the sentence of banishment brought against Athanasius. He wrote him a letter at the same time, in which, after having given just praise to his firmness and his other virtues, he urgently begged him to come and resume the government of his church.

Athanasius had not waited for the emperor's orders to leave his retreat: he had left it immediately after the death of Julian, and he had returned to Alexandria. His unexpected arrival had caused as much joy as surprise. His first care, when he saw himself returned to his flock, was to resume his ordinary functions. The emperor, knowing him to be one of the most zealous defenders of orthodoxy, wrote him a second letter, in which he begged him to send him an exposition of the true faith, and to trace for him the plan of conduct he should follow regarding the affairs of the Church. Athanasius would only answer after having conferred with learned bishops whom he had assembled for this purpose. His response stated that one must adhere to the faith of Nicaea, which was that of the Apostles, which had been preached in the following centuries, and which was still the faith of the entire Christian world, "with the exception of a small number of persons who had embraced the sentiments of Arius."

The Arians made useless efforts to blacken Athanasius in the mind of the emperor: they drew only confusion from their calumnies. Jovian had a desire to see the holy patriarch, of whom he had conceived a high opinion; he therefore summoned him to Antioch, where the court was then, and he gave him a thousand marks of esteem and friendship. Athanasius, having satisfied the desire and the consultations of the prince, left Antioch and hastened to return to Alexandria.

Jovian having died on February 17, 364, after a reign of eight months, Valentinian succeeded him to the empire. As he wished to make his residence in the West, he divided his states with his brother Valens and gave him the East to govern. The latter, who had always had a leaning toward Arianism, did not delay in manifesting his sentiments. Having received baptism in 367 from the hands of Eudoxius, bishop of the Arians of Constantinople, he published an edict by which he banished all the bishops whom Constantius had deprived of their sees.

At the news of the edict, the people of Alexandria assembled in a tumult to ask the governor of the province to let them keep their bishop. The governor promised to write to Valens about it, and tempers calmed down. Athanasius, seeing the sedition appeased, fled secretly from the city to retire to the countryside, and he hid there for four months in the vault where his father had been buried. The following night, the governor and the general of the troops seized the church where he ordinarily performed his functions. They searched for him there in vain; his retreat had hidden him from their pursuit. It was the fifth time he had been forced to leave his see.

As soon as the people knew of the departure of the holy patriarch, they testified to their grief by their cries and tears. All addressed themselves to the governor and begged him to arrange for the return of their bishop. Valens, informed of all that was happening, feared that some sedition might arise; he therefore took the step of granting the inhabitants of Alexandria what they were asking for with such warmth. Consequently, he ordered that Athanasius could remain in peace in Alexandria and that he would not be disturbed in the possession of the churches.

One is surprised and frightened by all the horrible scenes that the history of Arianism presents. The impiety, hypocrisy, dissimulation, malice, and perfidy of the Arians would seem incredible if they were not supported by the testimony of all the historians of the time, and of Saint Athanasius himself. The facts in question were notorious; they took place in the face of the whole universe; they were recorded in the synods of the Arians; thus, Saint Athanasius inserted them into his apology, made to become public, with all the odious circumstances that accompanied them, without fearing that anyone would challenge the truth of everything he asserted.

But it would be to know the holy patriarch of Alexandria little to stop at these striking traits that have made him one of the principal heroes of Christianity. His private life must also fix our admiration. "He was," says Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, "of a humility so profound that no one carried this virtue further than he. Gentle and affable, there was no one who did not have easy access to him. He joined to an unalterable kindness a tender compassion for the unfortunate. His speeches had I know not what of amiable that captivated all hearts; but they made even less impression than his way of life. His reprimands were without bitterness, and his praises served as a lesson; he knew so well how to measure both that he reproved with the tenderness of a father and praised with the gravity of a master. He was at once indulgent without weakness and firm without hardness. All read their duty in his conduct; and when he spoke, his speeches had so much efficacy that he was almost never obliged to have recourse to ways of rigor. Persons of all states found in him something to admire and something to imitate. He was fervent and assiduous in prayer, austere in fasts, indefatigable in vigils and in the chanting of psalms, full of charity for the poor, condescending to the little ones, intrepid when it was a question of opposing the injustices of the great." He had, according to the same author, the talent of persuading those who were of a sentiment contrary to his own, unless they were hardened in evil; and then those who did not let themselves be won over felt a secret veneration for his person. As for his persecutors, they found in him an inflexible soul superior to all human considerations. Like a rock, nothing was capable of making him bend in favor of injustice.

Athanasius, after having sustained harsh combats and won glorious victories over the enemies of the faith, passed to a better life on January 18, 373. He died in his bed, says the legend of the Roman Breviary. He finally found in death a rest that he had long asked for in vain from the caves of the mountains and the depths of the deserts. He had governed the church of Alexandria for forty-six years.

Here is how his death is described by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus: "He ended his life at a very advanced age, to go and reunite with his fathers, with the patriarchs, the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs, at whose example he had generously fought for the truth. I will say, to enclose his epitaph in a few words, that he left this mortal life with much more honor and glory than he had received in Alexandria when, after his various exiles, he returned there in the most triumphant manner. Who does not know, in fact, that all good people wept bitterly for his death, and that the memory of his name has remained deeply engraved in their hearts?... May he from the height of heaven lower his gaze upon me, favor me, assist me in the government of my flock, preserve in my church the deposit of the true faith? And if, for the sins of the world, we must experience the ravages of heresy, may he deliver us from these evils, and obtain for us, by his intercession, the grace to enjoy with him the sight of God?"

## RELICS AND WRITINGS OF SAINT ATHANASIUS.

The body of Saint Athanasius, deposited on a May 2nd, in an unknown year, in the church of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, was transferred to Venice in 1454. The head, however, is missing. The Spanish claimed it was at the monastery of Valvanera, in the diocese of Calahorra; but this claim is entirely unfounded. Father Papebroch, writing on May 2nd in the Acta Sanctorum regarding the tradition of the monks of Valvanera, stated: "They cannot prove it. That is why I lean more willingly toward the opinion of Antonio Yepes, who asserts that this head is none other than that of a religious named Athanasius who was a cook in that convent and died there in the odor of sanctity. This is what gave birth to the fable of Athanasius the Great taking refuge in Valvanera. Tamayus Salazar, in his martyrology of Spain, shares the opinion of Yepes..." The opinion of these two authors carries all the more weight as they have a mania for naturalizing as Spaniards a great number of saints and relics that never belonged to the Iberian Peninsula. The head of Saint Athanasius is therefore not in Spain: it is in France, in Se mblançay, Semblançay Current location of the head of Saint Athanasius in France. in the diocese of Tours, where it is still venerated today. We read the following in a pastoral letter that Msgr. Guibert, Archbishop of Tours, issued on December 13, 1867, on the occasion of the translation of the head of Saint Athanasius the Great: "The ancient parish of Serrain... possessed, before the Revolution, the head of Saint Athanasius the Great. This is what a respectable tradition recorded in our liturgical books teaches us." (Brev. of Tours of 1685.)

"But where did this precious relic come from? We have no written document that can enlighten us on its origin. If any written titles ever existed, we must believe that in the midst of all the vicissitudes of time, during the wars of religion, and during the Revolution, these titles disappeared, like so many others. We are therefore obliged to have recourse to tradition.

"At all times it has been believed and said that the head of Saint Athanasius the Great had been brought back from the Crusades by a Count of Semblançay. It is certain, in fact, that several of these lords visited the Holy Land.

"We cite these facts only to show that popular tradition is not devoid of foundation. Assuredly, we could not establish the origin of the Serrain relic on these simple conjectures. For the moment, it suffices for us to mention the tradition and to attest that its plausibility is historically proven.

"If we lack positive and certain documents on the time of the translation of the relic of Saint Athanasius to Serrain, we are not in the same uncertainty regarding the legitimacy and nature of the cult rendered to him.

"Indeed, on April 18, 1676, Msgr. Amelot de Gournay, then Archbishop of Tours, addressed a mandate to all the faithful of his diocese, which informs us that this cult was not new, since the prelate declares with bitterness that, despite such a precious relic, the church had been allowed to fall into ruin. Furthermore, it authorizes us to suppose that Msgr. Amelot had positive and certain documents to recognize and affirm the authenticity of this relic. Mention is made there of plenary indulgences granted, *intuitu capitis sancti Athanasii magni, cujus caput illa (ecclesia) integrum possidet*. For the Sovereign Pontiff alone can grant plenary indulgences, and one could not admit, without temerity, that he granted them without sufficient proof of the authenticity of the relic.

"It is to be remarked, in fact, that the archbishop does not say that these indulgences are granted because of the devotion of the inhabitants of Serrain to Saint Athanasius, but rather in view of his head, which the church possesses in its entirety. It only remains for us to establish the identity of the relic preserved under this name in the church of Semblançay.

"The relic that the church of Semblançay possesses today is certainly the same one that was honored at Serrain before the Revolution. At that time of sacrilegious profanations, the head of Saint Athanasius would undoubtedly have suffered the same fate as so many relics and precious objects that disappeared, had the parish of Serrain not counted among its members some men of faith. Indeed, the relic of Saint Athanasius and the other relics were collected by three municipal officers, enclosed, sealed, and entrusted to one of them, as the following official report attests:

"Today, the sixth day of the first decade of the third month of the second year of the Republic, we, municipal officers, have wrapped and sealed the relics known in the country by the name of the head of Saint Athanasius, the arm of Saint Stephen, and three bones of Saint John and Saint Margaret, and have made the present official report to attest to the translation and the deposit that was made at the home of Father Antoine Aubry, an inhabitant of this commune."

"This official report is signed: Durand, mayor; Aubry and Pottier, clerk. One can still see very distinctly the red wax seal placed on this authentic document of a new kind.

"Father Aubry kept this precious deposit carefully and in mystery. It was only in 1821, shortly before his death, that he decided to hand it over to M. Rutault, then serving the parish of Semblançay, of which the hamlet of Serrain is a part. Perhaps the old man hoped to see the church of Serrain rise from its ruins one day, and this hope was probably the motive that led him to delay the handing over of this sacred deposit. Be that as it may, the relic was only handed over to the parish priest of Semblançay at that time. On January 11, 1821, M. Rutault opened the reliquary in the presence of Antoine Aubry and Pierre Huteur the elder, churchwarden. He found the official report cited above, the seals intact, just as they had been affixed during the deposit at Antoine Aubry's home. The parish priest made a report to the Archbishop. Msgr. du Chilleau delegated M. Desnoux, parish priest of Luynes, to officially verify the identity of the relic. It was verified in an official report that was deposited at the archbishopric's secretariat. Msgr. du Chilleau authorized the parish priest of Semblançay to expose this distinguished relic to the veneration of the faithful, and to celebrate, each year, the feast of Saint Athanasius, of the major solemn rite. The head of the holy doctor was then placed in a reliquary, upon which the delegated commissioner affixed his seals. An official report of the translation was drawn up, which took place on May 7, 1822. Eight priests, present at the ceremony, signed it.

"A few years later, on May 17, 1829, a new ceremony took place to substitute a more suitable reliquary for the old one. The official report of this second translation was drawn up by M. Naveau, dean-priest of Neuillé-Pont-Pierre, who presided over it, and five priests present affixed their signatures to it.

"The other relics recorded in the official report of the municipal officers have always been placed with the head of Saint Athanasius."

Here is the list of the writings of Saint Athanasius:

1° The Discourse Against the Pagans, written around the year 318. It is the first work of Saint Athanasius. One notes in it a great knowledge of profane literature. The holy Doctor shows therein the origin, progress, and extravagance of idolatry; he then uses two paths to lead men to the knowledge of the true God: one is the nature of our soul, and the other is the existence of visible things.

2° The Discourse on the Incarnation, written around the same time, is but a continuation of the preceding one. Saint Athanasius proves therein: 1° that the world must have been created; 2° that only the Son of God, through his incarnation, could have delivered man from the death of which sin had rendered him worthy.

3° The Exposition of the Faith. It is an explanation of the mysteries of the Trinity and the Incarnation against the Arians.

4° The treatise on these words: All things have been given to me by my Father. The goal of the holy Doctor is to combat the false interpretations that the Arians gave to these same words.

5° The Letter to the Orthodox Bishops, against the intrusion of Gregory into the see of Alexandria, in 341.

6° The Apology Against the Arians, composed after the second exile of the Saint, in 354. It is a collection of authentic documents that annihilated all the accusations of the Arians and convicted them of calumny.

7° The Treatise on the Decrees of Nicaea against the Eusebians. One finds therein the history of what happened at the Council of Nicaea against the partisans of Arius.

8° The Apology for the Doctrine of Saint Dionysius of Alexandria, whose testimonies the Arians cited to authorize their errors.

9° The Letter to Dracontius. This Dracontius was abbot of a monastery. Having been elected bishop of Hermopolis, he took flight and hid. Saint Athanasius wrote to him, around the year 355, the letter in question, to urge him to return.

10° The Circular Letter to the Bishops of Egypt and Libya, where the evil designs of the Arians are manifested. It was written in 357, when George of Cappadocia was on the point of usurping the see of Alexandria.

11° The Apology addressed to the Emperor Constantius in 355. It is one of the most finished and eloquent of all the works of Saint Athanasius. He composed it while he was in the desert. He also gave, the following year, another writing under the title of Apology for his Flight, in order to justify his retreat. This piece is hardly less estimable than the preceding one.

12° The Letter to Serapion touching the death of Arius. One finds therein important things on the history of Arianism. It appears that it was written in 358. The Serapion to whom it was addressed is, as is believed, the famous bishop of Thmuis.

13° The Letter to the Solitaries, written around the same time. It speaks of the persecutions of Saint Athanasius. Arianism is also refuted therein.

14° The four Discourses Against the Arians, written also around the same time, when the holy Doctor was hidden among the anchorites. Photius admires, in these discourses, a strength and solidity of reasoning that crush the Arians. It is there, he says, that Saint Gregory of Nazianzus and Saint Basil the Great drew that manly and rapid eloquence with which they so gloriously defended the Catholic faith. Saint Athanasius makes admirable use of dialectic to press his adversaries; but he insists principally on the authority of Scripture, from which he draws his most formidable weapons.

15° The four Letters to Serapion of Thmuis, written around the year 360. The divinity of the Holy Spirit is proven therein.

16° The Treatise on the Synods, written the previous year. It contains the history of what happened in the councils of Seleucia and Rimini.

17° The Tome or Letter to the Church of Antioch, in 362. The holy Doctor exhorts all Catholics therein to union, and to receive all converted Arians, provided they declare they profess the faith of Nicaea and the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The name of tome that this letter bears was commonly given to synodal letters in the 4th and 5th centuries.

18° The Letter to the Emperor Jovian, in 363. We h ave spoken of saint Antoine Patron saint of hermits, first dedicatee of the chapel. it in the life of the Saint.

19° The Life of Saint Anthony was written in 363.

20° The two Letters to Orsisius, abbot of Tabenna.

21° The Book on the Incarnation of the Word, and against the Arians. It is divided into three parts. The first contains the refutation of what the Anomoeans objected against the divinity of Jesus Christ. The divinity of the Holy Spirit is established in the second. Saint Athanasius employs the third to prove, through Scripture, the consubstantiality of the Word.

22° The Letter to the Bishops of Africa, around the year 369. We have spoken of it in the life of the Saint.

23° The Letters to Epictetus, to Adelphius, and to Maximus, against the heretics who attacked the consubstantiality of the Word and the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

24° The two Books against Apollinaris, around the year 372.

25° The Book on the Trinity and the Holy Spirit, of which we no longer have anything but a Latin translation.

26° Besides the letters of Saint Athanasius, of which we have spoken, he also wrote several others on various subjects.

27° An Imperfect Commentary on the Psalms, which shows that the holy Doctor had much talent for this genre of writing. We also have fragments of a Commentary on Saint Matthew, which bears the name of Saint Athanasius. Dom de Montfaucon, in Collect. Patr., maintains that they are truly of this Father. Tournely and other scholars place them among the doubtful works of Saint Athanasius.

28° One places in the same class the books on the Incarnation of the Word of God, on the consubstantiality of the three divine Persons, on Virginity, the Synopsis of Scripture, etc. These different works are very well written; one esteems especially the Book on Virginity. The History of that crucifix of Berytus, from which blood flowed when the Jews had pierced it in derision of the Savior, is unworthy of Saint Athanasius.

29° The symbol that bears the name of the holy Doctor is attributed to him only because it contains an explanation of the mystery of the Trinity, on which Saint Athanasius wrote so well and for the defense of which he showed so much zeal. It was drafted in Latin in the 5th century. Waterland published a good dissertation on this symbol. He collected everything that had been said of most interest on the same subject by several skillful critics.

30° A Syriac version of the Pastoral Letters of Saint Athanasius has been found, a short work on the Unleavened Bread, and a treatise on the Title of the Palms.

Photius observes, cod. 140, that the style of Saint Athanasius is clear, nervous, full of sense and vivacity, without having anything superfluous. This Father appears worthy of being placed, for the merit of eloquence, immediately after Saint Basil, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, and Saint Chrysostom.

Erasmus was a great admirer of the style of Saint Athanasius, and he preferred it to that of all the other Fathers. "He is everywhere," he says, "easy, elegant, adorned, flowery, and admirably adapted to the different subjects that the holy Doctor treats; and if sometimes he does not have all the polish that one might desire, one must blame the embarrassments of affairs and the persecutions which did not allow Saint Athanasius to put the finishing touch to all his works." An ancient monk, named Cosmas, was accustomed to say, touching the writings of our Saint: "When you find something by Saint Athanasius, if you do not have paper, write it on your clothes." Prof. Spirit., c. 40.

The best edition of the works of Saint Athanasius is that of the learned Father de Montfaucon, which appeared in Paris in 1698. It is dedicated to Pope Innocent XII, and in three volumes in-folio, which nevertheless make only two tomes. The second tome of the Collection of the Fathers, which Father de Montfaucon gave in Paris in 1706, is like a supplement to his edition of the works of Saint Athanasius.

The edition given by Father de Montfaucon was reprinted in Padua in 1777, 4 vols. in-folio, and although someone inserted the pieces contained in the second tome of the New Collection of the Fathers, one prefers that of Paris, because of the beauty of the execution.

Mr. Migne has published a new edition of the works of Saint Athanasius in the Greek Patrology; it is the most complete. It reproduces, with numerous additions, that of Padua of 1777, but in a more rational order. The first and second volumes (tomes XIV and XVII of the Greek Patrology) contain, with the prolegomena, the historical and dogmatic works; the third (tome XVIII) contains the exegetical, and the fourth (tome XLVIII), the doubtful and supposed works. Arnaud d'Andilly gave, in French, the life of Saint Anthony. One will find in the Masterpieces of the Fathers (vol. III), with the Latin version opposite, the French translation of the Apology to Constantius, the two Books against Apollinaris, etc.

See 1° the general and particular councils held from the year 313 to the year 373, in the Conciles gén. et part. by Mgr Guérin, 4 vols. in-8°, Bar-le-Duc, 1869-71; 2° the panegyric of Saint Athanasius by Saint Gregory of Nazianzus; 3° the History of the Church; 4° Godoseard, from whom we have borrowed the drafting of some biographical details, leaving aside an endless series of secondary discussions which belong to general history, and not to the life of Saint Athanasius; 4° a collection entitled: The Illustrious Christians of the First Four Centuries of the Church, by Mr. Marty, Paris, Albanel, 1868, in-12: this excellent book, full of warmth and conviction, is a De viris christianis written in very good French; 5° A.A. SS., L. IV of May; Dom Ceillier; 6° Mandate of the Archbishop of Tours, dated December 13, 1867. This last document was communicated to us by the Abbé Rolland, administrator of the pension of the Brothers in Tours.