On His Life

St. Athanasius was born around 297 in Alexandria, Egypt. He devoted much of his life to fighting the heresy of the Arians. He became the archbishop of Alexandria before he was thirty and for forty-six years, he was a brave shepherd of his flock.

Five times he was sent out of his own diocese. His first exile lasted two years. He was sent to the city of Trier in 336. A kindly bishop, St. Maxi-minius, welcomed him warmly. The feast of St. Maximinius is celebrated on May 29. Other exiles lasted longer. Athanasius was hunted by people who wanted to kill him. During one tense exile, monks kept him safe in the desert for seven years. His enemies just could not find him.

Once the emperor's soldiers were chasing Athanasius down the Nile River. "They are catching up to us!" cried the saint's friends. Athanasius was not worried. "Turn the boat around," he said calmly, "and row toward them." The soldiers in the other boat shouted, "Have you seen Athan-asius?" Back came the answer: "You are not far from him!" The enemy boat sped by them faster than ever, and the saint was safe!

The people of Alexandria loved their good archbishop. He was a real father to them. As the years passed, they appreciated more and more how much he had suffered for Jesus and the Church. It was the people who stepped in and saw to it that Athanasius had some well-deserved peace. He spent the last seven years of his life safe with them. His enemies hunted but could never find him.

An excerpt from St. Athanasius', "On The Incarnation":
All these things the Savior thought fit to do, so that, recognizing His bodily acts as works of God, men who were blind to His presence in creation might regain knowledge of the Father. For, as I said before, who that saw His authority over evil spirits and their response to it could doubt that He was, indeed, the Son, the Wisdom and the Power of God? Even the very creation broke silence at His behest and, marvelous to relate, confessed with one voice before the cross, that monument of victory, that He Who suffered thereon in the body was not man only, but Son of God and Savior of all. The sun veiled his face, the earth quaked, the mountains were rent asunder, all men were stricken with awe. These things showed that Christ on the cross was God, and that all creation was His slave and was bearing witness by its fear to the presence of its Master.