Athanasius of Alexandria: He Is the Father’s Word and Wisdom Wednesday, May 2 2012

He is the Father’s Word and Wisdom. He condescends to created things to impart the knowledge and apprehension of Him that begot Him.

He becomes His very Brightness and very Life, and the Door, and the Shepherd, and the Way, and King and Governor, and Saviour over all, and Light, and Giver of Life, and Providence over all.

Having then such a Son begotten of Himself, good, and Creator, the Father did not hide Him out of the sight of His creatures.

Day by day He reveals Him to all by means of the organisation and life of all things, which is His work.

But in and through Him He reveals Himself also, as the Saviour says: “I in the Father and the Father in Me”.

It follows that the Word is in Him that begat Him, and that He that is begotten lives eternally with the Father.

Nothing being outside Him, but both heaven and earth and all that in them is are dependent on Him.

Yet men in their folly have set aside the knowledge and service of Him.

They have honoured things that are not instead of things that are. And, instead of the real and true God, they have deified things that were not, “serving the creature rather than the Creator”, thus involving themselves in foolishness and impiety.

For it is just as if one were to admire the works more than the workman, and being awestruck at the public works in the city, were to make light of their builder, or as if one were to praise a musical instrument but to despise the man who made and tuned it.

Foolish and sadly disabled in eyesight! For how else had they known the building, or ship, or lyre, had not the ship-builder made it, the architect built it, or the musician fashioned it?

As then he that reasons in such a way is mad, and beyond all madness, even so affected in mind, I think, are those who do not recognise God or worship His Word, our Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of all.

Through Him the Father orders, and holds together all things, and exercises providence over the Universe.

Having faith and piety towards Him, my Christ-loving friend, we should be of good cheer and of good hope.

For immortality and the kingdom of heaven is the fruit of faith and devotion towards Him, if only the soul be adorned according to His laws.

For those who walk after His example, the prize is life everlasting.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Contra Gentes, 3, 47.

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Athanasius of Alexandria: Christ the Arch-Victor Over Death Has Robbed It of Its Power Thursday, Apr 19 2012

If it is by the sign of the Cross and by faith in Christ that death is trampled underfoot, it is clear that it is Christ himself and none other who is the Arch-Victor over death and has robbed it of its power.

Death used to be strong and terrible, but now, since the advent of the Saviour and the death and Resurrection of his body, it is despised.

When the sun rises after the night and the whole world is lit up by it, nobody doubts that it is the sun which has thus shed its light everywhere and driven away the dark.

Equally clear is it, since this utter scorning and trampling down of death has ensued upon the Saviour’s manifestation in the body and his death on the Cross, that it is he himself who brought death to nought and daily raises monuments to his vic­tory in his own disciples.

How can you think otherwise, when you see people naturally weak hastening to death, unafraid at the prospect of corruption, fearless of the descent into Hades, even indeed with eager soul provoking it, not shrinking from tortures, but preferring thus to rush on death for Christ’s sake, rather than to remain in this present life?

If, as we have shown, death was destroyed and everybody tramples on it because of Christ, how much more did he himself first trample and destroy it in his own body!

How could the destruction of death have been manifested at all, had not the Lord’s body been raised?

People who are dead cannot take effective action; their power of influence on others lasts only till the grave. Deeds and actions that energise others belong only to the living.

Well, then, look at the facts in this case. The Saviour is working might­ily among us every day.

He is invisibly persuading numbers of people all over the world to accept his faith and be obedient to his teaching.

Can anyone, in face of this, still doubt that he has risen and lives, or rather that he is himself the Life?

Does a dead man prick the consciences of men, so that they throw all the traditions of their fathers to the winds and bow down before the teaching of Christ?

If he is no longer active in the world, as would be the case if he were dead, how is it that he makes the living to cease from their activities, the adulterer from his adul­tery, the murderer from murdering, the unjust man from avarice, while the profane and godless become religious?

This is the work of One who lives, not of one dead; and, more than that, it is the work of God.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): On the Incarnation, 29-30; from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Wednesday of the Third Week of Eastertide, Year 2

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Athanasius of Alexandria: St Anthony the Great on “Make Straight Your Heart unto the Lord God of Israel” Tuesday, Jan 17 2012

[St Anthony said] Wherefore having already begun and set out in the way of virtue, let us strive the more that we may attain those things that are before.

And let no one turn to the things behind, like Lot’s wife, all the more so that the Lord hath said, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and turning back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven”.

And this turning back is nought else but to feel regret, and to be once more worldly-minded. But fear not to hear of virtue, nor be astonished at the name.

For it is not far from us, nor is it without ourselves, but it is within us, and is easy if only we are willing.

That they may get knowledge, the Greeks live abroad and cross the sea, but we have no need to depart from home for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, nor to cross the sea for the sake of virtue.

For the Lord aforetime hath said, “The kingdom of heaven is within you”.

Wherefore virtue hath need at our hands of willingness alone, since it is in us and is formed from us. For, when the soul hath its spiritual faculty in a natural state, virtue is formed.

And it is in a natural state when it remains as it came into existence. And when it came into existence it was fair and exceeding honest.

For this cause Joshua, the son of Nun, in his exhortation said to the people, “Make straight your heart unto the Lord God of Israel”, and John, “Make your paths straight”.

For rectitude of soul consists in its having its spiritual part in its natural state as created.

But on the other hand, when it swerves and turns away from its natural state, that is called vice of the soul.

Thus the matter is not difficult. If we abide as we have been made, we are in a state of virtue, but if we think of ignoble things we shall be accounted evil.

If, therefore, this thing had to be acquired from without, it would be difficult in reality; but if it is in us, let us keep ourselves from foul thoughts.

And as we have received the soul as a deposit, let us preserve it for the Lord, that He may recognise His work as being the same as He made it.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Life of St Anthony, 55.

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Athanasius of Alexandria: “Blessed Are the Pure in Heart, for They Shall See God” Wednesday, Sep 28 2011

Evil has not existed from the beginning, even now it is not found amongst the holy ones.

But it was men who began to conceive of it and imagine it in their own likeness.

Hence they fashioned for themselves the notion of idols, considering non-existent things as real.

For God, the Creator of the universe and King of all, who is beyond all being and human thought, made mankind in his own image through his own Word, our Saviour Jesus Christ;

and he also made man perceptive and able to understand reality through his similarity to him, giving him also a knowledge of his own eternity.

As long as he kept this likeness he would never abandon the concept of God or leave the company of the holy ones.

Retaining the grace bestowed on him by God and also the special power given him by the Father’s Word, man could rejoice and converse with God, living an idyllic and truly blessed and immortal life.

For having no obstacle to the knowledge of the divine, man could continuously contemplate in his purity the image of the Father, God the Word, in whose image he himself was made;

he could be filled with admiration in grasping divine providence towards the universe.

Man in this state would be superior to sensual things, and by the power of his mind could cling to the divine and intelligible realities in heaven.

For when the mind of man has no intercourse with the body, and has nothing of the latter’s desires mingled with it from outside but is entirely superior to them, it is self-sufficient as it was created in the beginning.

It then transcends the senses and all human things and it rises high above the world; it beholds the Word and sees in him also the Father of the Word.

It rejoices in con­templating him and is renewed by its desire for him, just as the holy Scriptures say that the first man to be created, who was called Adam in Hebrew, had his mind fixed on God in unembarrassed frankness.

[...] Indeed the purity of the soul makes it able to contemplate even God by itself, as the Lord himself said Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

[...] But men, con­temptuous of the better things, sought rather what was closer to themselves – and what was closer to them was the body and its sensations.

So they turned their minds away from intelligible reality and began to consider them­selves; they fell into selfish desires and preferred their own good to the contempla­tion of the divine.

[...] At the urging of the serpent he abandoned his thinking of God and began to consider himself.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Contra Gentes 2-3; from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Wednesday of the Twenty-Sixth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I.

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Athanasius of Alexandria: Singing the Psalms, Healing the Passions, and Possessing the Mind of Christ Tuesday, Aug 23 2011

The Book of Psalms has a certain grace of its own.

For in addition to the other things in which it enjoys fellowship with the other books of the Bible, it possesses this marvel – that it contains all the emotions of each soul and their various changes.

Thus, through hear­ing, it teaches us not only not to disregard passion, but also how to heal passion through speaking and acting.

There is also this astonishing thing in the Psalms. After the prophecies about the Saviour and the nations, he who recites the Psalms is uttering the rest as his own words, and each sings them as if they were written concerning him.

And it seems to me that these words become like a mirror to the person singing them, so that he might per­ceive himself and the emotions of his soul.

For in fact he who hears the cantor receives the song that is recited as being about him, and either, when he is convicted by his conscience, he will repent, or hearing of the hope that resides in God, and how this kind of grace exists for him, he exults and begins to give thanks to God.

Therefore, when someone sings the third psalm, recognising his own tribulations, he considers the words in the psalm to be his own.

And then when someone sings the fiftieth, he is speaking the proper words of his own repentance.

If the point needs to be put more forcefully, let us say that the entire Holy Scripture is a teacher of virtue and the truths of faith, while the Book of Psalms presents the perfect image for the soul’s course of life.

[...] Just as the harmony that unites flutes effects a single sound, so also, seeing that different movements appear in the soul, reason intends man to be neither discordant in himself, nor to be at variance with himself.

Reason intends the soul possessing the mind of Christ to use this as a leader, and by it to be a master of its passions.

A man then becomes a stringed instrument and, devoting himself completely to the Spirit, obeys the mind of Christ, which acts like a plectrum in all his members and emotions, thus enabling him to serve the will of God.

The harmonious singing of the Psalms is a figure and type of such order and tranquillity.

For just as we discover the ideas of the soul and communicate them through the words we put forth, so also the Lord, wishing the melody of the words to be a symbol of the spiritual harmony in a soul, has ordered that the odes be chanted tunefully, and the Psalms recited with song.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Letter to Marcellinus 10-12, 14, 27-29; from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Tuesday of the Twenty-First Week of Ordinary Time, Year I.

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Athanasius of Alexandria: When We Share in the Spirit We Possess the Love of the Father, the Grace of the Son, and the Fellowship of the Spirit Himself Friday, Jun 17 2011

We acknowledge the Trinity, holy and perfect, to consist of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

In this Trinity there is no intrusion of any alien element or of anything from outside, nor is the Trinity a blend of creative and created being.

It is a wholly creative and energizing reality, self-consistent and undivided in its active power, for the Father makes all things through the Word and in the Holy Spirit.

And in this way the unity of the Holy Trinity is preserved.

Accordingly in the Church one God is preached, one God who is above all things and through all things and in all things.

God is above all things as Father, for he is principle and source; he is through all things through the Word; and he is in all things in the Holy Spirit

Writing to the Corinthians about spiritual matters, Paul traces all reality back to one God, the Father, saying:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone.

Even the gifts that the Spirit dispenses to individuals are given by the Father through the Word.

For all that belongs to the Father belongs also to the Son, and so the graces given by the Son in the Spirit are true gifts of the Father.

Similarly, when the Spirit dwells in us, the Word who bestows the Spirit is in us too, and the Father is present in the Word.

This is the meaning of the text: My Father and I will come to him and make our home with him.

For where the light is, there also is the radiance; and where the radiance is, there too are its power and its resplendent grace.

This is also Paul’s teaching in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

For grace and the gift of the Trinity are given by the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit.

Just as grace is given from the Father through the Son, so there could be no communication of the gift to us except in the Holy Spirit.

But when we share in the Spirit we possess the love of the Father, the grace of the Son, and the fellowship of the Spirit himself.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Letters 51:28-30 to Serapion, 6; from the Monastic Office of Vigils, Trinity Sunday, Year I.

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Athanasius of Alexandria: “If Anyone Thirsts, Let Him Come to Me and Drink” Monday, Apr 11 2011

Brethren, how fine a thing it is to move from festival to festival, from prayer to prayer, from holy day to holy day.

The time is now at hand when we enter on a new beginning: the proclamation of the blessed Passover, in which the Lord was sacrificed.

We feed as on the food of life, we constantly refresh our souls with his precious blood, as from a fountain.

Yet we are always thirsting, burning to be satisfied.

But he himself is present for those who thirst and in his goodness invites them to the feast day.

Our Saviour repeats his words: If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

He quenched the thirst not only of those who came to him then.

Whenever anyone seeks him he is freely admitted to the presence of the Saviour.

The grace of the feast is not restricted to one occasion. Its rays of glory never set.

It is always at hand to enlighten the mind of those who desire it.

Its power is always there for those whose minds have been enlightened and who meditate day and night on the holy Scriptures, like the one who is called blessed in the holy psalm:

Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the wicked, or stood where sinners stand, or sat in the seat of the scornful, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.

Moreover, my friends, the God who first established this feast for us allows us to celebrate it each year.

He who gave up his Son to death for our salvation, from the same motive gives us this feast, which is commemorated every year.

This feast guides us through the trials that meet us in this world.

God now gives us the joy of salvation that shines out from this feast, as he brings us together to form one assembly, uniting us all in spirit in every place, allowing us to pray together and to offer common thanksgiving, as is our duty on the feast.

Such is the wonder of his love.

He gathers to this feast those who are far apart, and brings together in unity of faith those who may be physically separated from each other.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Letters 5,1, from the Office of Readings on Friday of the 4th week of Lent @ Crossroads Initiative.

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Athanasius of Alexandria: St Antony the Abbot’s Advice from the Mountain Monday, Jan 17 2011

So after certain days he [St Antony] went in again to the mountain.

And henceforth many resorted to him, and others who were suffering ventured to go in.

To all the monks therefore who came to him, he continually gave this precept: “Believe on the Lord and love Him; keep yourselves from filthy thoughts and fleshly pleasures….

“Pray continually; avoid vainglory; sing psalms before sleep and on awaking.

“Hold in your heart the commandments of Scripture; be mindful of the works of the saints that your souls being put in remembrance of the commandments may be brought into harmony with the zeal of the saints.”

And especially he counselled them to meditate continually on the apostle’s word, “Let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Eph. 4:26).

And he considered this was spoken of all commandments in common, and that not on wrath alone, but not on any other sin of ours, ought the sun to go down.

[...] Daily, therefore, let each one take from himself the tale of his actions both by day and night; and if he have sinned, let him cease from it; while if he have not, let him not be boastful.

But let him abide in that which is good, without being negligent, nor condemning his neighbours, nor justifying himself….

For often unawares we do things that we know not of; but the Lord sees all things.

Wherefore committing the judgment to Him, let us have sympathy one with another.

Let us bear each other’s burdens (Gal 6:6), but let us examine our own selves and hasten to fill up that in which we are lacking.

And as a safeguard against sin let the following be observed.

Let us each one note and write down our actions and the impulses of our soul as though we were going to relate them to each other.

And be assured that if we should be utterly ashamed to have them known, we shall abstain from sin and harbour no base thoughts in our mind….

As then while we are looking at one another, we would not commit carnal sin, so if we record our thoughts as though about to tell them to one another, we shall the more easily keep ourselves free from vile thoughts through shame lest they should be known.

Wherefore let that which is written be to us in place of the eyes of our fellow hermits, that blushing as much to write as if we had been caught, we may never think of what is unseemly.

Thus fashioning ourselves we shall be able to keep the body in subjection, to please the Lord, and to trample on the devices of the enemy.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Life of St Antony, 55.

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Athanasius of Alexandria: “This Corruptible Body Must Put On Incorruption; This Mortal Body Must Put On Immortality” Wednesday, Jan 5 2011

The Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things.

He had then to take a body like ours.

This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she is to provide him with a body of his own, to be offered for our sake.

Scripture records her giving birth, and says: She wrapped him in swaddling clothes.

Her breasts, which fed him, were called blessed.

Sacrifice was offered because the child was her firstborn.

Gabriel used careful and prudent language when he announced his birth.

He did not speak of “what will be born in you” to avoid the impression that a body would be introduced into her womb from outside.

He spoke of “what will be born from you”, so that we might know by faith that her child originated within her and from her.

By taking our nature and offering it in sacrifice, the Word was to destroy it completely and then invest it with his own nature, and so prompt the Apostle to say:

This corruptible body must put on incorruption; this mortal body must put on immortality.

This was not done in outward show only, as some have imagined. This is not so.

Our Saviour truly became man, and from this has followed the salvation of man as a whole.

Our salvation is in no way fictitious, nor does it apply only to the body.

The salvation of the whole man, that is, of soul and body, has really been achieved in the Word himself.

What was born of Mary was therefore human by nature, in accordance with the inspired Scriptures, and the body of the Lord was a true body:

It was a true body because it was the same as ours.

Mary, you see, is our sister, for we are all born from Adam.

The words of St John, the Word was made flesh, bear the same meaning, as we may see from a similar turn of phrase in St Paul:

Christ was made a curse for our sake.

Man’s body has acquired something great through its communion and union with the Word.

From being mortal it has been made immortal.

Though it was a living body it has become a spiritual one.

Though it was made from the earth it has passed through the gates of heaven.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): Letter to Epictetus, 5-9; from the Office of Readings for the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God @ Crossroads Initiative.

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Athanasius of Alexandria: Christ Destroys Corruption, Death and Condemnation Wednesday, Dec 15 2010

God the Word of the all-good Father did not neglect the race of men, His work, which was going to corruption.

While He blotted out the death which had ensued by the offering of His own body, He corrected their neglect by His own teaching, restoring all that was man’s by His own power.

And of this one may be assured by the Saviour’s own inspired writers where they say: For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then all died, and He died for all that we should no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him Who for our sakes died and rose again, our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:14).

And, again: we behold Him, Who has been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that by the grace of God He should taste of death for every man (Heb. 2:9).

[...] It belonged to none other to bring man back from the corruption which had begun, than the Word of God, Who had also made them from the beginning.

[...] For since from man it was that death prevailed over men, for this cause conversely, by the Word of God being made man has come about the destruction of death and the resurrection of life; as the man who bore Christ [St Paul] says:

For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Cor. 15:21).

For no longer now do we die as subject to condemnation; but as men who rise from the dead we await the general resurrection of all, which in its own times He shall show (1 Tim. 6:15) even God, Who has also wrought it, and bestowed it upon us.

This then is the first cause of the Saviour’s being made man. But one might see from the following reasons also, that His gracious coming amongst us was fitting to have taken place.

Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293-373): On The Incarnation, 10.

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