May 2, 2024 ~ Thursday, Week 6
Image from Psalm Prayers on Facebook/Etsy
The Lord did not come
to make a display. He came to heal and to teach suffering [people]. For one who
wanted to make a display, the thing would have been just to appear and dazzle
the beholders. But for Him who came to heal and to teach the way was not merely
to dwell here, but to put Himself at the disposal of those who needed Him, and
to be manifested according as they could bear it, not vitiating the value of
the Divine appearing by exceeding their capacity to receive it.
~ St. Athanasius
of Alexandria*
*Renowned,
Significant, Profound, Influential ~ there are too few superlatives to
fully contain the work of St. Athanasius of Alexandria [c.
296-373] who is celebrated today. At age 30 he became the
20th Bishop (Archbishop/Patriarch) of Alexandria, Egypt with a tenure of
45 years. He is also known as Athanasius the Great, Athanasius the
Confessor and, primarily in the Coptic Orthodox Church**, Athanasius
the Apostolic. He has been named a Doctor of the Church by
the Roman Catholic Church, Father of Orthodoxy by the Eastern
Orthodox, and Father of the Canon by Protestant
theologians.
Despite being exiled 5 times by 4 Roman
Emperors for political and theological reasons, it is his Trinitarian
theology that defines mainstream Christianity today.
His first great theological struggle was against Arius, a priest
from Libya, at the first Council of Nicaea in the year 325. Arius denied the
divinity of Christ and his "Arian" orthodoxy was the prevalent
theology of the day. It was denounced and ultimately trounced by Athanasius who
argued for the dual nature of Jesus ~ human and divine
~ declaring that only one who was fully human could atone for human sin and
only one who was fully divine could have the power to save us. He said, that
"Those who maintain 'There was a time when the Son was not [divine]' rob
God of his Word, like plunderers." Arianism is now considered as
heresy.
Athanasius' view of the Incarnation is what informed the structure
of the Nicene Creed that is used today and he was also the first to identify
the 27 books that make up the New Testament canon we use as well. Not without
his detractors even today, nonetheless, even if you've never heard his name, if
you are Anglican/Episcopal, Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, or
Coptic Catholic ~ and any other Christian who reads the New Testament, you have
the benefit of this man's work. Diminutive in stature, he was and continues to
be a giant in the history of Christianity.
God, our Creator ~
God, our Redeemer ~ God, our Sanctifier,
You, as 3 in 1, are simply yet complexly God. It
is to each, all, and only You that I pray at this moment. My head cannot
understand or define You in Your three-in-one-ness, but if I could, then You
could not be You. Let me not be too concerned with the depth and breadth of all
the philosophical and theological stuff that others much smarter than me, like
Your servant Athanasius, have argued over. Just help me to remember, that each
day in my life, all I only need is You to walk with me on the Way. amen.
**The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, is the primary Christian Church in Egypt also serving elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East. Their first Bishop is considered to be St. Mark, the Evangelist from whose “See,” or “seat” is still held by the Pope of Alexandria.
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