No sooner St. Mark came to Alexandria than he preached with Christianity and the worship of God. Paganism bases were shaken in Egypt. Many Patriarchs were his successors of the See of Alexandria, who preserved the deposit of faith. Today I want to stop a little at one of the heroes of the Egyptian church. Not only the Egyptian church but also to the Whole world.
Today we celebrate the departure of Pope Athanasius the Apostolic. He was the 20th Patriarchamong the Patriarchs of the Holy See of St. Mark.
Pope Athanasius’s life was not easy nor the way that he chose to preserve the faith that the church received. But it was very hard and difficult!
He endured many false accusations, insults and exile away of the See of St. Mark for long times. Moreover Pope Athanasius chose to steadfast and defended truth and faith even that he had to steadfast against the whole world!
He was nicknamed ‘Athanasius Contra Mundum’ which meant Athanasius against the world!
Historians said about him: “The most famous expression for Athanasius being against the world and the world against him was just a good expression to describe his free unique courage and his unshakable honesty towards his beliefs.”
Against Arius
The first council of Bishops from all over the world was convened in Nicaea by the Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great in 325 AD to discuss Arius views that he spread in the world. Whereas Arius presented his views about faith, he got rejected by all Bishops who attended the council.
At that time Athanasius was a deacon andaccompanied Pope Alexander I of Alexandria to defend faith in addition to that he had a fiery jealousy. He faced Arius’s counter arguments with his cogent evidences and strong replies. Also he was able to prove the delirium and the corruption of Arius views. All the people who attended were astonished by the young man whose age did not exceed the thirty years, but defended faith strongly. It was mentioned that the Emperor Constantine I the Great attended and he said to Athanasius: “You are the hero of the church”.
The Nicene Faith Creed was established and signed by the Bishops of the Council (318 Bishops) whilst Arius and his supporters rejected to sign. And so the members of the council issued a decree with their deprivation and exile of Arius.
Against Arianism
The decree of deprivation and exile of Arius was not the end. On the contrary it was the beginning of the journey of pain and troubles of the Egyptian hero!
Some of Arius followers ratted him out to the Emperor and claimed that he assigned a new tax on Egypt to raise money for the church! And that he helped the enemies of the Empire and was preparing for a revolution against it!
Arius followers didn’t stop to pin false accusations against Pope Athanasius but they failed to prove any.
Against Emperors
The steadfastness of Pope Athanasius was unshakable before kings, governors and emperors. But he stood firmly till he was exiled five times. The first time by Constantine I the Great who was tricked by the accusations of Arius followers, and then he returned back to his seat by Constantine II in 337 AD.
He was exiled once again to Rome (339-346 AD) by the Arianism Emperor Constantine Kalamanos. He was exiled for the third time by Constantine II in 356 AD, so he went to the desert until he returned back in 362 AD. After a few months he was exiled for the fourth time by the pagan Emperor Julian the Apostate and returned again in 364 AD. As for the fifth time he was exiled by the Emperor Valens in 365 AD. The people rebelled a massive uprising and didn’t calm down until the Pope returned back in 366 AD.
Pope Athanasius departed in 373 AD. Through all those events that carved his unique scarcity on the pages of history, he didn’t stop to serve his congregation and visit them throughout the whole nation during the few periods of peace that he faced or even by sending messages during his exile.
Truly as it was said about him “Athanasius was alone in some time-solely-stood firmly and later he was nicknamed the father of the Orthodox.” and “He was a great man who had a strong impact on the church that couldn’t be erased forever.” Stories about Beautiful Egypt never end!
General Bishop,
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
