Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

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Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

During the summer of 325, 318 bishops and pastors gathered in the ancient Greek city of Nicaea to settle the dispute regarding the divinity of Christ. Athanasius was in his late twenties at the time and accompanied Alexander as a deacon and principal secretary, although he did not formally have a vote in the council. After months of deliberation, the council affirmed the eternal divinity of Jesus, which led to exiling Arius and vindicating Alexander. However, while the Council of Nicaea clearly affirmed the divinity of Jesus (summarized in the Nicene Creed), the consensus surprisingly unraveled soon after the council, and the divinity of Christ was a contested doctrine for the next fifty years. By the mid-fourth century, Jerome quipped, “The whole world groaned and was astonished to find itself Arian.” 2 So while Athanasius did not have a vote at the council of Nicaea, he would spend the rest of his life defending its orthodox doctrine, particularly the deity of Christ. For this reason, Athanasius has been lionized as the “Champion of Nicaea.” Three years after returning to Egypt, Alexander died and Athanasius, still in his early thirties, was appointed as the bishop of Alexandria. Second only to Rome, Alexandria was an extremely influential city in the ancient world. The Egyptian city (named after Greek conqueror Alexander the Great) was a cultural center in the Roman Empire, with representatives from all the major schools of philosophy and with significant contributions in the arts and sciences. Furthermore, as a trade crossroads in the Mediterranean world, Alexandria connected the Roman Empire with the markets of China, Arabia, and India. As a cosmopolitan 2 Jerome, “The Dialogue Against the Luciferians,” 19, trans. W. H. Fremantle, in vol. 6 of The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , Series 2, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, 14 vols., repr. ed. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994), 329.