Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

Introduction

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city, Alexandria was a melting pot of Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, and people from various other nations. As Gregory of Nazianzus once said, “The bishop of Alexandria was the bishop of the whole world.” 3 Athanasius would spend the rest of his life as the bishop of Alexandria. However, while he was unwavering in his commitment to Christ and the church, his life would be anything but stable. After seven years as bishop, a council wrongly accused Athanasius of murder and Constantine sent him into exile in Gaul (an area now located in modern Germany) in order to maintain the unity and peace of the empire. Athanasius would eventually be exiled five times, spending seventeen of his forty-six years as bishop in exile. It was there, in exile (most often in the desert), that Athanasius would do much of his writing. But while Athanasius’s enemies fiercely opposed him, he was deeply loved by the church abroad and particularly by the people of Alexandria. When Athanasius would return from exile there would be parades in the streets and the people would rejoice that their bishop had returned. Athanasius was not merely a theologian; he was a pastor who loved people as much as he loved the truth. Athanasius died in his seventies (in AD 373), having lived a long and full life. His reputation was second to none and he was praised for his virtue, passion, and theology. In his funeral oration, Gregory of Nazianzus said, “His life and conduct form the ideal of an office of pastoral leadership and his teaching the law of orthodoxy.” 4 And 3 Peter Barnes, Athanasius of Alexandria: His Life and Impact , rev. ed., Early Church Fathers (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2019), 74. 4 Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius , The Early Church Fathers (New York: Routledge, 2004), 33.