Champion of orthodoxy

He was the bishop’s right-hand man, even at the Council. Later, he himself became the bishop.

His diocese was a very high-profile one because it encompassed one of the greatest centers of knowledge and intellectual activity in the world (some said the greatest of all time).

This was both a high honor and a deadly challenge, for this great center of human learning was full of brilliant, educated, and well-respected people who ridiculed his faith.

Nor did he have to contend only with intellectuals outside the Church. One of the priests in his diocese had been advocating a theological position that Jesus was not really God!

This theology caught on with many not only in the diocese but throughout the world. At one point, it was said, that priest’s theology enjoyed more popular support than the true faith.

The bishop had an uphill battle - more than once he was driven out of town – but the true faith eventually prevailed: thanks in no small part to the perseverance and theological brilliance of this bishop.

St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, champion of the Council of Nicaea, opponent of Arianism, and Father of Orthodoxy, died peacefully in his own bed on this very day in the year 323.