It was tough to be the bishop there

It was more than a big city: it encompassed one of the greatest centers of intellectual activity in the world.

And most of the intellectuals ridiculed the faith.

Even one of the priests in the diocese gathered worldwide fame and innumerable followers by denying that Jesus was really God.

The rebel priest’s ideas became very popular and the bishop himself was run out of town more than once.

Yet the true faith eventually prevailed, thanks in no small measure to the perseverance and brilliance of the local 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.

(adapted from an earlier post)