Produced by David McClamrock
SAINT ATHANASIUSc. 297-373
By F.A. [Francis Alice] Forbes
"Jesus said to them: Amen, Amen I say to you, before Abraham was
made, I am."
—John 8:58
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. . . . And the
Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."
—John 1:14
Nihil Obstat: J.N. Strassmaier, S.J.
Censor Deputatus
Imprimatur: Edmund Canon Surmont
Vicar General
Westminster
August 5, 1919
Originally published in 1919 by R. & T. Washbourne, Ltd., London, aspart of the series Standard-bearers of the Faith: A Series of Livesof the Saints for Young and Old.
"Born of the Father before all ages, God of God, Light of Light,
true God of true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the
Father . . . "
—From the Nicene Creed
1. A Foreshadowing
2. Arius the Heresiarch
3. The Great Council
4. The Calm Before the Storm
5. False Witnesses
6. A Royal-Hearted Exile
7. The Day of Rejoicing
8. The Invisible Patriarch
9. A Short-Lived Peace
10. The Last Exile
11. The Truce of God
"I and the Father are one."
—Words of Our Lord (John 10:30)
THE Patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt was expecting company. He stood atthe window of his palace looking down the long road, that at the firstsign of his guests' arrival he might go forth and welcome them. Beforehim, like a white pearl in the blue waters of the Mediterranean, laythe city of Alexandria—"the beautiful," as men loved to call it.Across the harbor the marble tower of the great lighthouse soared upinto the clear Eastern sky, white as the white cliffs of the Island ofPharos from which it sprang. It was noonday, and the sunshine lay likea veil of gold over all.
The Patriarch's thoughts were wandering in the past. He had beencelebrating the anniversary of his holy predecessor Peter, theprevious Bishop, who had won the crown of martyrdom during theterrible persecution of the Christians not so many years before.Several of the clergy present had come from afar to assist at thefestival, and these were to be his expected guests.
The time of suffering was past and over, and yet it seemed toAlexander as if it had all happened yesterday and might happen againtomorrow. There stood the great palace of the Caesars, where the paganemperor had sat in judgment upon the lambs of Christ's flock; therethe famous temple of Serapis, where the Christians had been dragged tooffer incense to the gods; there the amphitheater where they had beentorn to pieces by beasts and slain with the sword for confessing theName of Christ. And all through those dark days, firm and steadfast asthe lighthouse on the cliffs of Pharos, had stood the Patriarch Peter,a tower of strength and comfort to his persecuted children.
A hundred Bishops and more had looked to him as their