My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER S298 AHALL BE.

ON JANUARY 18TH OUR HOLY ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN CHURCH COMMEMORATES OUR HOLY FATHER ATHANASIUS THE GREAT OF ALEXANDRIA

Our Holy Father among the Saints Athanasius of Alexandria (also spelled "Athanasios"; from Greek, "immortal") was a bishop of Alexandria and major theological writer in the 4th century. He is also called Athanasius the Great and (by the Coptic church) Athanasius the Apostolic. He was born in 298 A.D. and fell asleep in the Lord on May 2, 373 A.D. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is January 18th.

He was born to pagan parents. When he was in school he saw a group of Christians acting out services and when he asked to join them, they refused. From then on he declared himself Christian. The Patriarch at that time, Pope Alexander, predicted that he would eventually hold a great position.

Before reaching the age of 20, Athanasius wrote a treatise entitled On the Incarnation, affirming and explaining that Jesus Christ was both God and Man. In about 319 A.D., when Athanasius was a deacon, a presbyter named Arius began teaching that there was a time before God the Father begat Jesus when the latter did not exist. Athanasius responded that the Father's begetting of the Son, or uttering of the Logos/Word, was an eternal relationship between them, was an eternal relationship between them, not an event that took place within time. Thus began catholic Christianity's fight against the heresy of Arianism.

Saint Athanasius fought consistently against Arianism all his life. As a deacon, he accompanied Alexander of Alexandria to the First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D., which produced the Nicene Creed and anathematized Arius and his followers. The Coptic church maintains a tradition that Athanasius was the main author of the Nicene Creed, and has therefore given him the title of Defender of the Faith.

On May 9, 328 A.D., he succeeded Alexander as bishop of Alexandria, becoming the 20th Patriarch of the Church of Alexandria, a position which he held for 45 years, 16 of which he spent in exile. As a result of rises and falls in Arianism's influence, he was banished from Alexandria only to be later restored on at least five separate occasions, perhaps as many as seven. This gave rise to the expression Athanasius contra mundus, et mundum contra Athanasium or "While the world is set against Athanasius, Athanasius is equally set against the world." During some of his exiles, he spent time with the Desert Fathers, monks, and hermits who lived in remote areas of Egypt.

Saint Athanasius is also the first person to identify the same 27 books of the New Testament that are in use today; up until his Paschal letter, various similar lists were in use. However, his list was the one that was eventually ratified by a series of synods and came to be universally recognized as the New Testament Canon.

He also wrote a biography of Anthony the Great that later served as an inspiration to Christian monasteries in both the East and the West. The Athanasian Creed is traditionally ascribed to him, though it is likely not his work.

Saint Athanasius was also the first to introduce the 40-day Lent to the Greek Orthodox Churches in Egypt through his writing of Festal Letter XII around 337 A.D.

The Saint was originally buried in Alexandria. His holy body was later transferred to Italy. Pope Shenouda III restored the holy relics of Saint Athanasius to Egypt on 15 May 1973, after his historic visit to the Vatican and meeting with Pope Paul VI. The holy relics of Saint Athanasius the Great of Alexandria are currently preserved under the new Saint Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Deir El-Anba Rowais, Abbassiya, Cairo, Egypt.

The following is a Troparion (hymn) to Saint Athanasius sung in some Orthodox churches:

Holy Father Athanasius, like a pillar of orthodoxy you refuted the heretical nonsense of Arius by insisting that the Father and the Son are equal in essence. O Venerable Father, beg Christ our God to save our souls.

(Source: Orthodox Wiki)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" - Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George