Of all the things I’ve learned in this Church and Empires class, the things I have found the most interesting of all is the process of canonization and creating the doctrines we have today. It’s amazing all the councils and debates the church fathers went through to come to the unified beliefs we have today. Of all the church fathers though, Athanasius was one of the most interesting.

Athanasius was born around AD 300 in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Little is known about his youth, except that he was raised in a Christian home. He was not taught in a Christian school, but it is said that when Athanasius was a boy, the bishop Alexander once noticed him and his friends playing a game of church outside. As the bishop watched them perform pretend ceremonies, he noticed Athanasius attempt to baptize one of his friends. When Alexander asked the boy what he had said, it turned out that he performed a true baptism. Realizing his potential, Alexander took Athanasius as his secretary and gave him an excellent bible education. It’s said that he actually studied the whole bible better than anyone had ever studied even one book. Athanasius was sure to do great things.

During this time, Diocletian was persecuting Christians more than ever before, but by AD 324 Constantine became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire and began to unify the empire around Christianity. Now that Christians were no longer being attacked for their faith, “everyone from the emperor to the common man was debating Christian doctrine”. This might have been better than being burned at the stake or torn apart in the coliseum for believing in Christ, but it still presented some problems. With Christian doctrine being such a popular topic it began to develop some inconsistencies. A leading preacher of Alexandria by the name of Arius started a following with the idea that Jesus was not the same as God. That Jesus was created and was the highest of God’s creation which made him “the instrument of all the rest of creation”. This idea bothered Alexander who really liked Arius, but knew that this view was not correct. Alexander, along with Athanasius, held to the truth of the unity of Father and Son. When both sides began to gain support it threatened the unity of the empire around Christianity, so Constantine summoned together all the bishops of the empire so that each side could come to an agreement.

This council, which became known as the Council of Nicaea, had over two hundred bishops in attendance. Most of these bishops disagreed with the views of Arius, but could still not agree completely on what they did believe. By the end of the council, Arius had been excommunicated by Alexander and the bishops adopted the word homoousios, meaning “of the same substance”, into the Creed of Nicaea. It was agreed, the Son was the same as the Father. Three years after the Council of Nicaea, Alexander died and at almost thirty years old, Athanasius was declared the new Bishop of Alexandria. Even though the council had come to an agreement, the debate was far from over. While exiled, Arius gained more followers and eventually Constantine began to lean toward Arianism, ordering Athanasius to readmit Arius. Athanasius refused. He did not believe that Arius really accept the council’s agreement of homoousios. So when Constantine called together another council, Athanasius was now on the losing side. Yet he would not budge. He stood firm against these beliefs and defended the unity of Father and Son. For this he was sent into exile five times over the span of sixteen years.