My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
On the 18th of January, Our Holy Orthodox Church Commemorates
our Fathers Among the Saints ATHANASIOS and CYRIL, ARCHBISHOPS
OF ALEXANDRIA.
Apolytikion (Dismissal) Hymn. Third Tone
SHINING forth with works of Orthodoxy, ye quenched every false
belief and teaching and became trophy-bearers and conquerors.
And since ye made all things rich with true piety, greatly adorning
the Church with magnificence, Athanasios and wise Cyril, ye both
have worthily found Christ God, Who doth grant mercy unto all.
Kontakion Hymn. Fourth Tone
GREAT high priests of piety and noble champions of the Holy
Church of Christ, keep and preserve all those who chant: O
Most Compassionate Lord, do Thou graciously save those who
faithfully honor Thee.
OUR HOLY FATHER Athanasios, pillar of Orthodoxy and light of the universe, was born in A.D. 275, just before the outbreak of the pagan Roman Emperor Diocletian’s persecution (A.D. 297-313), to pious, right-believing parents in Alexandria. People of the most diverse origins rubbed shoulders in that cosmopolitan city, where cults and beliefs of all kinds jostled with one another but, from his childhood, nothing but the things of God and of the Church held any savour for Athanasius. One day, Bishop Alexander watched him and his companions at play on the beach going through the rites and ceremonies of the Church. He was amazed at their deep seriousness and, seeing Athanasius as bishop, proceeded to the baptism of the children who had not yet received holy illumination, the Bishop declared it to be a true Baptism and took the young boy under his protection.
As a student, Athanasius’ main interest was given not to secular subjects but rather to weaving the garment of the holy virtues by silent meditation on the Old and New Testaments. He withdrew for some time to the desert to be with Saint Antony (Anthony), of whom he was the lifelong disciple, and on returning to Alexandria he was ordained Deacon and began his theological and pastoral labours. It was then that he composed his first two works: the treatises AGAINST THE PAGANS and ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LOGOS/WORD. After condemning the pagan philosophies and beliefs for their absurdity, he shows in these works that the Logos/Word of the Father is not only Creator of the Logos/Word, His Wisdom and His Providence, but that He has also made Himself Savior of fallen mankind, subject to corruption. "The Logos/Word has become man in order that we might become God." Through our union with Christ, WE TRULY BECOME "PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE" (2 Peter 1:4); for He is not a simple creature, but HE IS LOGOS/WORD of the Father by nature, the Only Son of God and God, become man in order TO MAKE US ADOPTIVE SONS OF THE FATHER. This absolute conviction ws soon to become the driving force of the Saint’s life and of his contests. As the unyielding defender of the dogma of the Divinity of the Logos/Word and of the Trinitarian faith, he was by the same token preacher of Christian holiness and of the possibility of our divinization.
At this time the heretic Arius, a priest of Alexandria who loved controversy and set more store on human reason than on faith in approaching the mysteries of God, began to sow discord among the people by teaching that the Logos/Word of God is not eternal but that He has been created in time and consequently cana be called Son of God only in a metaphorical sense. Arius fled to Caesarea and soon spread such confusion throughout the Empire that Constantine the Great decided TO CONVOKE A COUNCIL OF THE WHOLE CHURCH AT NICAEA (A.D. 325) in order to issue a clear declaration of the Divinity of the Logos/Word. Saint Athanasius ent there with the aged Archbishop Alexander, and his action as an advocate in defence of the Truth was so decisive that it won him the admiration of the Orthodox, and the unbridled disdain for the heretics. The name of Athanasius was to become synonymous with the Nicene and Orthodox Faith. On the death of Saint Alexander, the people of Alexandria were unanimous in their choice of the ardent Athanasius to succeed him on the episcopal throne of Saint Mark. His first task was to re-establish unity and good order in his immense Diocese, which was riven not only by the partisans of the Arian heresy but also by the schismatic Meletians and by the decay of morals and of ecclesiastical discipline. He spent several years travelling all over Egypt as far as the borders of Ethiopia, preaching the Gospel and ordaining bishops, and he thus won the love of the people, who ever after regarded him as their father. He also visited the countless monasteries, even as far as the Thebaid desert.
Saint Athanasios was persecuted by heretics throughout his whole life, particularly by the Emperors Constantius, Julian the Apostate, and Valens, by Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia and many others, and by the heretic Arius and his followers. He was forced to hide from his persecutors in a well, a grave, private houses and the deserts. Twice he was forced to flee to Rome. Only just before his death did he have a peaceful period as a good shepherd with his flock, which truly loved him. There are few Saints who have been so callously slandered and so criminally persecuted as Saint
Athanasius. But his great soul endured all with patience for the love of Christ and at last emerged victorious from all these terrible and lengthy struggles. He often went to Saint Anthony for advice and moral support, revering him as his spiritual father. He suffered greatly for the Truth, until the Lord gave him rest in His Kingdom as His faithful servant, in the year A.D. 373.
Holy Church today (January 18th), joins the memory of the ardent Saint CYRIL, subsequent Archbishop of Alexandria (A.D. 412-44), to that of Saint Athanasius. Just as Saint Athanasius had stood firm, alone against all, in defence of the Divinity of the Logos/Word of God, Saint Cyril devoted all his strength to maintain the dogma of the Incarnation against the impious heretic Nestorius. Consequently, with Saints Athanasius and Cyril we can proclaim our faith in Jesus Christ, Only-begotten Son and Logos/Word of the Father, One of the Trinity, become man WITHOUT CHANGE, KNOWN, LOVED AND WORSHIPPED IN TWO NATURES, DIVINE AND HUMAN, THROUGH WHOM AND IN WHOM WE HAVE ACCESS TO THE FATHER, BY THE GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN. [Resources: The Synaxarion and The Prologue from Ochrid]
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
+ Saint John Chrysostomos
+ + +
With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 