[Rank]
S. Athanasii Confessoris Ecclesiae Doctoris;;Duplex;;3;;vide C4a

[Rule]
vide C4a;
9 lectiones

[Name]
Athanasius

[Oratio]
Grant, we beseech thee, O Almighty God, that the worshipful Feast of thy blessed Confessor and Bishop Athanasius, may avail us to the increase both of godliness toward thee, and healthfulness to our own souls.
$Per Dominum

[Lectio4]
The great Athanasius, the greatest soldier that the Catholic Religion hath perhaps ever had, was an Alexandrian. He was ordained Deacon by Alexander, (in the year 326,) Bishop of that city, whom he afterwards succeeded. (In 325) he had followed Alexander to the Council of Nice, where he wrestled triumphantly against the blasphemy of Arius. For this reason he was honoured with so much of their hatred by the Arians, that their vindictiveness never forsook him from that time forward. (In the year 335,) they called together a Council at Tyre, composed for the most part of Arian Bishops, where they suborned a wretched woman to charge Athanasius with having raped her when she had received him as a guest into her house. Athanasius therefore came into the assembly, and with him a certain priest whose name was Timothy. This Timothy arose as though he were Athanasius, and asked her, saying Woman, was it I that was thy guest was it I that raped thee She cried out indignantly Yea, thou it was that didst rape me, the which she attested with an oath, and called on the honour of the judges to punish such iniquity. Upon this discovery of her perjury, they drave the shameless woman from their presence.

[Lectio5]
The Arians also accused Athanasius of having murdered the (schizmatic) Bishop Arsenius. This Arsenius they kept shut up, and brought into the court a dead man's hand, which they declared had been his, and had been cut off by Athanasius to use in sorcery. But Arsenius escaped in the night, and when he appeared before all the Council whole and sound, the brazen-faced crime of the enemies of Athanasius was exposed. This appearance nevertheless they attributed to Athanasius being a warlock, and persisted still in their attack on him. He was driven into exile, and banished to Treves in Gaul. Thenceforth, under authority of the Emperor Constantius, that abettor of Arians, he was hunted to and fro with unceasing persecutions. He suffered hardships which it is difficult to believe. He was sent wandering all about the Roman world. He was twice more thrust out of his See, and again restored through the authority of Pope Julius of Rome, and with the protection of the Emperor Constans, the brother of Constantius, by decrees of the Councils of Sardica and of Jerusalem. The vindictiveness of the Arians never let him alone. In his third exile so great was the danger of his life from the pursuit of their undying hatred, that he had to lie hid for five years in a dry cistern, unknown to all men, save one of his friends who brought him food.

[Lectio6]
After the death of Constantius, Julian the Apostate, who succeeded him, allowed every sort of Bishop who had been banished to return to their own Churches. Athanasius therefore returned to Alexandria, and was received with profound reverence. But it was not long before the same Arians got Julian to hunt him down again, and again it behoved him to fly. A band of soldiers were sent in pursuit of him to kill him, and as he fled up the Nile, their boat pressed hard on his. Athanasius, before they were yet in sight, had his own boat turned round, and went down the stream to meet them. As the vessels passed one another the murderers called out to ask if they knew where Athanasius was, and the servant of God himself cried to them in answer, Ye are close to him! whereupon they redoubled their exertions to ascend the stream, and Athanasius went peacefully down to Alexandria, and found means of concealment till the death of Julian. Yet once again he had to fly from another persecution at Alexandria, and in this his fifth and last exile he hid himself for four months in his own father's sepulchre. From all these so many and so great dangers did God deliver him, and at last he died in his own bed at Alexandria, (upon the 2nd day of May, in the year of salvation 373,) in the reign of Valens. He wrote much that is both godly and luminous in explaining the Catholic Faith, and governed the Church of Alexandria in great holiness, amid all changes of weather, for six and forty years.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 10:23-28
At that time Jesus said to his disciples: And when they shall persecute you in this city, flee into another. And so on.
_
Homily by St. Athanasius, Pope (of Alexandria.)
!Defence of his own flight.
It is written in the Law, (Num. xxxv. 11,) Ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you, that in these cities they which were pursued to put them to death might enter and be safe. And in the latter days when He was come, even that very Word of the Father, Which had spoken aforetime unto Moses, He gave again the same commandment When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. And, a while afterward, He said When ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand in the Holy Place, whoso readeth, let him understand, then let them which be in Judaea flee unto the mountains; let him which is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. (Matth. xxiv. 15-18.)

[Lectio8]
The Saints, therefore, knowing these words of the Lord, have obeyed them in their lives. What the Lord hath now commanded by His Own Mouth He commanded through His Saints before that He Himself was come in the flesh, and to obey this commandment worketh in a man perfection, since whatever God commandeth is a thing which it behoveth man to do. For this cause, that very Word of God Which was made flesh for our sake thought it meet when they sought Him, even as at this present time they are seeking us, to hide Himself, (John viii. 59,) and, when they persecuted Him, to fly and escape from their laying in wait for Him although when that time came which He had Himself decreed, and wherein He willed, as touching the Body, to suffer for us all, He willingly gave Himself up to His enemies.

[Lectio9]
Holy men of God, therefore, have learnt to take example from their Saviour, (and the Same is and hath been the Teacher of all such, whether of old time, or in these latter days,) and know how that it is lawful to baffle their persecutors by flying from them, and by lying hid when they seek them. For since they know not the day nor the hour wherein an all-seeing God hath ordained their end, they do not daringly give themselves into the power of such as hate them, but rather, knowing it to be written, "My times are in Thy hand," (Ps. xxx. 16) and that "the Lord killeth and maketh alive," (1 Kings ii. 6,) they "endure unto the end," (Matth. xxiv. 13.) "they wander about," as saith the Apostle, "in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, [tormented (of whom the world is not worthy,)] they wander in deserts, [and in mountains,] and" hide "in dens and caves of the earth," (Heb. xi. 37,) until either their appointed time come, or until more plainly God, the real Appointer of times, speaketh unto them, and chaineth up the persecutors, or manifestly giveth them over into the hands of the same, as may be His Own good pleasure.

[Lectio94]
Athanasius was Bishop of Alexandria, and a most vigorous defender of the Catholic religion. When he was still a deacon, he refuted the impiety of Arius at the Council of Nicaea, and earned such hatred from the Arians that, from that time on, they never ceased to lay snares for him. Driven into exile, he went to Treves in Gaul. He endured unbelievable hardships and wandered over a great part of the world, being often driven from his Church, and often restored by the authority of Pope Julius and the decrees of the Councils of Sardica and Jerusalem. All this while, he was persecuted by the Arians. Finally, rescued, by the help of God, from so many great dangers, he died at Alexandria during the reign of Emperor Valens. His life and death are marked by great miracles. He wrote many works, both of devotion and of catechetics, and, with great holiness, he ruled the Church of Alexandria, in those most troubled times, for forty-six years.
&teDeum