Memorial of Saint Athanasius, bishop and Doctor of the Church
(Acts 6:8-15; John 6:22-29)
Jesus tells the crowd that meets him in Capernaum to believe
in the one God sent. He means himself,
of course. He wants all people to accept
him not only as God’s messenger, but as God’s only begotten Son. St. Athanasius suffered multiple indignities
proclaiming this truth.
The reigning theological issue in the fourth century when
Athanasius lived was Jesus’ divinity. Arians,
the followers of the theologian Arius, believed that Jesus was not quite God. To them, Jesus was distinguishable from the
Father in grandeur and scope. Athanasius
as well as anyone championed the contrary, orthodox position. He taught that Jesus Christ shares the same
nature as the Father such that the two differ only in their respective
relations. God is Father and Jesus is
Son. This teaching is also known as the Nicene
position.
Athanasius was exiled five times for defending Christ’s
equality with the Father. We should be
as persistent in our defense of Church teachings. More than that, we should contemplate on what
it means for us that Jesus Christ, who also shared our human nature, was really
God. What does it mean that his unconditional
love has created and sustained the universe?
