Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The general audience on Wednesday 20 June was held in two parts, first in St Peter's and then in the Paul VI Audience Hall. In his address to the visitors in St Peter's Pope Benedict XVI said: “may the visit to the tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul strengthen your faith in Christ and your unity with the Church, born of their witness of life and their martyrdom”. In his series of catechesis on the Apostolic Fathers, the Holy Father said Saint Athanasius of Alexandria “was a main character of Christian tradition… celebrated as the "pillar of the Church"… always considered an example of orthodoxy, in the East and in the West ”.
“Athanasius was without a doubt one of the most important and venerated Fathers of the early Church- the Pope continued -. But above all this great saint was an enthusiastic theologian of the incarnation of the Logos, the Word of God... For this reason Athanasius was also the most important and tenacious adversary of the Arian heresy, which at that time threatened the faith in Christ, reduced to a creature "media" between God and man, according to a recurrent tendency in history and which we see even today in various modes”. Athanasius was probably born in Alexandria of Egypt around the year 300, he was given a good education before becoming deacon and secretary to the Bishop of the Egyptian city of Alexandria. With the Bishop he attended the Council of Nicea, convoked by Emperor Constantine in May 325, which treated various questions and mainly the grave problem of the Arian heresy. The Bishops replied by setting into writing the "Symbol of the faith" which, completed later by the 1st Council of Constantinople, remains in the tradition of the different Christian confessions and in the liturgy as the “Creed of Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed”. In this fundamental text, expression of the faith of the undivided Church which we still recite today every Sunday in the Celebration of the Eucharist, it is stated that “the Son the logos, is ‘of one being with the Father, God from God, and this highlights the full divinity of the Son which was denied by the Arian heresy”.
In 328 Athanasius became Bishop Alexandria, and immediately set himself to reject any compromise with the Arian theories condemned by the Council of Nicea. “His intransigence - the Pope recalled -, tenacious and sometimes very hard, although necessary, against those who had opposed is election as bishop and above all against the adversaries of the Nicene Symbol, drew implacable hostility of the Arians and pro-Arians. Despite the unequivocal outcome of the Council, which had clearly affirmed that the Son is of the same being of the Father, gradually these mistaken ideas began again to prevail… and were supported for political reasons by the emperor Constantine and later by his son Constanzo II”. The Arian crisis continued for decades with difficult episodes and painful divisions in the Church. No less than five times Athanasius was forced to leave his city and he spent seventeen years in exile and suffering for the faith. When he finally returned to his See, the Bishop of Alexandria was able to devote himself to religious peace-making and reorganisation of the Christian communities. He died on 2 May 373.
The most famous doctrinal work by Saint Athanasius is his treaty “On the Incarnation of the Word”: “The fundamental idea of the theological logic of Saint Athanasius - the Pope explained - was that God is accessible. He is no secondary God, he is a true God, and through our communion with Christ we can truly unite ourselves with God. He became truly "God with us".” Other extant works include a series of letters, some meditative texts on the Psalms and above all the “Life of Anthony”, the biography of Saint Anthony Abbot, written shortly after the death of saint Anthony “who greatly contributed to the diffusion of monasticism in the East and in the West”.
After greeting people in different languages the Pope made an appeal: “Today is World Refugee Day, promoted by the United Nations to keep public attention on all those people who are forced to flee from their countries because their lives are in real danger. For everyone it is a dutiful act of human solidarity to accept refugees and offer them hospitality so they will not feel isolated because of intolerance and disinterest. For Christians it is also a concrete way of demonstrating the love taught by the Gospel. I sincerely hope these sorely tried brothers and sisters will be guaranteed asylum and recognition of their rights and I call on the leaders of the nations to offer protection to those in such delicate situations of need ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 21/6/2007 - righe 52, parole 755)
