Lesson 8

Lesson 8

St. Athanasius the Great

Multiple Choice

Where was St. Athanasius born?

• Alexandria

• Constantinople

• Damascus

About

• Saint Athanasius of Alexandria attended the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in AD 325

• He is one of the most beloved figures in the entire history of the Church

• Became bishop at the age of 28

• Guided the Church for 47 years, and during this time endured persecution and grief mainly from the Arians

• Saint Athanasius at one point was the only Orthodox Bishop in the area

• Continued to defend our faith and wrote countless letters and books defending the Orthodox faith

Multiple Choice

Which Ecumenical Council concluded the teachings of Arius were heresy?

• Council of Constantinople

• Council of Nicaea

• Council of Ephesus

Arianism

• Arians view Jesus as separate from the Father, and therefore, lesser than the Father

• Arians therefore don't believe in the same trinity that we do and challenge the traditional beliefs

• Arius sees Jesus, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit as 3 different beings

On the Incarnation Ch. 1

• Written before he was a priest of deacon

• the Fall of Man

• Man was created to live eternally in the Paradise of Delight with one rule, do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil

• Consequence was death

Ch. 2: The Divine Dilemma

• Adam and Eve bore the consequence of death

• Christ was sent to resolve the "divine dilemma"

• But why couldn't Adam and Eve repent?

• God needed to 'recreate' our nature, which was first fashioned on Christ, and so Christ has to fashion us after His image again

• Christ assumed a body capable of death so that He could die and be a 'sufficient exchange for all'

• This is the notion of theosis

• God binds humanity to Himself

• God enters into His very creature, and by entering in, restores and builds up, offering grace within the person, rather than without