St. Athanasius Prayer Card (PC-56)

PC-56 — St. Athanasius Prayer Card

Athanasius Contra Mundum — the man who stood alone for the divinity of Christ and won

There is a phrase in Latin that has echoed through sixteen centuries of Catholic history: Athanasius contra mundum — Athanasius against the world. It was not a boast. It was a description of what actually happened — and of what was at stake.

Born around 296 in Alexandria, Egypt, Athanasius was educated in Scripture, Greek philosophy, and theology from boyhood, and came to the attention of Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, who recognized in the young deacon an intellect and a courage rare in any age. In 325, at age twenty-seven, Athanasius began his leading role against the Arians as a deacon and assistant to Bishop Alexander during the First Council of Nicaea. The question before the Council was not a minor theological technicality. It was the most fundamental question imaginable: Is Jesus Christ truly God — of the same substance as the Father — or is He a created being, exalted above all creatures but less than God? Arius said the latter. Athanasius, and the Council with him, said the former. The Nicene Creed was the result.

What came next tested whether Athanasius meant what he had argued. He became Bishop of Alexandria in 328 and spent the next forty-five years defending the Nicene faith against an Arianism that — backed by imperial power, court intrigue, and the pressure of theological fashion — at times seemed to have captured nearly the entire Church. His intermittent episcopacy spanned 45 years, of which over 17 encompassed five exiles, when he was replaced on the order of four different Roman emperors. He was sent into exile to Gaul, to Rome, to the Egyptian desert where monks hid him from imperial soldiers for six years. Each time he was exiled, he kept writing. Each time he returned, he resumed his ministry without bitterness. He outlived every emperor who had exiled him. He outlived Arianism itself.

His tireless devotion to Nicene orthodoxy was likely one of the primary reasons that Arianism did not eventually hold sway over Christian thought. He is also, remarkably, the first person to formally identify the same 27 books of the New Testament that are in use today. Gregory of Nazianzus called him the "Pillar of the Church." He is known as the Father of Orthodoxy and the Champion of Christ's Divinity. He was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius V in 1568. His feast day is May 2nd.

Perfect for: Theologians, clergy, those defending the faith, May 2nd feast day, Catholic apologetics ministry, seminarians, anyone who needs a patron for standing firm when the world pushes back.