AFANASY (Athanasios)

Athanasius, Saint.; Athanasios, of Alexandria, ca. 295-373 years. n. e., Latin Christian writer. Alexandria received a classical education. His character is formed persecution of Diocletian. Stay in the Egyptian desert in the just Anthony, and above all theological disputes in the IV. among whom he was a "pillar of the Church". In 325 g. on the Council of Nicea insisted on rejecting the theological views of Arius, in 328 g. was elected bishop of Alexandria.

Tirelessly against Arians is the main subject of his church and political activities, punctuated by five-time exile emperors, to a greater or lesser extent, followers of Arius. A Literary Heritage. gives a rhetorical education of the author, his admirable concern for clarity and precision of argument, there is no shortage, however, and deviations, repetitions, contradictions. Historians divide the patristic literature of his works in 5 groups. To the former belong dogmatic apologetic works: Sermon on the implementation of speech, speech against the Greeks. In both of these speeches, written in 318-320 years. He defends the teaching of the Church, attacking the religious beliefs of Jews and the philosophy of the Greek Neoplatonists. The other group consists of the polemical works, including 4 of speech against the Arians 335 or 336 years. (fourth, probably not true), 4 letters to Serapion 356-362 years. as well as a large number of messages to different recipients.

These works are very accurate and detailed analysis of biblical texts. The third group consists of historical and theological works: Apology against the Arians (350) describes the abuse of the Arians in 340-350 years.; In Defense of flight (357) explains the reasons for flight A. from Alexandria in 356, there are also many letters to the bishops of Egypt and the Egyptian monks. These letters contain the history of the Arians 335-357 gg. To this group we are among an essay that has had a significant impact on the ascetic literature, especially the Middle Ages: The life and deeds of our father Anthony (c.. 357). This work is in the second half of IV. was twice translated into Latin. Struggling with the Arians, A. also finds time to comment of Scripture, particularly the Psalms. The latter group - the moral and ascetic works: On virginity, letters to Drakontiyu, coach of the Egyptian monks, the monk Ammoun. Beyond this fragmentary preserved Easter letter to the Egyptian bishops. In them, among other things, we find the date of the celebration of Easter. Works A., different both in its content, and on the literary form, almost all are polemic. A. to pick up a pen to throw down opponents. Although born and raised a. was a Greek, in his works a sense of mistrust to the Greek culture and especially to the philosophy. Among the works attributed to Alexander, many are not genuine.