Saint John I, Pope and Martyr

Saint John I, Pope and Martyr

Pope John I was a Tuscan, who began to rule the Church in 523 ; and almost immediately it became necessary to get the help of the Emperor Justinian, because of the troubles which the heretical King Theodoric was then causing in Italy. Whereupon Pope John went to Constantinople, where he was met by the Emperor and an immense multitude of people, who had come forth with Justinian to do him honour. There, at the entering in of the golden Gate of Constantinople, it is said that is the presence of them all John gave sight to a blind man. When he had arranged his business with Justinian he returned into Italy, bidding them hallow for Catholic worship the churches of the Arians, and adding these words : We ourselves when we were at Constantinople on some matters pertaining to the Catholic religion, and others pertaining to King Theodoric , hallowed as Catholic all their Churches which we were able to find in those parts. Theodoric took this rule very ill ; and having enticed John by fraud to come to Ravenna, he cast him into prison, wherein, in a few days, died of filth and hunger, for which reason he is venerated as a Martyr. He had sat in the Chair of Peter two years, nine months, and fourteen days, within which time he had ordained fifteen bishops. A little while afterward Theodoric also died. The body of John was carried from Ravenna to Rome, and there buried in the Church of Saint Peter.

　

 

Collect:

Be merciful to the people of thy flock, O Lord thou eternal Shepherd and Bishop of the souls of men : and keep us in thy continual protection ; at the intercession of thy blessed Martyr, the Holy Father John, whom thou didst raise up in thy Church to be thine under-shepherd, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Bede the Venerable, Priest, Confessor and Doctor

Saint Bede the Venerable, Priest, Confessor and Doctor

　
Bede the Priest was born about the year 673, at Jarrow, on the borders of England and Scotland. At the age of seven, as he himself hath left on record, he was placed under the care of holy Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth, to be educated. Thereafter he became a monk, and so ordered his life that, whilst he should devote himself wholly to the study of the sciences and of doctrine, he might in nothing relax the discipline of his Order. There was no branch of learning in which he was not thoroughly versed, but his chief care was the study of the Holy Scriptures ; and that he might the better understand them he acquired a knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew tongues. When he was nineteen, as he himself hath told us, he was ordered deacon ; and at thirty by command of his Abbot he was ordained priest ; and immediately on the advice of Acea, Bishop of Hexham, undertook the work of expounding the Sacred Books. In his interpretations he so strictly adhered to the teaching of the holy Fathers that he would advance nothing which was not approved by their judgement, and had the warrant of their very words. He ever hated sloth, and by habitually passing from reading to prayer, and in turn from prater to reading, he so inflamed his soul that often amid his reading and teaching he was bathed in tears. Lest his mind should be distracted by the cares of transitory things, he never would take the office of Abbot when it was offered him. * The name of Bede soon became so famous for learning and piety that Saint Sergius the Pope thought of calling him to Rome, where, certainly, he might have helped to solve the very difficult questions which had then arisen concerning sacred things. He wrote many books for the bettering of the lives of the faithful and for the defending and extending the Faith. By those he gained everywhere such a reputation that the holy Martyr Bishop Boniface styled him the Light of the Church ; Lanfranc called him The Teacher of the English ; and the Council of Aix la Chapelle termed him The Admirable Doctor. But as his writings were publicly read in the churches during his life, and as it was not allowable to give him officially the title of Saint, they spoke of him as The Venerable, a title which in all times after hath remained peculiarly his. The power of his teaching was the greater also, in that it was attested by a holy life and the graces of religious observance. In this way, by his earnestness and example, his disciples, who were many and distinguished, were made eminent, not only in letters and in sciences, but in personal holiness. * Broken at length by age and labour, he was seized, in the year 735, by a grievous illness. Though he suffered under it for more than seven weeks. He ceased not from his prayers and his interpreting of the Scriptures ; for at that time he was turning the Gospel of blessed John into English for the use of his people. But when, on the Eve of the Ascension, he perceived that death was coming upon him, he sought to be fortified with the last Sacraments of the Church. Then his young amanuensis said to him : There remaineth yet, dear master, one sentence not written down. And when the holy man had painfully supplied the translation, and heard the scribe say that it was finished, he exclaimed : Well said, It is finished. Whereupon, after he had embraced his companions, and was laid on a piece of sackcloth on the ground, he repeated the words : Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost : and fell asleep in the Lord. His body, incorrupt, (or, as it is related, breathing sweet odour,) was buried in the monastery of Jarrow, and afterwards was translated to Durham with the relics of Saint Cuthbert.
　

Collect:

O God, who hast enlightened thy Church with the wondrous learning of blessed Bede thy Confessor and Doctor : mercifully grant to us thy servants ; that we, being in all things enlightened by his wisdom, may at all times feel the effectual succour of his righteousness, through Jesus Christ our Lord

Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop and Confessor

Saint Augustine of Canterbury, Bishop and Confessor

　
From the Ecclesiastical History by St. Bede the Venerable

Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Apostle of the English, was sent into England by blessed Gregory, and came thither in the year 597. At that time King Ethelbert held the chief power in Kent, and his sway reached even to the Humber. When this King had heard for what reason the holy man was come, he received him kindly, and bade him and his companions, who were all monks, to come to his own capital city of Canterbury ; being struck with astonishment the perfect blamelessness of their lives, and the power of the heavenly doctrine which they preached, and which God confirmed with signs following.
They drew nigh to the city in solemn procession, singing the Litany, and bearing before them for their standard a silver cross and a picture of the Lord our Saviour painted on a panel. Hard by the city, upon the east side, there was a church builded of old time in honour of Saint Martin, and wherein the Queen, who was a Christian, was used to pray. There they first began to meet together, to sing, to pray, to celebrate Masses, to preach and to baptize, until the King was turned to the Faith, and the most part of his people was led by his example, but not his authority, to take the name of Christian ; for he had learned from his teachers and his own soul’s physicians, that men are to be drawn, and not driven to heaven. And now, Augustine, being ordained Archbishop of the English and of Britain, lest he should leave unraveled any part of the Lord’s vineyard, asked from the Apostolic See a new band of labourers, among whom were Mellitus, Justus, Paulinus, and Rufinian.
By them Gregory sent hallowed vessels, altar-cloths, church vestments, and also relicks of the holy Apostles and Martyrs. He instructed them to turn the temples of the idols into places of Christian worship, by sprinkling them with hallowed water, building altars in them, and putting relicks therein. The Britons who, nearly an hundred and fifty years before, had been thrust into the uttermost part of the island, had some bishops, whom Augustine vehemently urged to lay aside their error concerning the keeping of Easter, and to labour along with him for the conversion of the English, but they left it all to him. He toiled much for the saving of souls. He was illustrious for his life. He made Mellitus Bishop of London and Justus Bishop of Rochester, and named Lawrence to succeed himself at Canterbury, and then finished his work in peace, and passed away to that life which is perfect blessedness, upon May 26^th, in the year of our Lord 604, in the reign of Ethelbert.

Collect:

O God, who by the preaching and miracles of blessed Augustine thy Confessor and Bishop, hast caused the light of the true Faith to shine forth among the peoples of England: grant that by his intercession the hearts of them that are gone astray may return to the unity of thy truth ; and that we may dwell together in peace according to thy will, through Jesus

Saint Aldhelm, Bishop & Confessor

Saint Aldhelm, Bishop & Confessor

Saint Aldhelm

　
Aldhelm, who was a Saxon of royal blood, took the habit of a monk in the Monastery at Malmesbury. But he resorted again and again to Canterbury to sit at the feet of the Abbot Hadrian, and so advanced under his instruction, that not only himself became famous as a teacher, but was also the first Englishman who ventured on a publishing books. According to the testimony of Bede, he was a man of wide and varied learning, a brilliant speaker, and wonderfully well read both in ecclesiastical and worldly writers. * He read often, and prayed constantly, so that , to use his own expression, whilst he read, he seemed to hear God speaking to him, and whilst he prayed, himself did speak to God there present. He was indifferent to hunger, and careless about money. Further, he as far as possible remained inside his monastery, where he proclaimed an unceasing war against idleness and desire. However, when a Church Synod had discussed the corrupt doctrines of the British Christians, and had come to the unanimous conclusion that it was better to lead schismatics by reason than to drive them by force, Aldhelm took upon himself the task of confuting their errors. This he did by writing a book, which was the means of leading back many of the wanderers into the bosom of the Universal Church. * After the death of Saint Hedda, Bishop among the West-Saxons, Aldhelm was induced, against his own wishes, to accept the See of Sherborne. When he entered on this duty, he already felt that the end of his life was near, and, to make the best of what time remained, he preached day and night, visited about his diocese, and practiced fasting, and the like, as much as in the prime of his life. He died four years after his consecration as bishop, in the year of our Lord’s Incarnation 709, and was buried in the Church of Saint Michael the Archangel at Malmesbury.
　

Collect:

O god, who as on this day didst exalt thy blessed Bishop Saint Aldhelm to everlasting felicity : we pray thee, that by his merits and intercession, thy mercy may bring us unto that place whither he is gone before, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
　

Saint Vincent of Lerins, Confessor, (May 24)

Saint Vincent of Lerins, Confessor

　
This Vincent, whom the ancients describe as a man pre-eminent in eloquence and learning, was a priest in the island-monastery once called Lerins, but now known as Saint Honorat, after its holy founder. About the year 434 he wrote a celebrated treatise as a warning against heresies, and an examination in the means of establishing Christian truth. Therein he laid down a rule of faith which is sometimes called the Vincentian Canon, to wit : the Catholic Faith is that which hath been held always, everywhere, and by all : which is to say, that doubtful points are to be settled by the test of antiquity, universality, and consent. In this little book he describes himself as a stranger and pilgrim who fled from the military service of this world, with its passing pleasures and empty vanities, that he might enter the service of Christ. He is believed to have been a brother of that Saint Lupus who was also a monk at Lerins, and afterwards became Bishop of Troyes ; and about the year 445, he went to God in peace.

Collect:

O God, who didst raise up thy blessed confessor Vincent to proclaim the rule of faith : grant that all thy people may stedfastly witness to the fulness of the truth ; that the same may be received everywhere, always, and by all, even as thou hast taught us through thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
　

Saint Urban I, Pope and Martyr

Saint Urban I, Pope and Martyr

Mosaic of St. Peter

Urban I was Pope from 222 to 230, during which time the Church had surcease from the bitter persecutions of the times immediately before and afterwards. Concerning him very little is known, except that from his death he was revered as a Saint, and afterwards given the title of Martyr. Tradition saith that he was a Roman, who in the reign of the Emperor Alexander Severus, by his teaching and holy life, brought many to believe in Christ. To him is ascribed the authorship of this ancient rule : Those things which the Lord’s faithful ones make as an offering unto him, must never be turned to any other use than that of the Church, or of our Christian brethren, or of the poor ; for such things are the free-will offerings of faithful believers, the trespass-offerings of sinners, and the inheritance of the poor. He is said to have held five ordinations in December, wherein he ordained nine Priests, five Deacons, and eight Bishops for divers places, and to have been buried on May 25^th in one of the catacombs of Rome, probably in that of Saint Callistus where his burial inscription hath been found.
　

Collect:

O God, who didst lay the foundations of thy Church upon the solid rock of the apostolic confession, whereby it was made secure against the fearsome gates of hell : grant unto us , we beseech thee, at the intercession of thy blessed Martyr, the Holy Father Urban, so to stand fast in thy truth, that in this thine house of defence, which thou hast set very high, we may ever abide in continual safety, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Venantius, Martyr

Saint Venantius, Martyr

　
The Book of the Acts of St. Venantius relateth that at the age of seventeen he came before the judge to pmartyred with him are believed to be buried under Church of Saint Venantius at Camerino, Italy.rofess himself a Christian. Whereupon he was scourged, seared with torches, and his teeth knocked out and his jaws broken, and then he was cast to the lions. But when they refused to touch his mangled body, he was thrown off a cliff, and finally beheaded. And because of his constancy under sufferings for his Master Christ, many were converted. And thus he hath come to be invoked by boys and young men in temptation. He and others martyred with him are believed to be buried under Church of Saint Venantius at Camerino, Italy.
 

Hymn.

 O Noble champion of the Lord,
No fear of death could hinder thee!
Thy youthful zeal doth thee afford,
Full armour ‘gainst idolatry!

They stripped thy naked body bear,
And bound with thongs thy hands and feet,
So thorns and rocks thy flesh could tear
When thou wast flung a-down the steep.

When, spent with toil, the savage crew,
Grew faint and weak from burning thirst,
Then thou didst sign the Cross, and lo!
From out the rock the waters burst.

O Christ’s brave warrior-youth who thus,
Thy persecutors could forgive,
Obtain the dew of grace for us,
That our faint spirits too may live.

We praise thee, three-fold Unity,
The Three in One and One in Three,
And beg, by grace of charity,
To share this Martyr’s sanctity. Amen. 

Collect:

O God, who hast consecrated this day with the triumph of thy blessed Martyr Venantius : mercifully hear the prayers of thy people ; and grant that we who venerate his righteousness, may imitate the constancy of his faith in thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Brendan, Abbot

Saint Brendan, Abbot

　
Brendan is reputed to have been a disciple of Saint Finian of Ireland, and later of Saint Gildas of Brittany. And he himself had for one of his disciples that holy man who is known in England as Machutus, and in France as Malo. Blessed Brendan founded several schools and monasteries, and wrote a monastic Rule which was remarkable for its austerity. * He was known in olden times as Brendan the Voyager because of a voyage which he is said to have made to the Land of Promise beyond the setting of the sun in the Western Sea. ; which legend (celebrated by the minstrels of olden times in all the European languages as one of the greatest adventures of all ages) is interpreted by some to mean that he planted a colony of monks in the Americas. * This story doubtless encouraged Christopher Columbus and others in their efforts at discoveries in the new world, most of the earliest of which had, among less noble purposes, the making over the seas of a way for Christ’s Gospel. Brendan died at the age of ninety-four, about the year 580, and is reverenced as one of the most distinguished monks and missionaries of Ireland.

Collect:

Grant, we beseech thee, O Lord, that the prayers of thy holy Abbot, blessed Brendan, may commend us unto thee: the we, who have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, may by his advocacy find favour in thy sight, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Boniface, Martyr

Saint Boniface, Martyr
　
This Boniface is believed to have been martyred about the year 306. The Book of his Acts was written at a much later date, perhaps after the ninth century, and the following summary is taken from it, as being the best known account of him, although it cannot be authenticated from historical records. Boniface was a Roman citizen, the steward of the noble lady Aglae, with whom he had lived a life of sin. The memory of this transgression overwhelmed him with exceeding sorrow, so that for penance he gave himself up to travel about and bury the bodies of the Martyrs. Whilst he was at Tarsus, and apart from his fellow-travellers, he saw a great many persons being in divers ways tormented, because they had confessed to a belief in Christ. Whereupon he kissed their chains, and vehemently exhorted them bravely to bear their suffering, seeing that this same affliction, which was but for a moment, was working for them an exceeding, even an eternal, weight of glory. For this cause Boniface was arrested, and his flesh torn with iron claws. Sharp reeds also were driven into the quick under his finger nails, and bits of molten lead poured into his mouth. And in his agony he was heard only to say I thank thee, O Lord Jesu Christ, Son of God! And after other tortures, he was beheaded. The fellow-travellers of Boniface sought him the next day, and when they had learnt that he had undergone martyrdom, they bought his body for fifty shillings ; and after that they had embalmed it with spices, and wrapped it in linen, they carried it to Rome. The Lady Aglae, who had with great contrition given up herself to a life of godly works, went forth to meet the holy body of Boniface, wherein these relicks were buried, namely, on the fifth day of June next after that fourteenth day of May whereon he had been martyred at Tarsus in Cilicia.

Collect:

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we who keep the feast of thy blessed Martyr Boniface; may by his intercession find succour in thy sight, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

Ss. Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras, Martyrs

Ss. Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla, and Pancras, Martyrs

　
Nereus and Achilleus, who were martyred late in the first century, have been venerated from the earliest times. For them holy Damasus wrote an inscription on this wise: The Martyrs Nereus and Achilleus had enrolled themselves in the army, and exercised the cruel office of carrying out the orders of the tyrant ; when ( O miracle of faith!) suddenly they threw away their bloodstained weapons, and rejoiced to give testimony to the Faith of Christ. * Tradition saith that they were eunuchs of Flavia Domitilla, whom they converted to Christ, and whose banishment they shared, which (according to Saint Jerome) was one long martyrdom of hardship and torture ; and finally they were beheaded, whilst Domitilla was burnt to death. And the Gospel at the Mass of this feast, in its story of the ruler whose entire household accepted Christ, is intended as an allusion to the spread of Christian Faith in the household of the imperial family of the Flavi. * Of Pancras, whose martyrdom is celebrated today, his story saith that he was a Phrygian orphan who was brought by his uncle to Rome, where they both were converted to Christ, and where the boy Pancras, who was only in his 14^th year, was beheaded for his Master, probably about the year 304 under Diocletian. Saint Augustine dedicated to him the first Church he built at Canterbury, and thereafter veneration for him spread on all sides in England. Saint Gregory of Tours entitled him the Avenger-of Perjury, because God was believed to punish false oaths made in the presence of his relicks.

Collect:

Grant, O Lord, that this holy festival of thy blessed Martyrs, Nereus, Achilleus, Domitilla and Pancras, may ever assist us in thy service: and that we may thereby be rendered worthy to walk after thy commandments, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Cyril, Methodius & Turf Wars

A Timely reminder for those of us who indulge in inter or intra-jurisdictional controversies.
Touchstone Magazine - Mere Comments: Cyril, Methodius & Turf Wars

St. Gregory Nazianzus, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor

St. Gregory Nazianzus, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor

　
This Gregory, who is one of the first four Eastern Doctors of the Church, was born about the year 325 in Cappadocia, of a remarkable Christian family. For his father Gregory the Elder, and his mother Nonna, and his brother Caesarius, who became a physician at the imperial court of Constantinople, are all revered in the Eastern Liturgy as Saints. Saint Gregory the Elder was a wealthy magistrate when he was converted to Christianity, and thereafter he was ordained to the priesthood, and finally became Bishop of Nazianzus, which See he ruled for forty-five years, being assisted therein, during the latter years of his life, by his holy son Gregory. To both Caesarius and Gregory he had given the best education available ; and Gregory used it to such purpose that, because of his extraordinary depth of sacred learning, he was afterwards given the honour (which he shareth with the Apostle John) of being called The Divine (that is, The Theologian).

His education was acquired chiefly at Athens, where he became the intimate friend of his fellow-student Saint Basil, with whom likewise, when they had acquired knowledge in divers branches of earthly learning, he gave himself up to learn the things of God. This they did for some years in a monastery, framing their opinions, not out of their own heads, but according to the interpretation arrived at by the wisdom and decision of the ancients ; at which time Gregory assisted Basil to write the famous monastic Rule which the Basilian monks follow. They were both distinguished by power of doctrine and holiness of life ; they were both called to the duty of preaching the Gospel of truth ; and through the gospel they both begat many sons unto Christ. Gregory after a while returned home. He was first made Bishop of Sasima, and afterwards administered the Church at Nazianzus. Then he was called to rule the church of Constantinople. That city, which he found reeking with heresy, he purged, and brought again to the Orthodox Faith. But this, which deserved for him the warmest love of all men, raised up many enemies.

Among the bishops themselves there was a great party against him, and to still their contentions, he, of his own free will gave up his See, saying with the Prophet Jonah : Take me up, and cast me forth ; for I know that for my sake this tempest is upon you. So he went his way back again to Nazianzus, and when he had seen that Eulalius was set over that Church, he gave himself up altogether to think and write concerning the things of God. He wrote much, both in prose and verse, and that with wonderful godliness and eloquence. According to the judgement of learned and holy men, there is nothing in his writings which doth anywhere stray from the line of true godliness and Orthodox truth, and not a single word which any one can justly call in doubt. He was a most vigorous champion of the doctrine of that the Son is of one substance with the Father. During the reign of the Emperor Theodosius he dwelt in the country after the manner of a monk, unceasingly taken up with writing, study, and prayer until in the year 390 or thereabouts, being then in a good old age, he laid down his earthly, to enter on an heavenly life. He is reckoned one of the three Cappadocians (as he and Basil, and Basil’s blood-brother Saint Gregory of Nyssa are jointly called), and by the Eastern Church is named one of the three Holy Hierarchs, which same are himself and Saints Basil and John Chrysostom.
　

Collect:

O God, by whose providence blessed Gregory Nazianzus was sent to guide thy people in the way of everlasting salvation : grant we beseech thee, that as we have learned of him the doctrine of life on earth, so we may be found worthy to have him for our advocate in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Saint Monica, Widow, mother of Saint Augustine of Hippo

Saint Monica, Widow

　
Monica was an example of Christian motherhood, wifely forbearance, and holy widowhood. She was doubly the mother of Saint Augustine, for she not only brought him forth to bodily life, but also travailed in penance and prayer for twenty years for his spiritual birth unto eternal life. She was born in 333, probably at Tagaste, sixty miles from Carthage, of Christian parents, by whom she was given in marriage to a pagan, Patricius by name, who was a violent and dissolute man. Him she finally won to Christianity, and also her mother-in-law, who lived with them, and had often added much to her difficulties. Augustine, the first-born son, was a brilliant but wayward lad, who after his father’s death, although he had been admitted a as a catechumen, began to live a most immoral, life, and then embraced the Manichaean heresy. For him she stormed heaven with her prayers ; she fasted ; she watched and waited ; and when she grew discouraged a bishop told her : It is not possible that the son of so many prayers and tears should perish. * She followed him from Carthage to Rome, and thence to Milan, where they both came under the influence of Saint Ambrose, and where Augustine was converted and baptized. Meanwhile she had always given herself to prayer and good works, specially to ministrations to Christians who were suffering for the Faith. After a life of manifest holiness, in 387, which was the year of Augustine’s Baptism, she passed to god at Ostia, Italy, whither she had gone with her two sons Navigius and Augustine, and Augustine’s son Deodatus, thinking to return to Africa. To them she said : Let your mother lie here ; only remember me at the altar. Hence she was there buried, but long afterwards he holy body was translated to the Church of Saint Augustine in Rome. * Of her Augustine wrote : We did not think that hers was a death which it was seemly to mark with repining, or tears, or lamentations, because we knew what her life had been, her faith unfeigned, her sure and certain hope. And then, nevertheless, I remembered again what thine handmaid was used to be, her walk with thee, how godly and holy it was, and with us so gentle and long-suffering ; and that it was all gone away from me now. And I wept over her and for her. And if any man will make it blame for me, I pray him not to sneer at me, but rather (if his charity be so great) himself to weep over my sins before thee, who art a Father to all them to whom thy Christ is a Brother.

Collect:

O God, the comforter of them that mourn, and the hope of them that put their trust in thee, who didst favorably accept the tears of blessed Monica for the conversation of Augustine her son: grant, we pray thee, that at the intercession of these thy servants, we may so bewail the sins that we have committed, that we may be worthy to obtain the abundant pardon of thy grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor

Saint Athanasius, Bishop, Confessor & Doctor

　
ATHANASIUS (whose name signifieth immortal) was the man whom God the Holy Ghost chiefly used, next after the Apostles themselves, to convey and secure unto future generations the truth which Jesus Christ had revealed concerning his own divine person. Because of the immense opposition which he withstood there arose the saying : Athanasius contra mundum - Athanasius against the world : whereby he won for himself the title of Champion of the Faith ; and hence he is justly numbered among the first four Eastern Doctors. He was born of Christian parents about the year 297 at Alexandria. Concerning his boyhood, Rufinus saith that the Patriarch Alexander of Alexandria once happened to observe him, and some other lads, playing at Church ceremonies with such dignity and devotion that he took them all to be educated for the priesthood. For the writings of Athanasius it is evident that he was well versed in both the secular and the sacred studies of his time ; and that he was acquainted with the hermits of the Thebaid, and with Saint Anthony the Great in particular, of whom he saith : I was his disciple. For some six years he served the Church in the office of lector, and at about the age of twenty-one was ordered deacon, and became the secretary of the said Alexander, whom he accompanied to the Council of Nicaea in 325. About this time he wrote his Treatise against the Gentiles, wherein he carefully set forth the true and Catholic doctrine of the incarnation and of the Trinity. This and his several later writings were controversial in purpose, but they also manifest how profound and loving was his spiritual insight, albeit he had keen wit and a tongue which could be sharp as a sword. Shortly after the Council of Nicaea, Alexander died and Athanasius became Patriarch in his stead, and at once undertook a visitation of his vast diocese, which included the Thebaid, where he was welcomed by the holy ascetics as one of themselves, who afterwards strongly supported his defence of orthodoxy. At this time Athanasius appointed a Bishop of Ethiopia, which far country was also under his jurisdiction.
In spite of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, many of those who were wise in their own conceits refused to receive the Nicene decrees and, under the leadership of the archheretick Arius, continued to deny that Christ was divine except in a figurative sense, whereby they speciously accepted Christianity in the letter, but overthrew all that was of its spirit. Against these men, many of whom were learned, or highly placed in the Church, Athanasius gave battle all the rest of his life. During the more than forty years of his episcopate he was exiled five times, and was persecuted city to city, spending thus a total of seventeen years in hardship or suffering away from his See. For it was his lot, as a prince of the Church, to oppose the princes of this world, including even the Emperors themselves, who used all the means of their wealth and power to silence his voice which was sounding throughout the world. Various assemblages were convened to hear his case, by some of which he was unjustly but publicly condemned. At Arles in 353 the Emperor Constantius succeeded in inducing certain timorous bishops to condemn him again ; and thereafter a number of friendly prelates were also exiled, including Pope Libertius, who was so broken by persecution that even he temporarily acquiesced in the aforesaid censure.

V
　ARIOUS stories are told of the hatred by which the Arians ever honoured him, such as the following. In 335 there had been called together an assemblage at Tyre, composed largely of Arian bishops, where they suborned a wretched woman to charge Athanasius with having raped her. Whereupon a certain priest arose, as though he were Athanasius, and asked her, saying : Woman, was it I that was thy guest, and thus mistreated thee? And she cried out indignantly under oath : Yea, thou it was. Upon discovery of her perjury, they were obliged to drive the shameless woman from their presence, but nevertheless they slacked none of their efforts to blacken his name. For they also accused him of having murdered the Bishop Arsenius ; and it is said that they introduced as evidence a dead man's hand, which they declared had been his, and had been cut off by Athanasius to use in sorcery. But Arsenius, whom they had kidnapped, made his escape and appeared before all the Council whole and sound ; whereupon they attributed this appearance to black magic on the part of Athanasius, and persisted still in their attack on him. Never did the vindictiveness of the Arians leave him alone, so that he was sent wandering all about the Roman world. In his third exile it is said that he was obliged to hide for five years in a dry cistern, unknown to all men, save one of his friends who brought him food. In his fourth exile a band of soldiers was sent to kill him. As he fled up the Nile, their boat pressed hard upon his, whereupon he had his own boat turned around, to go down stream to meet them. When the vessels passed one another the murderers called out to ask where Athanasius was, and the servant of God himself cried to them in answer : Ye are close to him ; row hard : whereupon they redoubled their exertions to ascend the stream, while Athanasius went peacefully down to Alexandria, and found concealment. In his fifth exile he is believed to have hidden himself for four months in his own father's sepulchre. From such many and great dangers did God deliver him, and at last he died in his own bed at Alexandria, upon May 2nd, 373, in the reign of Valens. He wrote much that is both godly and luminous in explaining the Catholic Faith, and governed the Church of Alexandria in great holiness amid all changes of weather, for well over forty years.

A Homily by St. Athanasius the Bishop
Apologia de fuga sua, ante medium
It is written in the Law : Ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you. Into such cities, they which were pursued by a slayer might enter and be safe. And in the latter days, when that same Word of the Father, who aforetime had spoken unto Moses, was come amongst us, he gave again the same commandment in these words : When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another. And another time he added : When ye shall see the abomination of desolation (spoken of by Daniel the Prophet) stand in the Holy Place (whose readeth, let him understand,) then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains ; let him which is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house ; neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
The saints, knowing these words of the Lord, have obeyed them in their lives. For what the Lord hath thus commanded by his own mouth was the same as he had spoken through his Saints before his coming in the flesh ; and to obey this commandment worketh in a man perfection, since whatever God commandeth is a thing which it behoveth man to do. For this cause, that very Word of God himself, after he was made man for our sake, thought it meet when they sought him, even as at this present time they are seeking us, to hide himself ; to fly and escape from their laying in wait for him ; although when that time was come which he had himself decreed, and wherein he willed to suffer in the body for us all, he willingly gave himself up to his enemies.
Holy men of God, therefore, having learnt from this ensample of their Saviour, (for the same is and hath been the Teacher of all such, whether of old time, or in these latter days,) have known how that it is lawful to baffle their persecutors by taking flight, and by hiding themselves when sought after. For since they know not the day nor the hour wherein an all-seeing God hath ordained their end, they do not daringly give themselves into the power of such as hate them. But rather, knowing it to be written : My time is in thy hand : and again : The Lord killeth, and maketh alive : they endure to the end, as saith the Evangelist. Yea, they wander about, as saith the Apostle, in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented, of whom the world is not worthy ; they wander in deserts, and in mountains, and hide in dens and caves of the earth, until either their appointed time is come, or until God, the Appointer of times, more plainly speaketh unto them, and chaineth up the persecutors, or manifestly giveth them over into the hands of the same, as may be his own good pleasure.

Collect:

Grant us grace, we beseech thee, Almighty God: that we may believe in our hearts, and confess with our lips, the true faith in thy Consubstantial Word ; like unto that which thy blessed Bishop Athanasius maintained with so marvelous a stedfastness, and amid such innumerable labours and persecutions, through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.