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Saint Athanasius the Great
Archbishop of Alexandria
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Life and witness
Athanasius served as bishop of Alexandria amid fourth-century disputes over the divinity of the Son. Repeated exile marked his ministry. His On the Incarnation remains an important patristic work; read its arguments in their historical and theological context.
Historical setting
Athanasius attended the Council of Nicaea in 325 as a deacon associated with Bishop Alexander of Alexandria. The central dispute concerned whether the Son is truly divine or a creature. His later episcopal ministry repeatedly brought conflict with imperial and ecclesiastical opponents. Exile interrupted his work in Alexandria, but did not end his defense of the Nicene confession.
Legacy and remembrance
On the Incarnation explains the coming of the Word in relation to creation, human corruption, and salvation. Athanasius’s other writings also belong to the fourth-century defense of the faith. He died in 373. January 18 commemorates him together with Cyril of Alexandria; the church calendar also remembers him on May 2.
More about the life
After Alexander’s death, Athanasius succeeded him as head of the Alexandrian Church. The supplementary church biography describes repeated departures and returns, together with letters written in defense of the faith during persecution. His surviving work extends beyond arguments about the Son: the letters to Serapion discuss the Holy Spirit, and the letter to Epictetus concerns Christ’s divinity and humanity. These different recipients reveal a ministry carried on through correspondence as well as preaching, even when he could not remain with his own flock.
Quotes
A sourced selection, not a popularity ranking. Quote wording stays in the cited language; context notes are editorial.
Written work · English edition
For He was made man that we might be made God
On the Incarnation · 54.3
Context and edition
An excerpt ending before the edition’s footnote and semicolon. Athanasius describes salvation through the Incarnation. Deification means participation in God by grace, not becoming the divine essence or a rival deity.
Archibald Robertson, NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892)
Public-domain ancient text and historical English translation.
Written work · English edition
For He could not in any sense be called Creator unless He is Creator of the material of which the things created have in their turn been made.
On the Incarnation · Section 2
Context and edition
This is a theological claim about creation’s dependence on God, not a substitute for investigating physical processes.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
For God is good, or rather is essentially the source of goodness:
On the Incarnation · Section 3
Context and edition
Being created in God’s image does not mean possessing the divine essence. This is a summary of Athanasius’s argument, not a quotation.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
But repentance would, firstly, fail to guard the just claim of God.
On the Incarnation · Section 7
Context and edition
His argument does not make repentance pointless. It explains why repentance is inseparable from our need for Christ and divine grace.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
For He did not simply will to become embodied, or will merely to appear.
On the Incarnation · Section 8
Context and edition
Read Athanasius together with the Church’s later conciliar teaching that Christ has complete humanity, including a human rational soul and will.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
For by the sacrifice of His own body, He both put an end to the law which was against us, and made a new beginning of life for us, by the hope of resurrection which He has given us.
On the Incarnation · Section 10
Context and edition
Hope in resurrection is not a promise that Christians will never grieve, become ill, or die in this present life.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
For what profit to the creatures if they knew not their Maker?
On the Incarnation · Section 11
Context and edition
Knowledge here is a relationship with God, not a claim that a person can comprehend the divine essence or merely collect religious facts.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
For men are able to learn from men more directly about higher things.
On the Incarnation · Section 12
Context and edition
This does not erase Israel’s particular history or justify hostility toward Jewish people. Historical polemical language must not be turned into personal abuse.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
For as, when the likeness painted on a panel has been effaced by stains from without, he whose likeness it is must needs come once more to enable the portrait to be renewed on the same wood:
On the Incarnation · Section 14
Context and edition
The portrait is an analogy for healing and renewal, not a claim that a human person is a disposable object or that sin erases all dignity.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
For as a kind teacher who cares for His disciples, if some of them cannot profit by higher subjects, comes down to their level, and teaches them at any rate by simpler courses; so also did the Word of God.
On the Incarnation · Section 15
Context and edition
Accommodation is not deception or approval of every belief. For Christian teachers it encourages patience rather than contempt for beginners.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Written work · English edition
For not even by being in the universe does He share in its nature, but all things, on the contrary, are quickened and sustained by Him.
On the Incarnation · Section 17
Context and edition
This is not pantheism: creation is not identical with God. Christ’s human life and divine action must not be confused or separated into two persons.
NPNF, Second Series, volume 4 (1892), translated by Archibald Robertson
Public-domain ancient work and 1892 translation; new editorial summaries CC0-1.0
Readings
Selected reading
On the Incarnation, 54.3 (first sentence)
For He was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality.
English: cited historical translation. Modern Greek, Russian and Macedonian: LogosPharos translations through English, not direct translations from ancient Greek.
Editorial context
“Made God” refers to theosis by grace, not becoming God by nature or replacing the Creator. The Greek verb noted by the edition is theopoiēthōmen; the Greek, Russian and Macedonian relay translations use the established theological term for deification.
View source text
Source text and edition
For He was made man that we might be made God; and He manifested Himself by a body that we might receive the idea of the unseen Father; and He endured the insolence of men that we might inherit immortality.
Archibald Robertson, NPNF, Second Series, vol. 4 (1892), English translation of Greek. Greek, Russian and Macedonian below are relay translations from this English edition, not the ancient Greek original.
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.vii.ii.liv.html
Words recorded in the sources
Each quotation is reproduced from the cited source without changing its wording; its translation basis is stated in its source panel.
As, then, if a man should wish to see God, Who is invisible by nature and not seen at all, he may know and apprehend Him from His works: so let him who fails to see Christ with his understanding, at least apprehend Him by the works of His body, and test whether they be human works or God's works.
On the Incarnation, 54.1 (one complete sentence)
English: cited historical translation. Modern Greek, Russian and Macedonian: LogosPharos translations through English, not direct translations from ancient Greek.
View source text
Source text and edition
As, then, if a man should wish to see God, Who is invisible by nature and not seen at all, he may know and apprehend Him from His works: so let him who fails to see Christ with his understanding, at least apprehend Him by the works of His body, and test whether they be human works or God's works.
Archibald Robertson, NPNF, Second Series, vol. 4 (1892), English translation of the Greek. Greek, Russian and Macedonian below are relay translations from this English edition, not the ancient Greek original.
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204.vii.ii.liv.html
Translations and context are AI-assisted and editorially reviewed, not independently certified by a scholar. Compare the displayed source text; short selections are not complete works.
Writings and works
Checked against Eastern Orthodox sources. Written works, recorded teaching, and works about the saint are distinguished.
On the Incarnation
Written work
Attribution source: Azbyka Vera Orthodox library
Against the Heathen
Written work
Attribution source: Azbyka Vera Orthodox library
Life of Anthony
Traditional attribution
Attribution source: Azbyka Vera Orthodox library
Church life and commemoration
Work about the saint
Attribution source: Eastern Orthodox Church account
External sources may be in another language. Modern editions and translations can be copyrighted; full books are not copied here.
Miracles and testimony
These summaries distinguish Scripture, hagiographical accounts and later testimony. A source establishes that an event was reported, not independent proof of its supernatural cause. Miracles are attributed to God, not autonomous powers of saints. Reports of healing are not medical advice or a promise of recovery.
No source-checked account has been included in this section yet. This is a limit of this collection, not a claim that no miracles are associated with this person.
Research and reading notes
These are original editorial biographies, not copied source translations. Scripture, historical writing, and hagiographical tradition are distinguished in the text. This page is a study introduction, not an exhaustive critical edition or a personal spiritual rule.
The saints listed here are commemorated by Eastern Orthodox churches. These summaries and translations are independent editorial work, not official Church publications or Church-approved translations.
Church sources
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/01/18/100219-saint-athanasius-the-great-archbishop-of-alexandria
https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2026/05/02/101269-saint-athanasius-the-great-patriarch-of-alexandria