Church Fathers · Greek · Alexandria
Athanasius of Alexandria
A bishop and writer whose long defense of Nicaea shaped the fourth-century debate about the Son's relation to the Father.
Start reading
Read De Decretis in full and a separate extract from Festal Letter 39 on the books of Scripture. The extract is not the complete letter. Sections 8–10 of On the Incarnation are also included as a separate reading. Eusebius’s accompanying letter is available as another author’s testimony.
- De Decretis or Defence of the Nicene Definition — Complete work · historical English
- From Festal Letter 39, complete edition-defined extract and notes — Extract from a letter · historical English
- On the Incarnation, sections 8–10 — Three sections only · historical English
The reader holds the works linked above; other titles below lead to further reading elsewhere.
Also known as Athanasius the Great; Greek: Ἀθανάσιος. Born approximately 295–300; died 2 May 373. The approximate birth date reflects the different dates in the CPG guide and Benedict XVI's historical overview, not a precisely established birthday. Bishop of Alexandria from 328, with repeated periods of exile. [1] [2]
Life and historical setting
Athanasius came from Greek-speaking Alexandria in Egypt. As Bishop Alexander’s deacon and secretary he accompanied him to Nicaea in 325, then succeeded him as bishop in 328. His defense of the Nicene confession was closely bound to disputes over episcopal authority in Alexandria. Benedict XVI’s 2007 audience recounts his repeated exiles and return to his see. It offers a Catholic teaching account of this history; disputed events still require critical biographical study. [1]
The expression homoousios, conventionally translated “of one substance” or “consubstantial,” became central to this conflict. Nicaea was not the immediate end of the controversy. Athanasius spent much of his subsequent career explaining and defending the council's wording, while ecclesiastical and imperial alliances changed around him. Treating everyone who opposed him as holding one identical doctrine would flatten those disputes. A careful reader should distinguish the arguments of this particular author from the separate positions and changing alliances of other fourth-century writers. [1] [3]
His connection with Egyptian monasticism matters alongside his episcopal role. The Life of Antony presents the ascetic Antony as an exemplary Christian and helped circulate that ideal beyond Egypt. Benedict's discussion of the work concerns its influence and spiritual interpretation. The work's theological and hagiographical purposes must remain distinct from independent historical confirmation of each narrated episode. Athanasius also wrote letters, doctrinal treatises and defenses associated with his conflicts. The diversity of those genres is one reason that a single included treatise cannot stand for his whole literary output. [1]
Reception and authority
Benedict XVI’s account and the OCA commemoration show Athanasius’s continuing recognition as a saint and major Church Father in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. Such reception helps explain his influence. The authority of a particular claim still depends on its text, genre, translation and ecclesial reception; recognition of the author alone cannot settle those questions. [1] [4]
Major writings and further reading
The CPG guide separates its main Athanasius entries from doubtful and spurious attributions. That distinction is useful when following a familiar name across a large transmitted collection. [2]
Edition notes
The guide gives ranges 2090–2165 for main entries, 2171–2220 for doubtful works and 2230–2309 for spurious works. These ranges are catalogue locators, not work totals. Individual numbers have not been inferred solely from their position in a range.
Catalogue and edition notes
Compare the sustained defense in De Decretis with the Scripture list in the Festal Letter 39 extract and the account of the Word’s saving work in On the Incarnation §§8–10. Eusebius’s accompanying letter offers another author’s account of the Nicene confession. [2]
Read here
Follow Athanasius’s defense of the Nicene wording from §19, then explore the complete historical English text, §§1–32, with its notes. De Decretis or Defence of the Nicene Definition: begin at §19. Read its headings and polemical language in the setting of this older edition. [3]
Edition notes
The text follows the 1892 NPNF edition. Generated local lines provide navigation alongside the edition’s section numbers. This is a historical English translation rather than a new translation or a critical Greek text; it represents one work, not Athanasius’s complete writings.
The modern Athanasius Werke table offers a critical-edition reference for De decretis. Its numbering continues through 42.3, whereas the 1892 English text uses §§1–32. A reader comparing the editions needs to account for that difference. [5]
Edition notes
The table locates the work in Band II, fascicles 1–2 (1935), pp. 1–45. The two numbering systems have not been collated here. The reference supplies neither a local copy of the modern text and apparatus nor reproduction permission.
Eusebius of Caesarea, Letter to his Diocese: begin at its opening gives Eusebius’s own account of his assent. Read it alongside Athanasius as another author’s testimony. It is retained separately as the historical appendix associated with De Decretis, with its own description and numbering. [3]
Edition notes
The appendix is not counted as a second work of Athanasius or a separate published author profile.
Other works and further reading
- On the Incarnation, The Life of Antony, the letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit, and the Festal Letters are discussed in Benedict's overview. Only sections 8–10 of On the Incarnation and an extract from Festal Letter 39 are hosted here; the complete works named in this list remain further reading. Their mention does not establish complete survival in every language. [1]
- Orations I–III against the Arians, On the Opinion of Dionysius, Defense of his Flight, Apology against the Arians, History of the Arians, On the Synods and Tomus ad Antiochenos appear in the modern-edition table. The complete works listed here are further reading rather than hosted texts. [5]
The works named here extend beyond the texts hosted in this reader. A missing reading should not be taken as evidence that a work is lost or survives only in fragments. The catalogue and editions below are starting points for finding further texts and checking disputed attributions.
Sources and further reading
Related topic: Nicaea: why use homoousios? Compare his argument with Eusebius's own explanation of assent.
Texts and editions
- NPNF, second series, volume IV, “De Decretis,” historical English edition. The reader includes the work with its editorial context; nineteenth-century translation and editor's commentary are not a modern critical text.
Catalogues and scholarship
- Fourth Century Christianity, Guide to Clavis Patrum Graecorum. Guide to Mauritius Geerard, Clavis Patrum Graecorum, volume II (1974), with authentic/doubtful/spurious ranges. The underlying complete catalogue has not been inspected here.
- Fourth Century Christianity, Contents of Athanasius Werke. Modern critical-edition volume/fascicle/page reference; inspected table, not reproduction permission or exhaustive coverage of every attributed text.
Life and reception
- Benedict XVI, General Audience, 20 June 2007, “Saint Athanasius of Alexandria.” Catholic teaching and historical overview. Used for biography, reception and identified works; not copied as a biography or treated as a critical catalogue.
- Orthodox Church in America, Saint Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria. Eastern Orthodox commemoration and reception; hagiographical account, not independent confirmation of every narrated event.
The Athanasius Werke research project at Erlangen/Wien provides a route into critical editions and documentary research on the fourth-century Trinitarian controversies. Its publications help place Athanasius’s arguments beside the wider history of councils and correspondence.