St Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria (+373)

Saint Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria (+373), was born around 297 in Alexandria. As a deacon he took part in the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, and proposed that a single, very short definition be added to the formula put forward by Eusebius: “consubstantial with the Father”. Saint Athanasius governed the Church of Alexandria in 325–373. In that time he had to endure many afflictions and trials. There was a time when the blessed one remained the only Orthodox bishop, and from a lonely refuge denounced the Arians with letters and treatises.

The aged hierarch commended his soul to the Lord in 373. His memory is kept twice a year, on 2 May and on 18 January, together with Saint Cyril of Alexandria (his full life is given in the reading for 18 January).