[My wife, who is an Episcopal parish administrator, occasionally needed some fillers when the parish sent out its monthly newsletter.  I wrote these silly “lives of the saints” to fill in the blank spaces.]

Athanasius of Alexandria, spent most of his life arguing and falling in and out of political favor.  Born around 297 (3rd century Alexandrian records are unreliable, especially since those ever volatile Saracens destroyed the library in 638), Athanasius’ qualities came to the attention of the bishop who employed him as his secretary.

  These were good times and bad times for the Church.  Good times, because around the time that Athanasius entered service, the emperor Constantine decided Christians might be an asset.  An appeal to their God seemed to do the trick at the battle of Milvian bridge - in hoc signo vinces and all that - a victory that secured Constantine’s place as the senior Augustus, the augustest Augustus.  This was in 313, probably during the summer, I’m guessing, maybe August.

  They were bad times for the Church though because, despite the favor of Constantine, the heresy of Arianism spoiled the new tranquility. Arianism argued that Christ was not divine.  This of course made rather a hash of the Incarnation, The Trinity and virtually everything else in the Nicene Creed, the very Creed worked up to settle the matter at the Council of Nicea, convened by Constantine in 325.

  Athanasius was there!  Not as a delegate but as the bishop’s attendant.  He was permitted to debate though and apparently did so splendidly.  Five month’s later when the bishop died, Athanasius was named to take his place in Alexandria.

  Unfortunately the Arians didn’t sign onto the Creed, so instead of unifying the Church, a sort of split was effected that bedeviled Athanasius’s career.  The Arians gained influence over Constantine and accused Athanasius of doing various nasty deeds.  Athanasius denied these accusations, but as the Britannica puts it, the imperial jealousy was aroused, and Athanasius was banished to Treves.  Treves is in Gaul, but in the gloomy northeastern part, nowhere near the Riviera.

  When Constantine died and was succeeded by the more sympathetic Constantine II, Athanasius returned triumphantly to his bishop’s chair at Alexandria.  By this time the empire had two capitals, Rome and Constantinople.  The Roman bureau tended to side with the Niceans, or Athanasians, the Eastern branch tended to Arianism. Unfortunately, Athanasius’s bishopric in Alexandria fell under the see of Constantinople.  The court was against him and his life became a political mess.  He was condemned again, again forced into exile, then later restored by Rome. This pattern repeated, until, in 373 he retired and soon died, no doubt to avoid moving again.  A Doctor of the Church, he left behind many writings, the most famous of which are his treatises against the heresy that dogged him and the Church throughout his life.