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Rh with placing Euclid above Christ, and abandoning the Scriptures for dialectics and mathematics. This indicates a critical or sceptical turn of mind. The views of Artemon were afterwards more fully developed by Paul of Samosata, who is sometimes counted with the Artemonites. The sources of our fragmentary information are Eusebius, ''Hist. Eccl. v. 28; Epiphanius, Haer.'' lxv. 1, 4; Theodoret, ''Haer. Fab.'' ii. 4; Photius, Biblioth. 48. Cf. Schleiermacher's essay on the Sabellian and Athanasian conceptions of the Trinity (Works, vol. ii.), and Dorner's Entwicklungsgeschichte der L. v. d. Person Christi, 2nd ed. i. 508 ff. [P.S.]  Asterius (1), a bp. of Arabia (called bp. of Petra, Tomus ad Antioch. § 10). He accompanied the Eusebians to the council of Sardica, but separated himself from them along with bp. Arius or Macarius (who by some confusion is also called bp. of Petra), complaining of the violent treatment to which the deputies had been subjected, with the view of driving them into supporting the Eusebian faction (Theod. ii. 8). The Eusebians soon had their revenge, and the two bishops were banished to Upper Libya, where they endured much suffering (Athan. Hist. Arian. § 18; Apol. § 48). On the promulgation of the edict of Julian, recalling all the banished bishops, Asterius returned, and (A.D. 362) took part in the important council summoned by the newly restored Athanasius at Alexandria, for the purpose of promoting union between the orthodox and those who, without embracing the errors of Arius, had held communion with the Arian party. One of the chief subjects that came before this synod was the unhappy schism at Antioch between the Eustathians and the Meletians. [  (1); Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Meletius, bp. of Lycopolis; (6).] On the singular fact that the name of Asterius, together with that of Eusebius of Vercelli, is found among those to whom this letter is addressed, as well as among those by whom it was written, of which it is difficult to give a satisfactory explanation, cf. Tillemont, Mém. viii. p. 707; Baronius, Ann. sub. ann. 362, § 219. [E.V.]  Asterius (2), bp. of Amasea in Pontus, a contemporary of St. Chrysostom. He himself tells us that his teacher was a certain Scythian (i.e. Goth), who, having been sold in his youth to a citizen of Antioch, a schoolmaster, had made marvellous progress under his owner's instructions, and won himself a great name among Greeks and Romans (Phot. Bibl. 271, p. 1500). Beyond this not a single incident in his life is recorded. His date, however, is fixed by allusions to contemporary events in his Homilies. He speaks of the apostasy of Julian as having happened within his memory (Aster. Or. 3, p. 56, ed. Combefis); and in his sermon on the Festival of the Calends (Or. 4, p. 76) he mentions the consulate and fall of Eutropius as an event of the preceding year. This sermon therefore must have been delivered on New Year's Day, 400. Elsewhere he spoke of himself as a man of very advanced age (Phot. Amphil. 125 [312]).

The extant works of Asterius consist almost solely of sermons or homilies. Of these we possess twenty-two perfect; twelve on various subjects included in the edition of Combefis

(Paris, 1648); eight on the Psalms, of which one is found among the works of St. Chrysostom, and the remaining seven were published by Cotelier, ''Mon. Eccl. Graec.'' ii. (Paris, 1688); and two again on other subjects, which are published among the works of Gregory Nyssen, but must be assigned to Asterius on the authority of Photius. Besides these Photius (Bibl. 271) gives extracts from several others. In addition to these homilies, a Life of his predecessor, St. Basil of Amasea, printed in the Acta Sanctorum, April 26, is ascribed to him. A complete collection of his works will be found in Migne's ''Patr. Gk.'' xl.; a complete list in Fabric. ''Bibl. Gk.'' x. 513 seq. ed. Harles. An account of their contents is given by Tillemont, x. 409 seq.

Asterius was a student of Demosthenes (Or. 11, p. 207), and himself no mean orator. His best sermons (for they are somewhat uneven) display no inconsiderable skill in rhetoric, great power of expression, and great earnestness of moral conviction; and some passages are even strikingly eloquent. His orthodoxy was unquestioned. Photius (Amphil. l.c.) contrasts him with his Arian namesake, as stanch in the faith, devoting himself to the care of his flock, and setting an example of a virtuous and godly life. His authority was quoted with great respect in later ages, more especially during the Iconoclastic controversy at the second council of Nicaea, when with a play on his name he was referred to as "a bright star (astrum) illumining the minds of all" (Labbe, Conc. viii. 1385, 1387, ed. Coleti). Bardenhewer (1908) refers to a Syllogehistorica on Asterius by V. de Buck in Acta SS. Oct. (Paris, 1883), xiii. 330–332. [L.]  Athanasius, St., archbp. of Alexandria. The life of Athanasius divides itself naturally into seven sections, respectively terminated by (1) his consecration; (2) his first exile; (3) his second exile; (4) his second return; (5) his third exile; (6) his fourth exile; (7) his death.

(1) He was born at Alexandria, and had but scanty private means (Apol. c. Ar. 51; Socr. iv. 13). We must date his birth c. 296; not earlier, because he had no personal remembrance of the persecution under Maximian in 303 (Hist. Ar. 64), and was comparatively a young man when consecrated bishop, soon after the Nicene council; not later, because he received some theological instruction from persons who suffered in the persecution under Maximian II. in 311 (de Incarn. 56), and the first two of his treatises appear to have been written before 319. There can be no reason to doubt that Athanasius became an inmate of bp. Alexander's house, as his companion and secretary (Soz. ii. 17). The position involved great advantages. The place held by Alexander as "successor of St. Mark," and occupant of "the Evangelical throne," was second in the Christian hierarchy: we may call the bps. of Alexandria in the 4th cent., for convenience' sake, archbishops or patriarchs, although the former name was then very rarely applied to them, and the latter not at all, and they were frequently designated, though not in contradistinction to all other prelates, by the title of Papas (pope), or "dear father." 