Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/83

Rh on the "Titles of the Psalms" was edited by Nic. Antonelli at Rome, in 1746; and in 1777 appeared at Padua an ed. in 4 vols. fol., combining the labours of previous editors.

A few English translations of some of Athanasius's works had appeared before the publication of any part of the "Library of the Fathers." But the volume of Historical Tracts of St. Athanasius, and the two volumes of Treatises in Controversy with the Arians, published in that series at Oxford in 1843‒1844, under Dr. Newman's editorship, must (whatever exceptions may be taken to a few passages in the notes) be always ranked among the richest treasures of English Patristic literature. These translations have been reprinted and revised in what is now the best collection in English of Athanasius's chief works, with a very valuable introduction, life, and illustrative notes by Dr. A. Robertson, bp. of Exeter, in the Post-Nicene Fathers, ed. by Dr. Schaff and Dr. Wace. The Orations against Arius, with an account of the life of Athanasius by W. Bright, are pub. by the Clarendon Press, as also his Historical Writings according to the Benedictine text, with intro. by W. Bright. A cheap popular Life of Athanasius by R. W. Bush is pub. by S.P.C.K. in their Fathers for Eng. Readers; and a cheap trans. of the Orations in "A. and M. Theol. Lib." (Griffith). [W.B.]  Athanasius (1), bp. of Anagastus in Cilicia Secunda and metropolitan, a disciple of St. Lucian of Antioch (Philost. H. E. iii. 15), reckoned by Arius, in his letter to Eusebius Nicom., among the bishops who coincided with him in doctrine (Theod. H. E. i. 5). The great Athanasius (de Synod. p. 886) accuses him of having, previous to the council of Nicaea, written blasphemies equal to those of Arius, of which he gives a specimen. He is said by Le Quien, on the authority of the ''Lib. Synod. Graec.'', to have supported Arius at the council of Nicaea. Philostorgius (H. E. iii. 15) tells us that when Aetius was expelled from his master's house, after his unlucky victory in argument, Athanasius received him and read the Gospels with him. [E.V.]  Athanasius (2), an Arian bp. who succeeded Philip in the see of Scythopolis, c. 372. He is charged by Epiphanius with pushing his Arian tenets to the most audacious impiety, asserting that the Son and Holy Spirit were creatures, and had nothing in common with the Divine nature (Epiph. Haer. lxxiii. c. 37, p. 885). [E.V.]  Athanasius (3), bp. of Perrha, a see dependent on the Syrian Hierapolis; present at the council of Ephesus, 431, supporting Cyril of Alexandria. Grave accusations, brought against him by his clergy, led him to resign his see. Through the intervention on his behalf of Proclus of Constantinople and Cyril of Alexandria, Domnus II., patriarch of Antioch, summoned a council to consider the matter. Athanasius, refusing to appear, was unanimously condemned by default and deposed from his bishopric, to which Sabinianus was consecrated. After "the Robber Synod" of Ephesus, A.D. 449, had made Dioscorus of Alexandria the temporary ruler of the Eastern church, Sabinianus was in his turn deposed, and Athanasius reinstated at Perrha. Sabinianus appealed to the council of Chalcedon,

A.D. 451, where both he and his rival signed as bp. of Perrha. His case was fully heard, and it was determined that the original charges against him should be investigated by Maximus at Antioch. We are in complete ignorance of the issue of this investigation. (Labbe, Conc, iv. 717‒754; Liberatus Diac. in Breviario. Labbe, v. 762; Cave, Hist. Lit. i. 479; Christ. Lupus, ii.) [E.V.]  Athanasius (4), bp. of Ancyra in N. Galatia (A.D. 360‒369). His father, who bore the same name, was a man of high family and great learning, and had held important offices in the State (ἐθνῶν καὶ πόλεων ἀρχὰς διευθύναντος); but was reputed harsh and unfatherly to his children. This rumour, reaching St. Basil's ears, led him to write a friendly remonstrance, and hence arose a correspondence of which one letter is preserved (Ep. 24). The son Athanasius was raised to the see of Ancyra by the Arian Acacius of Caesarea, through whose influence his predecessor Basilius had been deposed at a synod held at Constantinople A.D. 360 (Soz. iv. 25; Philost. v. 1). But notwithstanding this inauspicious beginning, he gave unquestionable proofs of his orthodoxy by taking an active part in the Synod of Tyana (A.D. 367), at which the Nicene symbol was accepted (Soz. vi. 12). By St. Basil he is commended as "a bulwark of orthodoxy" (Ep. 25), and Gregory Nyssen praises him as "valuing the truth above everything" (c. Eunom. i. ii. 292). Owing to some misunderstanding, however, Athanasius had spoken in very severe terms of St. Basil, misled, as Basil conjectures, by the fact that some heretical writings had been fathered upon him; and the bp. of Caesarea sends an affectionate letter of remonstrance (Ep. 25), in which he speaks of Athanasius in the highest terms. At his death Basil writes a letter of condolence to the church of Ancyra, on the loss of one who was truly "a pillar and foundation of the church" (Ep. 29). This seems to have happened A.D. 368 or 369 (see Garnier, Basil. Op. iii. p. lxxvii. seq.). [L.]  Athenagoras.—I. Life.—There is scarcely one catalogue of the ancient writers of the church wherein we find mention of Athenagoras or his works. He is not noticed by Eusebius, Jerome, Photius, or Suidas. But in a fragment of the book of Methodius, bp. of Tyre (3rd cent.), de Resurrectione Animarum against Origen, there is an unmistakable quotation from the Apology (c. 24, p. 27 ) with the name of Athenagoras appended. This fragment is given by Epiphanius (Haer. 64, c. 21) and Photius (Cod. 224, 234). Scanty as this information is, it yet assures us of the existence of the Apology in the 3rd cent. and its ascription to Athenagoras. Much more is told us by Philippus Sidetes, deacon of Chrysostom (5th cent.), in a fragment preserved by Nicephorus Callistus (Dodwell, Diss. in Irenaeum, 429) to this effect: "Athenagoras was the first head of the school at Alexandria, flourishing in the times of Hadrian and Antoninus, to whom also he addressed his Apology for the Christians; a man who embraced Christianity while wearing the garb of a philosopher, and presiding over the academic school. He, before Celsus, was bent on writing against the Christians; and, studying 