Life of St Athanasius the Great and Account of Arianism

By Archibald Robertson.

St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print

76 Pages (Part II)

Page 29

That God is beyond all essence huperekeina pases ousias (c. Gent. 2. 2, 40. 2, 35. I genetes ousias) is a thought common to Origen and the Platonists, but adopted by Athanasius with a difference, marked by the addition of genetes. That God created all things out of pure bounty of being (c. Gent. S:2. 2, S:41. 2, de Incarn. S:3. 3, and note there) is common to Origen and Philo, being taken by the latter from Plato's Timaeus. The Universe, and especially the human soul, reflects the being of its Author (c. Gent. passim). Hence there are two main paths by which man can arrive at the knowledge of God, the book of the Universe (c. Gent. 34 fin.), and the contemplation or self-knowledge of the soul itself (ib. 33, 34). So far Athanasius is on common ground with the Platonists (cf. Fialon, pp. 270, sqq.); but he takes up distinctively Christian ground, firstly, in emphasising the insufficiency of these proofs after sin has clouded the soul's vision, and, above all, in insisting on the divine Incarnation as the sole remedy for this inability, as the sole means by which man as he is can reach a true knowledge of God. Religion not philosophy is the sphere in which the God of Athanasius is manifest to man. Here, again, Athanasius is 'Christo-centric.' With Origen, Athanasius refuses to allow evil any substantive existence (c. Gent. S:S:2, 6, de Incarn. S:4. 5); evil resides in the will only, and is the result of the abuse of its power of free choice (c. Gent. 5 and 7). The evil in the Universe is mainly the work of demons, who have aggravated the consequences of human sin also (de Incarn. 52. 4). On the other hand, the evil does not extend beyond the sphere of personal agency, and the Providence of God (upon which Athanasius insists with remarkable frequency, especially in the de Fuga and c. Gent. and de Incarn., also in Vit. Anton.) exercises untiring care over the whole. The problem of suffering and death in the animal creation is not discussed by him; he touches very incidentally, Orat. ii. 63, on the deliverance of creation in connection with Rom. viii. 19-21.

Previous Page / First / Next Page of the Life of Athanasius

St Athanasius the Great Home Page ||| More Church Fathers

Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons

Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/athanasius-life-arianism-2.asp?pg=29