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 33

(d) Connected with the function and authority of tradition is that of the Church. On the essential idea of the Church there is little or nothing of definite statement. The term 'Catholic Church' is of course commonly used, both of the Church as a whole, and of the orthodox body in this or that place. The unity of the Church is emphatically dwelt on in the opening of the encyclical written in the name of Alexander (infr., p. 69 and supr., p. xvi.) as the reason for communicating the deposition of Arius at Alexandria to the Church at large. 'The joyful mother of children' (Exp. in Ps. cxiii. 9) is interpreted of the Gentile Church, 'made to keep house,' hate ton Kurion enoikon echousa, joyful 'because her children are saved through faith in Christ,' whereas those of the 'synagogue' are apolei& 139; paradedomena: the 'strong city' polis perioches and 'Edom' of Ps. lx. 11 are likewise interpreted of the Church as gathered from all nations; similarly the Ethiopians of Ps. lxxxvii. 4 (where the de Tit. pss. gives a quite different and more allegorical sense, referring the verse to baptism). The full perfection of the Church is referred by Athanasius not to the (even ideal) Church on earth but to the Church in heaven. The kingdom of God' (Matt. vi. 33) is explained as 'the enjoyment of the good things of the future, namely the contemplation and knowledge of God so far as man's soul is capable of it,' while the city of Ps. lxxxvii. 1-3 is he ano ;;Ierousalem in the de Titulis, but in the Expositio the Church glorified by 'the indwelling of the Only-begotten.' In all this we miss any decisive utterance as to the doctrinal authority of the Church except in so far as the recognition of such authority is involved in what has been cited above in favour of tradition. It may be said that the conditions which lead the mind to throw upon the Church the weight of responsibility for what is believed were absent in the case of Athanasius as indeed in the earlier Greek Church generally.

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