Athanasius is one of my favorite heroes. I know it's kind of strange in our day and age to say that someone as "boring" as a saint of old could possible be anybodies hero. But being the old fashioned Christian that I am, I see something that we should emulate in Athanasius of Alexandria. He was the first person that we know of to name all 52 books of the bible in a letter ( He also rejected the popular "Apocryphal" books of the time). He was banished 5 times and eventually died in exile. Part of the original "Council of Nicaea" he is largely considered the father of orthodox Christianity. After Emperor Constantine died two of his sons split up the kingdom and the one that had Arian sympathies banished Athanasius and it began to look bleak for the Orthodox Christians of the day. He never gave up, even against insurmountable odds. Contra Mundum means "against the World" in latin and i think that this title fits him very well. There is one story of him evading assassins (no doubt Arian heretics) in a boat. As he was traveling in secret, two men came up and asked him if they had seen Athanasius from Alexandria. Without missing a beat he said "He is not very far away. You may catch him if you hurry" and presumably pointed down river in the opposite direction he was heading. As I said he was subsequently accepted back to Alexandria only to be banished later by several other Emperors, Julian the Apostate to name only one. Yet this pillar of faith never lost sight of the true calling in Jesus Christ and continued to uphold and defend a long tradition of orthodox Christianity. One thing I love about him is how everyone tries to claim him as there own. Eastern Orthodox, Catholics, Reformed and the like all want to claim him as their own. Since he lived way before the reformation I guess we can all lay claim to him. That is the Orthodox Christians who stand along side of the great and rich tradition of Apostolic teaching dating back to Jesus of Nazareth, who is called the Christ.
