ON ST. ATHANASIUS, CONFESSOR IN BITHYNIA.
NINTH CENTURY
CommentaryAthanasius, Confessor in Bithynia (S.)
G. H.
[1] Paulopetrium was a training ground for religious men, dedicated to the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, St. Athanasius is venerated on 22 February: as the Menaea indicate on this day with these verses:
Athanasios thremma Paulopetriou Apostolois synesti Paulo kai Petro.
"Athanasius, a nursling of Paulopetrium, Is together with the Apostles Paul and Peter."
This eulogy of St. Athanasius is composed in the same Greek Menaea and in the bioi hagion of Maximus Cytheraeus.
[2] "On the same day, of our holy Father and Confessor Athanasius, born at Constantinople, who rests in Paulopetrium. This saint, born at Constantinople to pious, devout, and wealthy parents, cultivated piety from his earliest childhood and aspired to the monastic state and habit. Setting out therefore for the region of Nicomedia, a monk near Nicomedia, he was tonsured as a monk near an inlet of the sea, and so excelled in virtues that his fame was brought to the Emperors. But under the reign of the Iconoclast Emperor Leo, he was accused concerning the veneration of the uncontaminated images, under the Emperor Leo, he suffered exile and beatings, and dies: tortured with many torments, and afflicted with the bitterest exiles and evils; yet he persevered most steadfastly in the orthodox faith until death, and at last departed to the Lord."
[3] Such are the Menaea; the Leo the Iconoclast who is mentioned in them is Leo the Armenian, who seized the Empire in the year 813, after Michael was compelled to yield, though not entirely unwillingly. Leo was killed on the night of Christmas in the year 820, having raged with every atrocity against sacred images and Catholics, especially monks. Concerning his persecution, we treated on the fourth of February in the Life of St. Nicholas the Studite, Chapters 3 and 4, was he a companion of St. Nicholas the Studite? where the exile, tortures, and beatings inflicted upon St. Nicholas and his Superior, St. Theodore the Studite, are narrated. And perhaps St. Athanasius, about whom we treat here, was a companion of St. Nicholas in the earliest exercises of the monastic life, which are thus described in his Life, Chapter 2, number 12: "Our common Father and servant of God, Nicholas, had indeed his very life as a kind of silent exhortation; he had also a brother who was a kind of precise image of his virtues. Indeed all at length had, like some other midday sun, shining with the rays of virtues, that gift given by God -- the great Theodore -- under St. Theodore the Studite? a useful and illustrious companion for their souls; and it was truly a school of virtue, a kind of new paradise, flourishing with a manifold variety of flowers. For to these there also came Joseph, the brother of our most wise Father, who later became the celebrated Archbishop of the city of Thessalonica, as well as Timothy, Athanasius too, and Naucratius, and many others whom I omit for the sake of brevity -- all living in that earthly heaven. For those whom character unites, place also gathers into one." Such is the passage; these things were done at Constantinople, whence St. Athanasius perhaps then migrated into Bithynia, if indeed he is that Confessor about whom we treat here, as seems altogether likely.
[4] St. Theodore the Studite wrote to the aforementioned Naucratius, while imprisoned, a letter reported by Baronius at the year 809, number 44, in which he mentions Athanasius and his brave struggle at the outset in these words: "Your letter, beloved son, produced three effects in me: for I was at once astonished, filled with admiration, and moved to song. The first on account of the impious, does St. Theodore write to Naucratius about his struggle? the second on account of the pious, the third on account of God, who strengthens those who rely on His law. And concerning the sacred Athanasius and his most beloved companions, and concerning my most valiant Theosostus as well, and his seventeen most courageous comrades -- since enough has been said in my letters to them -- this must be passed over here, although they are worthy of a longer discourse and praises, who fought in a manner both divine and courageous." These are the words of Theodore in that letter, which seems rather to have been written under Leo the Armenian. Whether the letter of the same Theodore to his brother Athanasius, reported by Baronius at the same year 809, number 30, was written to this same Athanasius is not established. More certain information could be discovered if all the works of St. Theodore the Studite were published in print, or if a Life of St. Athanasius survived.