St Athanasius I of North Africa, the Patristic and Apologist who Became Bishop | Brian

One of the first Church Fathers, St Athanasius married his philosophical and biblical ideas with his pursuit of the mystical as seen in his friendship with St Antony, his contemporary and a well-known Early Christian Hermit and Monastic. He also unwittingly demonstrates his arguments through the lived experience of St Antony in his work, "The Life of St Antony", whose life exemplified Jesus' faithfulness, presence and living relationship with His own, who would seek Him, thus demonstrating through wonders and signs, His unchallenged divinity in the context of the Roman and Greek gods. St Athanasius demonstrates that Christian intellectual pursuit concerning the faith rode on the back of Christian mysticism or lived experience to truly understand the truth of Christ's work, as taught in the Gospels. He is known for penning his first work "On the Incarnation of the Word" at the young age of 21 and later "Against the Arians". He is lastly known for "Athanasius Contra Mundum", Latin for "Athanasius against the World"--succinctly describing Athanasius' experience of defending the faith alone, when he felt unsupported by the church; a task that he felt was beyond his ability--but worth the effort for the sake of the faith of believers. It was an effort that led to him being made bishop later in his life because of his concern for the living faith of the Christians of the Church of his time.