Saint Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria
Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria, Pillar of Orthodoxy
- Feast day
- January 18
- Lived
- c. 296–373
- Patronage
- Theologians, those standing alone for the truth
Athanasius contra mundum — Athanasius against the world. Five times exiled, he held the line for the Nicene faith when almost the entire empire had accepted Arianism.
Life
Athanasius attended the First Ecumenical Council in 325 as a young deacon and secretary to the Patriarch Alexander, and succeeded him three years later. He spent seventeen of his forty-five years as patriarch in exile, driven out by successive emperors who found the Arian compromise politically convenient.
He spent parts of those exiles among the monks of the Egyptian desert, and wrote there the Life of Saint Anthony, which carried Egyptian monasticism to the Latin West and shaped it permanently.
Teaching
His treatise On the Incarnation contains the sentence that summarises Orthodox soteriology: 'He became man that we might become god.' He insisted, against every compromise formula, that the Son is homoousios — of one essence — with the Father, because only God can save. He is commemorated together with Saint Cyril of Alexandria on January 18.
When Saint Athanasius the Great is commemorated
The feast falls on January 18 on the Revised Julian (New) calendar used by most Greek, Antiochian and Romanian parishes. Parishes that keep the Julian (Old) calendar — much of the Russian, Serbian and Georgian Churches, and Mount Athos — celebrate it on the civil date January 31, thirteen days later. You can switch between both reckonings anywhere on this site.
See the full liturgical day for January 18, 2027
That page gives the fasting rule in force, the Epistle and Gospel appointed for the day, and every other saint commemorated alongside Saint Athanasius the Great. To keep the feast, look for a parish in the USA, Canada or Australia directory, and read the Akathist hymns appointed for private prayer.
Other saints commemorated in January
- Anthony the GreatJanuary 17
- Basil the GreatJanuary 1
- Gregory the TheologianJanuary 25
- John the ForerunnerJanuary 7
- Nino of GeorgiaJanuary 14
- Seraphim of SarovJanuary 2