Athanasius of Alexandria
The Roman Empire's joining of politics and religion carried over into the time when the empire shifted to Christianity as the state religion, and this was illustrated in both the Eastern and Western Empires' control over the patriarchs of the church.
By GualdimG - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=153982516
Athanasius I of Alexandria was born sometime between 293-298 to a Christian family in or near Alexandria, with the earlier preferred because of the maturity of his earliest treatises, Contra Gentes (Against the Heathens) and De Incarnatione (On the Incarnation), which were written in about 318, and with the later preferred since Athanasius didn't experience the Maximaian persecution, or the Great Persecution, the last and most severe persecution of Christians under Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius in 303, asserting he would have remembered if he were 10 at the time it happened and due to accusations that he wasn't old enough when he became patriarch first in 328, when he should have been at least 35 years old to do so.
Regardless when he was born, his parents were wealthy enough to educate him well, but were not members of the aristocracy, with his fluency in Greek taken as evidence that his parents were of Greek descent, though there's evidence that he was fluid in Coptic since he preached in various places in Egypt, which made him the first patriarch to preach and write in Coptic, even if he just translated his writings into Coptic, though he did admit to not knowing Hebrew and any time he cites the Old Testament, it is from the Septuagint, a Greek translation. He was reportedly selected for a religious profession after Bishop Alexander saw him and some other boys playing at baptizing each other and sent for them and discovered that Athanasius had acted as the bishop. He explained that because Athanasius had performed both the form and the matter, the actions and the words of the sacrament, they were genuine baptisms despite the boys not being taught the full meaning, or having been catechized, so they were invited to join education for the clergy.
In his earliest writings, Athanasius' writings show hints of Origenism, which held that scripture was allegorical, the soul pre-existed the body, and that the Son was subordinate to the Father, though and a familiarity with a wide variety of philosophical schools, including the neoplatonists, which were just emerging during the 3rd century CE. He would eventually move the way of thought in Alexandria from that of Origenism to that of neoplatonism, including quoting Homer in his works.
Athanasius was ordained as a deacon in 319 and in 325, served as Alexander's secretary during the First Council of Nicaea in 325. He was considered the most logical replacement for Alexander because of his already earned reputation as a theologian and ascetic. Around this time, Alexander came into conflict with another high ranking church member named Arius, who taught that the Son was made by God the Father, not begotten. Alexander excommunicated Arius, who then began gaining support with bishops who agreed with him. As Alexander was on his death bed, he made Athanasius Bishop at the popular demand of the church five months after the Council of Nicaea in about 326. This placed Athanasius in the position of Alexander, the Patriarch of Alexandria with his official election occurring on 9 May 328.
During Athanasius' time as Patriarch, he was exiled five times by four Roman Emperors, Constantine I, Constantius II, and Julian, who exiled him twice, and Valens for a total of 17 years out of the 48 years of his episcopate and he was also forced to flee for his life six more times. Most of these were as a result of conflicts with Arius or those who held to his philosophy and Athanasius' refusal to remove Alexander's excommunication of Arius.
After his final exile, he spent his time repairing the damage caused by the years of violence and dissent while continuing to hold his position that Arius' philosophy was wrong and that the Son was begotten of the Father. On 2 May 373, after naming his successor, Athanasius died peacefully in his own bed, surrounded by supporters.
Eventually, he was venerated and given the title 'Father of Orthodoxy', with one writer saying 'Athanasius was the greatest champion of Catholic belief on the subject of the Incarnation that the Church has ever known…His career almost personifies a crisis in the history of Christianity; and he may be said rather to have shaped the events in which he too part than to have been shaped by them' and another writing that he was the 'principle instrument, after the Apostles, by which the sacred truths of Christianity have been conveyed and secured to the world'.
