ATIIANASIUS
506
ATHAXASIUS
resort, in order to gain a verdict from the councils of I Aries and Milan, proved that his a! solute power had already ceased to exist. Athanasius did not, indeed, like the Gregories, establish a system of ecclesiastical policy and power— that belonged to later ages and to another climate— hut he exerted more extensive per- sonal influence over his own age, for the advancement of the church, than any individual in any age, except perhaps Bernard. ' In all his writings,' says Photius, ' he is clear in expression, concise, and simple ; acute, profound, and very vehement in his disputations, with wonderful fertility of invention ; and in his method of reasoning he treats no subject with baldness or puer- ilitv, but all philosophically and magnificently.'"
Gregory of Nazianzus has an oration on Athana- sius, from which the following passage is given by Cave {lives of the Fathers, vol. ii) : " He was one that so governed himself that his life supplied the place of sermons, and his sermons prevented his corrections ; much less need had he to cut or lance where he did but once shake his rod. In him all ranks and orders might rind something to admire, something particular for their imitation : one might commend his unwearied constan- cy in fasting and prayer ; another, his vigorous and in- cessant persevering in watch ings and praise; a third, his admirable care and protection of the poor ; a fourth, his resolute opposition to the proud, or his condescen- sion to the humble. The virgins may celebrate him as their bridesman, the married as their governor, the hermits as their monitor, the cenobites as their law- giver, the simple as their guide, the contemplative as a divine, the merry as a bridle, the miserable as a com- forter, the aged as a staff, the youth as a tutor, the poor as a benefactor, and the rich as a steward. He was a patron to the widows, a father to orphans, a friend to the poor, a harbor to strangers, a brother to brethren, a physician to the sick, a keeper of the healthful, one who 'became all things to all men, that, if not all, he might at least gain the more.' .... With respect to his predecessors in that see, he equalled some, came near others, and exceeded others ; in some he imitated their discourses, in others their actions; the meekness of some, the zeal of others, the patience and constancy of the rest; borrowing many perfec- tions from some, and all from others ; and so making up a complete representation of virtue, like skilful lim- ners, who, to make the piece absolute, do first from several persons draw the several perfections of beauty within the idea of their own minds; so he, insomuch that in practice he outdid the eloquent, and in his dis- courses outwent those who were most versed in prac- tice; or, if you will, in his discourses he excelled the eloquent, and in his practice those who were most used to business; and for those that had made but an ordi- nary advance in either, he was far superior to them, as being eminent but in one kind; and for those who Mere masters in the other, he outdid them in that he excelled in both."
The aptitude of his remarkable intellect for grap- pling with the deepest problems is shown in all his writings, even in the earliest (\oyo£ Kara rwv 'EX\/;- vaiv, Oralion against the Greeks'), an apologetic work to refute the Grecian attacks on Christianity, which evinces his culture in Greek learning, as well as rare metaphysical acuteness, written as it was before the author was twenty-live (A.D. 318 ?) '1 he treatise Be TncamalioTU verlA appeared about the same time, and, indeed, is cited by Jerome as the same work. It treats of the deepest themes, God, creation, anthropology, and Christology. His other most important writings are Epistola d* decretis Nicence Synodi contra Arianos; Epist. ili' sententia DiongsH; Orationes contra Arianos; Epistola <il Si rapiorwm .• E) istola ad Epictetwm ,• Epis- tola ad A delphum ; Contra Apollmarium. Besides these are Apologia d Fuga sua (to justify his flight from persecution): Epistola ad Mcnachos, written by re- quest of certain monks, to yive an account of his suf-
ferings and of the Arian heresy. The first, or dog- matical part, is lost. The following passage from this book manifests the modest humility of a grand intellect. Speaking of his attempts to explain the doctrine of the Logos, he says : " rl he more I think on the subject, the more incomprehensible it appears to me; and I should abandon it entirely were it not for your importunity and the blasphemy of your oppo- nents. I therefore think it proper to say something on the subject; for, though it be impossible to compre- hend what God is, yet it is possible to tell what he is not. In like manner, though it is impossible fully to explain the nature of the Logos, yet it is easy to condemn and refute what his adversaries have said against him." After having made this apology, he begs them to return the letter after they had read it, without either copying or permitting it to be copied, as it was at least but an inadequate defence of that p-eat truth, and was too inconsiderable to deserve be- ing transmitted to posterity. In this epistle his views on persecution contrast nohly with those of Augustine's later years. " Nothing," he observes, " more forcibly marks the weakness of a bad cause. Satan, who has no truth to propose to men, comes with axe and swoid to make way for his errors. The method made use of by Christ to persuade men to receive his beneficent religion is widely different, fcr he teaches the truth, end says, Jf any man will come after me, and le my disciple, etc. When he comes to the heart he uses no viohnce, but says, Open to me, my sister, my spouse ; if we open, he comes in ; if we trill not open, he retires ; for the truth is not preached with swords and. spears, nor by the authority of soldiers, but by counsel and persuasion. But of what use can persuasion be where the imperial terror reigns ? And what place is there for counsel where resistance to the imperial authority in these matters must terminate in exile or death? It is the property of the true religion to have no re- course to force, but to persuasion. But the state makes use cf compulsion in matters of religion, and what is the consequence ? Why, the church is filled with hy- pocrisy and impiety, and the faithful servants of Christ are obliged to hide themselves in caves and holes of the earth, or to wander about in the deserts."