Contra Gentes
Read by Jonathan Lange
Running Time:2:31:33 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Contra Gentes is the first of a two volume work published by Athanasius of Alexandria prior to the outbreak of the Arian controversy (ca. 319). It focuses especially on pagan beliefs and worship concluding with a defense of the Christian view of God and creation -- especially creation by the eternal Word. In this way, the ground is prepared for the second volume of his work, now published separately under the title De Incarnatione Verbi.
Defence of the Nicene Definition
Read by J Denning
Running Time:02:18:27 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
“This letter must have been written in the interval between the return of Athanasius in 346 and his flight in 356...It is written in answer to a friend who in disputing with Arians had been posed by their objection to the use of non-scriptural terms in the Nicene Definition. He accordingly asks for some account of what the council had done...Athanasius begins his answer by stigmatising the evasions and inconsistency of the Arianisers, and describing their conduct at the council, and how they eventually subscribed to the terms now complained of (1–5). He then investigates the meaning of the divine Sonship (6–14), and how its true meaning is brought out by the other titles of the Son (15–17). Coming to the non-scriptural expressions he shews how they were forced upon the council by the evasions of the Arians (18–20), and that they express no sense not to be found in Scripture (21–24)...” From Introduction to de Decretis or Defence of the Nicene Definition.
Soloist Note: The term “catholic” used here in St. Athanasius’s letter and those of other early Church Fathers was used to mean “universal” –anciently used in both East and West Churches-- before the East-West Great Schism of 1054, thus the use of this term in the Nicene Creed by the Eastern Orthodox up to the present.
1 - Introduction
2 - Conduct of the Arians Towards the Nicelne Council
3 - Two Senses of the Word Son
4 - Proof of the Catholic Sense of the Word Son
5 - Defence of the Council's Phrases, "From the Essence," and "One in Essence"
6 - Authorities in Support of the Council
7 - On the Arian Symbol "Unoriginate"
Four Discourses Against The Arians
Read by Jonathan Lange
Running Time:11:36:26 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
In spite of Nicea's condemnation of Arius in 325, Arianism was far from dead. For decades after Nicea, political intrigue and personality clashes continued to confuse the doctrinal issues. Additionally, the line separating othodoxy from Arianism was blurred by a number of "semi-Arians" who agreed with the theology of orthodoxy but continued to object to the "homoousios" of the Nicene Formula. In this milieu, Athanasius of Alexandria tirelessly worked to cut through the confusion and restore unity. Sometimes alone against the world, Athanasius rejected all attempts at unity through ambiguity and strove for unity through clarity. His Four Discourses Against the Arians are the culmination of these efforts. By these, Athanasius successfully defended the theology of the Nicene Formula and united the orthodox Church. For doing so, Athanasius holds an honored place in Church history.
1 - I.1 Introduction
2 - I.2 Extracts from the Thalia of Arius
3 - I.3 The Importance of the Subject
4 - I.4 That the Son is Eternal and Increate
5 - I.5 That the Son is Eternal and Increate, continued
6 - I.6 That the Son is Eternal and Increate, continued
7 - I.7 Objections to the Foregoing Proof
8 - I.8 Objections continued
9 - I.9 Objections continued
10 - I.10 Objections continued
11 - I.11 Texts Explained 1st: Philippians 2:9-10
12 - I.12 Texts Explained 2nd: Psalm 45:7-8
13 - I.13 Texts Explained 3rd: Hebrews 1:4
14 - II.14 Texts Explained 4th: Hebrews 3:2
15 - II.15 Texts Explained 5th: Acts 2:36
16 - II.16 Introductory to Proverbs 8:22, that the Son is not a Creature
17 - II.17 That the Son is not a Creature, continued
18 - II.18 That the Son is not a Creature, continued
19 - II.19 Texts Explained 6th: Proverbs 8:22
20 - II.20 Texts Explained 6th: Proverbs 8:22, continued
21 - II.21 Texts Explained 6th: Proverbs 8:22, continued
22 - II.22 Context of Proverbs 8:22, viz. 22-30
23 - III.23 Texts Explained 7th: John 14:10, Introduction
24 - III.24 Texts Explained 8th: John 17:3, and the like
25 - III.25 Texts Explained 9th: John 10:30, 17:11, etc.
26 - III.26 Introductory to Texts from the Gospels on the Incarnation
27 - III.27 Texts Explained 10th: Matthew 11:27, John 3:35, etc.
28 - III.28 Texts Explained 11th: Mark 13:32, Luke 2:52
29 - III.29 Texts Explained 12th: Matthew 26:29, John 12:27, etc.
30 - III.30 Objections continued (as in Chapters 7-10)
31 - IV. The Substantiality of the Word, § 1-7
32 - IV. The Distinction of Divine Persons, § 8-14
33 - IV. The Identity of Word and Son, § 15-25
34 - IV. That the Son is the Co-existing Word, argued from the Scriptures, § 26-36
Later Treatises of Saint Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria
Read by Christopher Foeckler; Eliza; M.S.C. Lambert, LC; InTheDesert and Larry Wilson
Running Time:06:00:18 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
The times, for which God raised up Saint Athanasius, have, in many respects, a counterpart in our own. There is, now too, earnest, ever-enlarging, adherence to the faith, in those who hold it. But there is also a wide-spread dislike of definite doctrine, such as found a vent in the different shades of Arianism. They framed eleven Creeds, to satisfy themselves or others, over-against the one faith, put forth at Nicaea and accepted by the whole Church. They swung to and fro, at times approximating nearer to the truth; but their secret maxim, unknown to themselves, was, "anything but the Truth".
But Saint Athanasius speaks more nearly to us, who would defend that faith. Wide as differences now are, the adherence to the maxims and principles of Saint Athanasius may prevent their being wider, or may win many to the whole truth. It is a great step to understand one another. "Saint Athanasius looked through words into meanings." "One of the characteristic points in Saint Athanasius," said Card. Newman 40 years ago, "is his constant attention to the sense of doctrine, or the meaning of writers, in preference to the words used."
1 - The "Tome" to those at Antioch
2 - Epistle to Jovian
3 - Epistle to the African Bishops
4 - Letter to Epictetus, Bishop of Corinth
5 - Letter to Adelphius
6 - Letter to Maximus, philosopher
7 - On the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, against Apollinaris. Book I
8 - On the Salutary appearing of Christ, and against Apollinaris. Book II
9 - On Saint Cyril of Alexandria's Interpretation of his Anathemas and on the Dialogues of...
10 - Dialogue I "Immutabilis"
11 - Dialogue II "Inconfusus"
12 - Dialogue III "Impasibilis"
The Life of Anthony
Read by Matthew James Gray
Running Time:02:35:14 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
Anthony (251-356CE) lived in Egypt, and became one of the fathers of Christian desert monasticism. When he was about 18 years old, and having inherited a large fortune, he heard a sermon about Jesus challenging the rich young ruler to "go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven; and come, follow Me." (Matt 19:21) Antony immediately sold all he had, and went out into the desert to life a life of poverty, chastity and obedience. For the rest of his life, he fought demons, performed miracles, becoming a legend in his own long lifetime.
1 Prolog and Sections 1 to 15
2 Sections 16 to 29
3 Sections 30 to 43
4 Sections 44 to 56
5 Sections 57 to 67
6 Sections 68 to 82
7 Sections 83 to 94
On the Incarnation
Read by InTheDesert
Running Time:02:20:51 in 1 MP3 Audio CD
This treatise and that which in the editions of Athanasius immediately precedes it, the contra Gentes, were often counted as two parts of a single work. The two books belong to the earlier years of Athanasius: the Arian controversy which broke out about 319 (probably in his twenty-first or twenty-second year) has left no trace upon them.
The Contra Gentes leaves the reader face to face with this necessity of restoration by the Divine Word as the remedy for corrupt human nature. How this necessity is met in the Incarnation is shown in the pages which follow.
He begins by a review of the doctrine of creation and of man's place therein. The abuse by man of his special privilege had resulted in its loss. By foregoing the Divine Life, man had entered upon a course of endless undoing, of progressive decay, from which none could rescue him but the original Bestower of his life. Then follows a description in glowing words of the Incarnation of the Divine Word and of its efficacy against the plague of corruption. With the Divine Life, men had also received, in the knowledge of God, the conscious reflex of the Divine Likeness, the faculty of reason in its highest exercise. This knowledge their moral fall dimmed and perverted. Heeding not even the means by which God sought to remind them of himself, they fell deeper and deeper into materialism and superstition. To restore the effaced Likeness the presence of the Original was requisite. Accordingly, condescending to man's sense-bound intelligence lest men should have been created in vain in the Image of God the Word took Flesh and became an object of Sense, that through the Seen he might reveal the Invisible. Having dwelt upon the meaning and purpose of the Incarnation, he proceeds to speak of the death and resurrection of the Incarnate Word. He, who alone could renew the handiwork and restore the likeness and give afresh the knowledge of God, must needs, in order to pay the debt which all had incurred, die in our stead, offering the sacrifice on behalf of all, so as to rise again, as our first-fruits, from the grave. After speaking of the especial fitness of the Cross, once the instrument of shame, now the trophy of victory, and after meet ing some difficulties connected with the manner of the Lord's Death, he passes to the Resurrection. He shows how Christ by his triumph over the grave changed the relative ascendency of Death and Life; and how the Resurrection with its momentous train of consequences, follows of necessity from the Incarnation of him in whom was Life. - Summary by Introduction