The mighty foe of Arians, St Athanasius of Alexandria (d 373), bishop and Doctor of the Church, is celebrated on May 2 in both the newer and the traditional Roman calendars. In his struggles to defend Catholic truth, Athanasius took on gangs of heretics, bishops and emperors. For his efforts he was rewarded with exile five times.
Confusion reigns in many spheres of the Church right now about what the Church truly holds to be true about faith and morals. Some well-placed pundits ignore the fact of the Church’s perennial interpretations and now imply that we can’t know for sure what the Lord taught. Others respond that the doctrinal and practical controversies of these our own days bear a strong resemblance to the era when the Holy Church was torn asunder by Arian heresy.
