By Fr. George Dorbarakis
The only reference in today’s service, on the occasion of the commemoration of the translation of the relic of Athanasios the Great, is found in the verses of the Synaxarion: “Athanasios, where are you being borne? Are they again sending you forth as an exile, even dead? On the second, the corpse of Athanasios came out of the tomb.” In no other troparion is there even the slightest reference to the celebrated event of the translation. All the hymns constitute a hymn to his Orthodox faith, to his struggles for the triumph of this faith, as he opposed the heresy of Arianism and its supporters, to his virtuous life, and to the exiles which he endured. Thus we must accept that according to the codex of Kavsokalyva and the distich of the Lavriotic Codex I 70, the principal commemoration of Saint Athanasios ought to be celebrated today, where his repose is also historically attested, and not the translation of his relics… For what reason his principal feast was established on the 18th of January together with that of Saint Cyril we do not know. Most likely it is for the same reason that the feast of the Three Hierarchs was established.
Indeed, the whole service calls us today to rejoice, because there is set forth before the faithful “the great trumpet of the Church” (Doxastikon of the Lyti), “the golden-flowing Nile and namesake of immortality” (Doxastikon of the Aposticha at Vespers), “the mouth of Christ the Word” (Ode 5), “the invincible tower of the Church” (Ode 3), “the river of grace” (Ode 6), in a word “the pillar of Orthodoxy” (Apolytikion). And the cause, of course, for all these titles is the fact that, first, this great Father was illumined by God and showed the Orthodox faith already at the First Ecumenical Synod, when Arius and those around him were disputing the true image of the Triune God which Jesus Christ revealed. It was he especially who “raised up the trophies of Orthodoxy throughout the whole world, piously numbering the mystery of the Trinity because of the distinction of the persons, and again joining them without confusion into one, because of the identity of the essence” (Doxastikon of the Praises); second, Saint Athanasios suffered every kind of hardship for this faith, confirming the word of the Lord who says, “If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you,” as well as that of the Apostle Paul, “All who desire to live piously in Christ Jesus will be persecuted”; third, the Saint manifested the truth and suffered persecutions because he lived as a presence of Christ in the world. His virtues were those which proved that Christ illumines a person especially when he, besides having an expanded mind — which is the means of expressing the truth — lives consistently according to His commandments. Saint Athanasios, like the Apostle Paul, could say, “I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.” And the Hymnographer notes this: “You have completed the course of piety, and like Paul you have kept the faith; therefore there is laid up also for you, all-holy one, the just crown of your labors” (Kathisma of the First Sticheron).
We must also recall here what Saint Gregory the Theologian wrote already at the beginning of his oration on Athanasios: “In praising Athanasios, I shall praise virtue.” For there was indeed no virtue which this great Father of the Church did not practice. “You practiced every virtue with perseverance, O God-inspired one, and, having been anointed by the Spirit with holy chrism, you were clearly shown to be a most sacred liturgist” (Sticheron of Vespers). And it is by no means accidental that the Hymnographer emphasizes “with perseverance.” In order for one to acquire the Holy Spirit, the goal of the entire spiritual life, it is not enough to acquire certain virtues. It is required to acquire all the virtues, and this with perseverance. Perseverance in the commandments of Christ, under whatever conditions, even great trials and afflictions, as happened with Saint Athanasios, constitutes one of the most essential elements of the Christian life — indeed, it is the very condition for its existence.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
