Athanasius
Bishop of Alexandria for forty-five years and a leading defender of the creed of Nicaea, driven from his see more than once. He wrote the Life of Antony, and his Easter letter of 367 lists exactly the twenty-seven books of the New Testament.
Athanasius went to the First Council of Nicaea as a deacon of Alexander of Alexandria and, Socrates says, powerfully opposed the supporters of Arius there (Socrates, Church History 1.8). He became bishop of Alexandria in 328 (Athanasius, Festal Letter Festal Index 1). He defended the creed of Nicaea and its word homoousios, as in his Defence of the Nicene Definition (Athanasius, Defence of the Nicene Definition 19–20). Constantine banished him to Gaul (Socrates, Church History 1.35), and under Constantius II he was twice forced to flee his church, in 339 and in 356 (Athanasius, Festal Letter Festal Index 11, 28).
He wrote a Life of the hermit Antony (Life of Antony). The letter he sent to his churches for Easter 367 lists the books of Scripture, and its New Testament has twenty-seven books, those of the later canon (Athanasius, Festal Letter 39.5); see Athanasius Lists the Twenty-seven Books of the New Testament. He died on 2 May 373 (Athanasius, Festal Letter Festal Index 45).
In the timeline
- May AD 325, firm dateThe First Council of Nicaea
Constantine gathers some three hundred bishops at Nicaea over the teaching of Arius. They confess the Son to be “of one substance with the Father”, agree a common date for Easter and issue twenty canons. Catholic, Orthodox and Reformation churches still appeal to the council.
- c. AD 330–356, estimated dateKing Ezana of Aksum Becomes Christian
Ezana, king of Aksum in the Ethiopian highlands, sets up an inscription that opens in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. A letter of the emperor Constantius II names Frumentius, ordained by Athanasius of Alexandria, as bishop of Aksum.
- AD 359 to AD 360, firm dateThe Councils of Rimini and Seleucia
The emperor Constantius II summons the western bishops to Rimini and the eastern to Seleucia. Under imperial pressure the delegates of both accept a creed that calls the Son like the Father and forbids the Nicene language of substance.
- AD 367, firm dateAthanasius Lists the Twenty-seven Books of the New Testament
In his Easter letter for 367 the bishop of Alexandria sets out which books are Scripture. His New Testament names twenty-seven books, the same that the Council of Trent later listed. He adds a second group of books that are read but are not in the canon.