{"id":142834,"date":"2026-05-02T05:00:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=142834"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:39:59","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:39:59","slug":"st-athanasius-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-athanasius-2\/","title":{"rendered":"St Athanasius"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Ethel,<\/span> Right\u00a0<\/span>now, your prayer life is more important than every other duty except one: your studies. \u00a0Right now, God needs you to be the best student you can be, because later on, you will need what you learn now to succeed in your life\u2019s mission. \u00a0It\u2019s all part of God\u2019s Providence, you know.<\/span> Take today\u2019s saint as an example. \u00a0Athanasius received the best education the ancient world had to offer. \u00a0He grew up in the cosmopolitan center of Alexandria, Egypt, the New York of the ancient Mesopotamian world. \u00a0He mastered Greek literature and philosophy, rhetoric, jurisprudence, and Christian doctrine, and though he didn\u2019t know it at the time, he was going to need every last bit of that education. \u00a0<\/span> He became secretary to the great bishop of Alexandria at the time of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicea. \u00a0That\u2019s when the Church condemned the insidious errors of the Egyptian priest, Arius, who claimed that Christ was not truly God. \u00a0Soon thereafter, but still before he turned thirty, Athanasius himself became bishop of that all-important See (\u201csee\u201d is another name for the seat of episcopal or papal authority). \u00a0For many reasons, Arianism continued to grow and spread. It infected all of Christendom, in fact, and threatened to obliterate the unity of the Church. St Athanasius was the staunchest opponent of the heretics and the sturdiest defender of the Catholic faith throughout the battle. \u00a0His enemies knew what a critical player he was, and therefore constantly schemed to have him eliminated. They slandered and calumniated him, put him on false trial, stirred up more than one emperor against him, cajoled him, threatened him\u2026 In the end, Athanasius kept the faith intact, even though he was banished 5 separate times and spent over 17 years in exile. \u00a0In the Church\u2019s most dire hour, Athanasius saved the day. How was he able to do it? Two reasons: first, God had given him the opportunity to receive a top-notch education and he had taken full advantage of it; he had formed himself well during his youth, and thus he was able to sift through the subtle half-truths argued by his enemies without being deceived or even confused. \u00a0Second, he knew how to pray. Much of his exile was spent hiding with the monks in the Egyptian deserts, where he befriended St Anthony the Abbot, and other experts in prayer. <\/span> So there you have it. \u00a0Maybe you won\u2019t have to suffer exile and imprisonment to defend the faith, but defend it you will be called to do. \u00a0So get ready now: don\u2019t slack off in your studies, and don\u2019t skimp on your prayer. <\/span> Love, Uncle Eddy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Ethel, Right\u00a0now, your prayer life is more important than every other duty except one: your studies. \u00a0Right now, God needs you to be the best student you can be, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSt Athanasius - Regnum Christi<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-athanasius-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St Athanasius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dear Ethel, Right\u00a0now, your prayer life is more important than every other duty except one: your studies. \u00a0Right now, God needs you to be the best student you can be, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/st-athanasius-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Regnum Christi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RegnumChristiEn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-02T09:00:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Uncle-Eddy-Header.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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