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The Church Went Through A Period Of Cruel Persecution

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INTRODUCTION

The Church went through a period of cruel persecution under various Roman Empire emperors prior to the 4th century. The church also had to go through the issue with heretics inside the church. During this crucial period in church history, one of the important theological and ecclesiastical question concerned Christology. Christology deals with the life of Jesus Christ. One bishop, Arius, taught that Jesus was not God the Son. God providentially sent a man, St. Athanasius, to defend the Lord’s church. St. Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, became an important figure in church history. The cconflict with Arius and the successive Roman emperors shaped Athanasius 's ministry career. Why is Athanasius important for the life …show more content…

His work affects issues in the church today. For example, “The Jehovah’s Witnesses, in their rejection of the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity, not only follow in the footsteps of Arius, but hold him up as one of the great defenders of the “true” faith”.
“Alexandria was a leading commercial and cultural center in the Mediterranean world, second only to Rome itself”. “…Alexandria became a great Christian learning center, the home of the great catechetical school of Christian instruction…” this is the place where Athanasius would get his education. More importantly, “The background to the conflict lay in the church of Alexandria”.
St. Athanasius was born around the year AD 297 to a Christian family in the city of Alexandria. His parents were wealthy enough to afford giving him a fine secular education. At the young age of 10 years old, in A.D. 306, there was a baptism ritual with other children. Playing the part of a church official, he baptized one of the children during this sacrament of baptism. He impressed the bishop of Alexandria, Alexander, which he became one of his disciples.
He writes his treaties to Macarius, true lover of Christ. “In 318 Athanasius wrote his most famous work, De Incarnatione Verbi (On the Incarnation of the Word”), which shows the influence of Irenaeus and Origen; the incarnate Logos was divine and restored

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