January 26 - Kicked out, but not down

January 26 - Kicked out, but not down

It does not pay to get on the emperor's bad side.

One of the things that Constantine insisted upon was that the church be ecumenical. He wanted people to feel at home in the church. If they wanted to join, the bishops were to allow them in.

There was one man, however, that didn't quite agree with that. Athanasius decided that unless a person agree with the Creed of Nicaea, they weren't to be allowed into the church. Constantine followed through, kicked him not only out of the church, but out of the country and he was exiled to a town near what we know as Luxembourg now.

Constantine died and Athanasius returned to Alexandria, only to be exiled again. This time he went to Rome. He returned and three more times he was kicked out of the church for varying things that he believed in. He finally returned to finish out his bishopric until his death in 378 AD.

The biggest reason for his continued exiles was his refusal to accept anyone that didn't adhere to Orthodox beliefs in the church. He just wasn't going to waver on the subject. He wrote strong missives against Arius and that heresy. He wrote several pieces against pagans and even against Jews, defending the Christian faith.

There was one piece of writing, however, that has come down in history with great importance.

Every year the bishops sent out a letter to all of the churches letting them know the dates of Lent and Easter, which then allowed them to set the dates for all of the other church festivals. Along with that information, other things were written for the general good of the church.

Athanasius ended up writing 45 of these 'Festal Letters.' Thirteen of them still exist in their original form. In the thirty-ninth festal letter, he set forth a list of books of the Old and New Testaments which were considered to be canonical at the time. That list is identical to what we now know as the New Testament and was written in 367 AD.

Now, this list wasn't considered completely authoritative yet. Over the next years, there would be many disagreements. But, within 44 years of Constantine giving the church freedom to move within the Roman Empire, the books that we know as the New Testament were set into place as the canon of the Bible.

Athanasius' list gave these books authority and authenticity. The letters of Peter and the Revelation had been called into question and he silenced these questions. The book Shepherd of Hermas and The Epistle of Barnabas were stricken from the canon.

He stated that within these 27 books alone, the teaching of godliness was proclaimed.

This is a man who faced down the emperor of the Roman Empire. While it didn't look like he won the battle, he stood up against all odds for the strength of the teachings of the church.