Hail, Defender of Orthodoxy and Pillar of the Church

Today is the feast of Saint Athanius, implacable adversary of the Arians, who denied that the Son was of one substance with the Father.   At times it seemed that Saint Athanasius stood alone on the ramparts of orthodoxy.  For his efforts and fortitude we call him Defender of Orthodoxy and Pillar of the Chuch.  St. Athanasius is also a Father of the Church.  His defense of orthodoxy did not exactly make Saint Athanasius popular with his fellow bishops or with the political authorities; he was exiled by four separate emperors.

From Saint Athanasius' "On the Incarnation of the Word:"

When, then, the minds of men had fallen finally to the level of
   sensible things, the Word submitted to appear in a body, in order that
   He, as Man, might center their senses on Himself, and convince them
   through His human acts that He Himself is not man only but also God,
   the Word and Wisdom of the true God. This is what Paul wants to tell us
   when he says: "That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be
   strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the length and breadth
   and height and depth, and to know the love of God that surpasses
   knowledge, so that ye may be filled unto all the fullness of God." [22]
   The Self-revealing of the Word is in every dimension--above, in
   creation; below, in the Incarnation; in the depth, in Hades; in the
   breadth, throughout the world. All things have been filled with the
   knowledge of God.

Bernini's famous Chair of St. Peter: St. Ambrose and St. Augustine are on the right, St. Athanasius and St. John Chrysostom on the left.  To paraphrase John Wayne in "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon:" There's four aces for you, boy!