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From a discourse by Saint Athanasius

                        
   Archbishop of Alexandria  (297-373)

On the incarnation of the Word

     The Word of God, incorporeal, incorruptible and immaterial, entered our world. Yet is was not as if he had been remote from it up to that time. For there is no part of the world that was ever without his presence; together with his Father, he continually filled all things and places.
     Out of his loving-kindness for us he came to us, and we see this in the way he revealed himself openly to us. Taking pity on mankind's weakness, and moved by our corruption, he could not stand aside and see death have the mastery over us; he did not want creation to perish and his Father's work in fashioning man to be in vain. He therefore took to himself a body, no different from our own, for he did not wish simply to be in a body or only to be seen.
     If he had wanted simply to be seen, he could indeed have taken another, a nobler, body. Instead, he took our body in its reality.
     Within the Virgin he built himself a temple, that is, a body; he made it his own instrument in which to dwell and to reveal himself. In this way he received from mankind a body like our own, and, since all were subject to the corruption of death, he delivered this body over to death for all, and with supreme love offered it to the Father. He did so to destroy the law of corruption passed against all men, since all died in him. The law, which had spent its force on the body of the Lord, could no longer have any power against his fellowmen. Moreover, this was the way in which the Word was to restore mankind to immortality, after it had fallen into corruption, and summon it back from death to life. He utterly destroyed the power death had against mankind - as fire consumes chaff - by means of the body he had taken and the grace of the resurrection.  This is the reason why the Word assumed a body that could die, so that this body, sharing in the Word who is above all, might satisfy death's requirement in place of all. Because of the Word dwelling in that body, it would remain incorruptible, and all would be freed for ever from corruption by the grace of the resurrection.
     In death the Word made a spotless sacrifice and oblation of the body he had taken. By dying for others, he immediately banished death for all mankind.
     In this way the Word of God, who is above all, dedicated and offered his temple, the instrument that was his body, for us all, as he said, and so paid by his own death the debt that was owed. The immortal Son of God, united with all men by likeness of nature, thus fulfilled all justice in restoring mankind to immortality by the promise of the resurrection.  The corruption of death no longer holds any power over mankind, thanks to the Word, who has come to dwell among them through his one body. 

Source:  The Liturgy of the Hours - Office of Readings

Saint Athanasius (d. c. 368) was born at Alexandria in 297, during the struggle between orthodox Christians and followers of the heresy of Arianism, one of the greatest threats Christianity ever faced. Athanasius was well educated especially in Sacred Scripture and theology. He was ordained a deacon and became secretary to Bishop Alexander in his native city about 318.  Under several Emperors of the Roman Empire, Athanasius, after his election as bishop of Alexandria, was forced into five separate exiles due to his strong opposition to the schism threatened by the Arianists. 

Athanasius was present at the Council of Nicaea which condemned Arianism and excommunicated Arius, its founder.  Rulers of the Roman Empire during this conflict included Constantine followed by his sons  Constantine II and Constans who jointly ruled a divided empire. These were followed by Emperor Julian the Apostate who was killed in 363 and followed by Emperor Jovian. Jovian died after only an eight-month reign and was followed by Emperor Valens, who banished all orthodox bishops in 365 but revoked the order four months later.  During his seventeen years of on-and-off exile Athanasius was forced to flee into the desert where he was protected by the monks living there. The struggle against Arianism was eventually won, and Athanasius returned to his see. He spent the last seven years of his life in Alexandria and died there in 373. His efforts helped build the new Nicene party whose support eventually secured the triumph of orthodoxy over Arianism at the General Council of Constantinople in 381.  He was declared a Doctor of the Church and is called the "champion of orthodoxy." He aided the ascetic movement in Egypt and was the first to introduce knowledge of monasticism to the West. He wrote a number of outstanding works on the Incarnation and redemption and produced major treatises while in exile. 

Narrated by Frank Dugan