Saint Athanasius was born in Alexandria; his mother, like Anna, who brought her son Samuel to the temple of the Lord (1 Samuel 1:28), also brought him to St. Alexander, Patriarch of Alexandria, and gave him to the temple to serve God. And he began to spend his life at the temple, zealously fulfilling the commandments of God.
In 319, the patriarch ordained him deacon of the Church of Alexandria. Already at this time, St. Athanasius began to write works. The future saint saw that the new arrivals to the Church of Christ had no zeal, they had no true piety, many of them sought glory for themselves, talked nonsense, and carried over all the pagan customs that they had previously had into Christian life. A certain Arius appeared who blasphemed Christ, humiliated the Mother of God and angered the people, teaching the people to seek honor and glory, to penetrate the Church, to attain the priesthood and even the episcopacy. And many listened to him and became followers of this heresy – Arians. And this heresy spread so much that it almost overwhelmed the entire Church – it was a great battle. In 325, St. Athanasius attended the Council of Nicaea, where he opposed Arius.
In 326, after the death of Patriarch Alexander, St. Athanasius was elected to the See of Alexandria. As bishop, Athanasius traveled to churches, spoke a lot, fought against the Arians, wrote, denounced them, and all the untrue Christians rebelled against him and began to slander him. At that time, Constantine the Great reigned (306-337), he was considered the patron saint of the Church of Christ. He understood military strategy, diplomacy, and state affairs well, but he did not know church affairs or the preaching of the Gospel, so he hesitated between Arianism and Orthodoxy.
Taking advantage of the emperor's kindness and simplicity, the heretics surrounded his entire court, infiltrated all offices and began to whisper heresies and falsehoods and introduce schisms. They accused Archbishop Athanasius that he was a bad man, that he did not obey the king, levied taxes separately from the royal treasury and committed evil deeds, that he was a magician, a criminal, and a fornicator. The emperor saw great strife, enmity, and tried to establish peace, but there were times when war could open up, and then he suggested that Saint Athanasius retire somewhere for a while. The saint spent most of his long reign in exile, and then he often enjoyed the support of the monks, and was in friendship with both the fathers of monasticism, Saints Anthony and Pachomius.
In particular, heretics and evil people tried to accuse Saint Athanasius of not listening to the emperor's commands, not paying attention to his prescriptions, not accepting Arius into church communion, that he was a sorcerer and a sorcerer, being obvious sorcerers themselves, and that through some kind of dead hand, allegedly belonging to the cleric Arseny, he creates enchantments. The Emperor ordered an investigation. Arseny was a cleric, a reader, having committed some kind of offense, he hid for a long time, and when word of it began to spread everywhere, he showed a sense of truth and justice, because St. Athanasius of Christ was innocent, and Arseny himself was completely unharmed, his hand was not cut off, another person was somewhere The judges were found to be villains, although many of them were bishops. Feeling sorry for his father and benefactor, and grieving in his heart that the truth was being lawlessly defeated by lies, he secretly came to Athanasius himself, prostrating himself at his honest feet. Blessed Athanasius, rejoicing at Arseny's arrival, ordered him not to show himself to anyone until the trial.
Meanwhile, the malicious hatred of Athanasius' opponents increased so much that they added another lie to one: they bribed a shameless woman to slander Saint Athanasius, that he had committed lawlessness with her. When the trial began, the judges sat down in their seats and the slanderers appeared, and this woman was introduced. Weeping, she complained for a long time about the saint, whom she had never seen and did not even know what he looked like. Everyone listened in disbelief. But she did not even want to know the piety of the gospel, rejoicing that they had given her a lot of money. At that time, Athanasius's friend, Presbyter Timothy, standing with him outside the door and hearing everything, was indignant in spirit and, unexpectedly entering the courtroom, hurriedly stood before the eyes of that slanderer, as if he were Athanasius himself; he boldly addressed her: "Did I commit violence against you in the night, as you say?" And she cried out to the judges with even greater shamelessness: "This, this man is my molester and a malefactor against my purity; he..." The judges laughed when they saw the meanness, the comedy, and drove her away. But the opponents of St. Athanasius, although they were ashamed, did not calm down and began to accuse him of murdering Arseny, showing some kind of terrible-looking dead hand. Saint Athanasius listened to them patiently and was silent, then asked: "Is there anyone among you who knew Arseny well? Which of you can confirm if this is really his hand?" And the majority of the unrighteous judges stood up, jumped up and began to assert that this was indeed the hand of Arseny. And then, when they showed their dirty hearts and their deceit, the saint pulled back the curtain behind which Arseny was standing, led him out in front of the assembly and asked: "And who is this standing in front of you? You said that Arseny is dead, this is his hand." And everyone was horrified. "Here, men, and Arseny!  Saint Athanasius announced. – Here are his hands, which were not cut off at all! Show me your Arseny, if you have one, and tell me who owns the severed hand that condemns you as having committed this crime." But the judges continued to hold court, exhausting all their slander. And St. Athanasius, unable to bear the injustice being committed, testified aloud to the entire council: "Truth has been extinguished, truth has been trampled upon, justice has perished, legitimate investigation and careful consideration of cases have disappeared from judges! Is it lawful for those who wish to justify themselves to be kept in bonds, and for the trial of the whole case to be entrusted to slanderers and enemies, and for the slanderers themselves to judge the one they slander?" The saint was acquitted by the Emperor and sent to his Alexandrian see.
When Constantine the Great died and his second son Constantius took over the throne, the entire imperial court sided with the Arians. They began to persecute Orthodox Christians, exile bishops, and place on the thrones wicked, treacherous, fornicators, and heretics who did not recognize Jesus Christ as God. And Saint Athanasius had to flee to Rome, where he stayed for three years.
Then the Lord judged everything with His judgment: He punished Arius and the heretics, and the wicked king perished. After him, Julian the Apostate reigned for two years, followed by Jovinian the pious, then Valens, who, although he did much evil to the Church, but, fearing the rebellion of the Alexandrians, allowed St. Athanasius to return and fearlessly rule the Alexandrian Church. And it is described in the life of St. Athanasius that he lived in peace and tranquility for the last time of his life, and rested in the Lord on May 2, 373, at the age of 76.
Saint Athanasius was bishop of the city of Alexandria for 46 years and was expelled from the pulpit many times and returned back because Arians, who call themselves Christians who believe in the Gospel, sought and invented guilt in order to condemn and put the saint to death. But the Lord, in proclaiming the Gospel, did not preach to kill his enemies; these same villains pretended to be baptized, to become Christians, and to believe without piety.