St. Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria

Athanasius was born in Alexandria about 296. His Life tells that Bishop Alexander first noticed him as a boy on the seashore, playing at church with other children and 'baptizing' them in sea water. As Alexander's deacon he attended the Council of Nicaea in 325, and in 328 he succeeded him as bishop of Alexandria.

For the rest of his life he opposed the Arian party, and he was driven from his see five times, spending years in exile in Trier, in Rome and among the monks of the Egyptian desert. His writings include On the Incarnation and the Life of St Antony, which made the desert monks known throughout the Christian world. He died in Alexandria on 2 May 373, having been bishop for forty-five years.