ATHAN ASIUS ATHEISM. 



317 



been the nurse of Bacchus. But the plan tailed. 

 Nephele preserved her children by means of the 

 golden ram, and the messengers revealed the 

 treachery of Ino, who would have inevitably felt the 

 vengeance of A., had not the grateful Bacchus con- 

 veyed away his nurse. A., supposing that she was 

 put to death, married Themisto, the daughter of 

 Hypseus, king of the Lapithas. But Ino returned, 

 gained his love once more, and excited the jealousy 

 of Themisto to such a pitch, that she determined to 

 murder Ino's children. With this view, she ordered 

 their beds to be covered with black ; but Ino, 

 suspicious of some evil design, changed the clothes, 

 and the unconscious Themisto murdered her own 

 dhildren, and became a victim to despair. Others 

 relate, tluit A., having lost his reason through the 

 anger of Juno, and taking Ino and her children for 

 a lioness and her whelps, seized Learchus, and 

 dashed him against a stone ; that he then pursued 

 Ino, who, with Melicertus in her arms, plunged into 

 the sea. Stained with blood, A. now abandoned 

 Boeotia, and fled to Phthiotis, where he built Alos, 

 and again united himself with Themisto ; but, ac- 

 cording to Pausanias, he first went to Andreus, who 

 gave him the country around the mountain Laphy- 

 stium, which afterwards came to the children of 

 Phryxus. 



ATHANASIUS, Saint; bishop of Alexandria; a re- 

 nowned father ofthe church, born in that city, about 

 296. He had a Christian education, and came into 

 the family of Alexander, afterwards archbishop of 

 Alexandria, whose private secretary he became. He 

 then went to St Anthony, led an ascetic life with 

 that renowned anchorite, but at length returned to 

 Alexandria, where he became a deacon. Alexander 

 took him to the council at Nice, where he gained the 

 highest esteem of the fathers, by the talents which 

 he displayed in the Arian controversy. He had a 

 great share in the decrees passed here, and thereby 

 drew on himself the hatred of the Arians. After six 

 months, he was appointed the successor of Alexan- 

 der. The complaints and accusations of his enemies 

 at length induced the emperor Constantine to sum- 

 mon him, in 334, before the councils of Tyre and 

 Jerusalem. A. brought to light the iniquitous arts 

 which had been practised against him, and threw his 

 judges, who were likewise his enemies, into such con- 

 fusion, that the imperial deputies could with difficulty 

 rescue him from their anger. They could do nothing, 

 however, further than suspend him from his office. He 

 still continued in the discliarge of his duties, until the 

 jnperor, deceived by new falsehoods, banished him 

 to Tiwes. The death of Constantine put an end to 

 lliis banishment, at the end of a year and some months. 

 Constantius, emperor of the East, recalled the holy 

 patriarch. His return to Alexandria resembled a 

 triumph. The Arians made new complaints against 

 him, and he was condemned by ninety Arian bishops, 

 assembled at Antioch. On the contrary, 100 orthodox 

 bishops, assembled at Alexandria, declared him inno- 

 cent ; and pope Julius confirmed this sentence, in 

 conjunction with more tlian 300 bishops assembled at 

 ftardis, from the East and West. In consequence of 

 this, he returned a second time to his diocese. But 

 when Constans, emperor of the West, died, and 

 Constantius became master of the whole empire, the 

 Arians ventured to rise up 'against A. They con- 

 demned him in the councils of Aries and Milan, and, 

 as the worthy patriarch refused to listen to any thing 

 but an express command of the emperor, when he 

 was one (lay preparing to celebrate a festival in the t 

 church, 5000 soldiers suddenly rushed in to make him ' 

 prisoner. But the surrounding priests and monks 

 placed him in security. A., displaced for a third 

 time, fled into the deserts of Egypt. His enemies 



' pursued him even here, and set a price on his head. 

 To relieve the hermits, who dwelt in these solitary 

 places, and who would not betray his retreat, from 

 suffering on his account, he went into those parts of 

 the desert which were entirely uninhabited. He was 

 followed by a faithful servant, who, at the risk of his 

 life, supplied him with the means of subsistence. In 

 this undisturbed spot, A. composed many writings, 

 full of eloquence, to strengthen the faith of the be- 

 lievers, or expose the falsehood of his enemies. 

 When Julian the Apostate ascended the throne, he 

 allowed the orthodox bishops to return to their 

 churches. A. therefore returned, after an absence of 

 six years. The mildness which he exercised towards 

 his enemies was imitated in Gaul, Spain, Italy, and 

 Greece, and restored peace to the church. But this 

 peace was interrupted by the complaints of the 

 heathen, whose temples the zeal of A. kept always 

 empty. They excited the emperor against him, and 

 he was obliged to fly to Thebais to save his life. 

 The death of the emperor, and the accession of 

 Jovian, again brought him back ; but, Valens be- 

 coming emperor eight months after, and the Arians 

 recovering the superiority, he was once more com- 

 pelled to fly. He concealed himself in the tomb of 

 his father, where he remained four months, until 

 Valens, moved by the pressing entreaties and threats 

 of-the Alexandrians, allowed him to return. From 

 this period, he remained undisturbed in his office 

 till he died, 373. Of the forty-six years of his official 

 life, he spent twenty in banishment, and the great- 

 er part of the remainder in defending the Nicene 

 creed. A. is one of the greatest men of whom the 

 church can boast. His deep mind, his noble heart, 

 his invincible courage, his living faith, his unbound- 

 ed benevolence, sincere humility, lofty eloquence, 

 and strictly virtuous life, gained the honour and love 

 of all. His writings are on polemical, historical, and 

 moral subjects. The polemical treat chiefly of the 

 mysterious doctrines of the Trinity, the incarnation 

 of Christ, and the divinity of the Holy Spirit. The 

 historical ones are of the greatest importance for the 

 history of the church. In all his writings, the style 

 is distinguished, considering the age in which they 

 were produced, for clearness and moderation. His 

 Apology, addressed to the emperor Constantine, is a 

 masterpiece. The best edition is that of Montfaucon, 

 3 vols. fol., Paris, 1698. As a supplement to this 

 may be added the 2d vol. ofthe Library ofthe Church 

 Fathers, by the same editor (1706). 



ATHAPESCOW ; a lake of North America, about 

 100 leagues long, and from 10 to 30 wide ; long. 

 110 W. ; lat. 59" N. The name is applied to the 

 adjacent territory, and also to a river which flows 

 into the lake. Slave river flows from it to Slave 

 lake. 



ATHHSM (Greek, a priv. and !, God); the doc- 

 trine which teaches the non-existence of God, and is 

 opposed to theism, or deism. As a disposition or a 

 manner of thinking in regard to religion, it is the op- 

 posite of faith and belief. Atheism is always found 

 to prevail most in the most depraved times ; e. g., 

 among the Greeks after Pericles, among the Romans 

 after Augustus, among the French before the revolu- 

 tion, in tiie time ofthe systeme de la nature, &c. As 

 men have at all times conceived very different ideas 

 of the Supreme Being, it is evident that a great va- 

 riety must have existed in the definitions ofatheism : 

 thus we find that many of the most moral and noble 

 men liave been called atheists, because their idea of 

 the Divine Being did not agree with that of the mul- 

 titude ; e. g., Spinoza, a pattern of virtue. And even 

 in the present age, persons are not wanting who 

 stamp every one with the name of atheist, who does 

 not conceive God as separated from his creation, like 



