Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Athanasius (1), bishop of Anagastus in Cilicia Secunda

by Edmund Venables

Athanasius (1), bp. of Anagastus in Cilicia Secunda and metropolitan, a disciple of St. Lucian of Antioch (Philost. H. E. iii. 15), reckoned by Arius, in his letter to Eusebius Nicom., among the bishops who coincided with him in doctrine (Theod. H. E. i. 5). The great Athanasius (de Synod. p. 886) accuses him of having, previous to the council of Nicaea, written blasphemies equal to those of Arius, of which he gives a specimen. He is said by Le Quien, on the authority of the Lib. Synod. Graec., to have supported Arius at the council of Nicaea. Philostorgius (H. E. iii. 15) tells us that when Aetius was expelled from his master's house, after his unlucky victory in argument, Athanasius received him and read the Gospels with him.

[E.V.]