Office Of Readings | Week 1, Thursday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Discourse Of Saint Athanasius Against The Gentiles | The Word Of The Father Orders And Contains The Universe

Christian Art | Jesus Christ The Word Orders And Sustains Creation

Office Of Readings | Week 1, Thursday, Ordinary Time | A Reading From The Discourse Of Saint Athanasius Against The Gentiles | The Word Of The Father Orders And Contains The Universe

‘The Word of the Father gives order, direction and unity to creation.’

In this passage from Against the Pagans, Saint Athanasius presents a carefully ordered vision of creation governed by the Word of God. His concern is not only to defend Christian belief against pagan thought, but to show that the structure and coherence of the world itself point to the Word as its source and sustainer.

Athanasius begins with an appeal to reason and observation. The world is not chaotic or arbitrary. Its movement, stability, and beauty display order and intelligibility. If creation were governed by chance, it would lack coherence. Because it is rationally ordered, it must arise from reason. For Athanasius, this reason is not an abstract principle but the living Word of God.

The Word is described as distinct from all created things. He is not part of the world, nor one element within it, but the one through whom all things were made. Athanasius insists that the Word is God in his own right, proceeding from the Father and sharing fully in divine life. This is not a secondary or lesser power, but the Father’s own Word, acting in goodness.

Creation, in Athanasius’s account, does not merely come into being through the Word and then continue on its own. It remains in existence only because the Word sustains it. Without this continual presence and guidance, creation would collapse back into nothingness. Existence itself is therefore a gift that must be upheld.

A key theme is unity. The Word ‘joins opposites together’ and forms harmony from difference. Athanasius uses the image of a single sound composed of many notes to describe the world. Diversity does not threaten unity; it is ordered within it by the Word. This ordering is not imposed from outside but arises from the Word’s presence throughout reality.

The Word’s activity is universal. He pervades all things, visible and invisible, and leaves nothing outside his sustaining power. This does not mean that creation becomes divine, but that it remains dependent. The Word gives life, coherence, and direction to each creature according to its nature.

Athanasius concludes by linking this cosmic role of the Word with his role in the Church. The same Word who sustains creation is the head of the Church. There is no division between the order of nature and the order of salvation. Both are held together in the one Word, who gives unity, direction, and life.

A Reading From The Discourse Of Saint Athanasius Against The Gentiles | The Word Of The Father Orders And Contains The Universe

By his own wisdom and Word, who is our Lord and Saviour Christ, the all-holy Father (whose excellence far exceeds that of any creature), like a skilful steersman guides to safety all creation, regulating and keeping it in being, as he judges right. It is right that creation should exist as he has made it and as we see it happening, because this is his will, which no one would deny. For if the movement of the universe were irrational, and the world rolled on in random fashion, one would be justified in disbelieving what we say. But if the world is founded on reason, wisdom and science, and is filled with orderly beauty, then it must owe its origin and order to none other than the Word of God.

He is God, the living and creative God of the universe, the word of the good God, who is God in his own right. The Word is different from all created things: he is the unique Word belonging only to the good Father. This is the Word that created this whole world and enlightens it by his loving wisdom. He who is the good Word of the good Father produced the order in all creation, joining opposites together, and forming from them one harmonious sound. He is God, one and only-begotten, who proceeds in goodness from the Father as from the fountain of goodness, and gives order, direction and unity to creation.

By his eternal Word the Father created all things and implanted a nature in his creatures. He did not want to see them tossed about at the mercy of their own natures, and so be reduced to nothingness. But in his goodness he governs and sustains the whole of nature by his Word (who is himself also God), so that under the guidance, providence and ordering of that Word, the whole of nature might remain stable and coherent in his light. Nature was to share in the Father’s Word, whose reality is true, and be helped by him to exist, for without him it would cease to be. For unless the Word, who is the very ‘image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,’ kept it in existence it could not exist. For whatever exists, whether visible or invisible, remains in existence through him and in him, and he is also the head of the Church, as we are taught by the ministers of truth in their sacred writings.

The almighty and most holy Word of the Father pervades the whole of reality, everywhere unfolding his power and shining on all things visible and invisible. He sustains it all and binds it all together in himself. He leaves nothing devoid of his power but gives life and keeps it in being throughout all of creation and in each individual creature.

Christian Prayer With Jesus Christ

Word of the Father,
Through whom all things were made
and in whom all things hold together,

You give order to creation
and sustain all that exists.

Keep us within your light,
steady our lives by your wisdom,
and guard us from falling into disorder.

As you bind all things together in yourself,
gather us into unity and faith,
that we may remain in the life you give.
Amen

Glossary Of Christian Terms

The Word | The Son of God, through whom the Father creates, sustains, and orders all things.

Creation | All that exists, visible and invisible, brought into being through the Word.

Order | The coherence, harmony, and intelligibility present in creation.

Providence | God’s ongoing guidance and care for creation through the Word.

Unity | The harmony of diverse elements held together by the Word.

Wisdom | The divine reason by which creation is shaped and directed.

Image of the invisible God | A biblical title for the Son, expressing his perfect revelation of the Father.

Firstborn of all creation | A title indicating the Son’s priority and authority over creation, not his being created.

Sustaining | The continual action by which the Word keeps creation in existence.

Nothingness | The absence of being, from which creation would fall without the Word’s support.

Harmony | The ordered relationship of differing elements within creation.

Goodness | The divine motive underlying creation and its preservation.

Head of the Church | The role of Christ as the source of life and unity for the Church.

Visible and invisible | All realms of existence, material and spiritual.

Divine governance | God’s rule over creation exercised through the Word.

Dependence | The condition of creation as reliant on the Word for existence and stability.

Light | A symbol of the Word’s presence, clarity, and sustaining power.