st faith. Constantinople was destined to be the home
of every heresy.

In the meantime the holy Patriarch Alexander had gone to his rest. As
he lay on his deathbed he called for his beloved Athanasius, but there
was no reply. Athanasius had fled from the city, fearing from certain
words of the old man that he would be chosen to succeed him.

"Athanasius!" called the Patriarch once more.

There was one present who bore the same name, a not uncommon one in
the East; they brought him to the bedside of the dying Bishop, but his
eyes looked past him into space.

"Athanasius!" he called once more, "you think you can escape, but it
shall not be so." And with these words he died.

The same thought had been in the hearts of all. Athanasius was known
for his zeal and learning, his mortified life and his ardent love of
God. He was young, it was true, but he was wiser than many older men.
When the Bishops of the Church assembled to elect their new Patriarch,
the whole Catholic population surrounded the church, holding up their
hands to Heaven and crying, "Give us Athanasius!" The Bishops asked
nothing better. Athanasius was thus elected, as St. Gregory tells us,
by the suffrages of the whole people and by the choice of the Bishops
of the Church.

It was a heavy burden to be laid on the shoulders of a young man
scarcely thirty years of age. There were trials and combats ahead
before which, if Athanasius had seen them, even his bold and undaunted
spirit might have quailed. But the will of God, once made known to
him, was accepted bravely. He would bear the burden with all the
courage of his strong heart until the time came to lay it down.

The first few years of Athanasius' rule were years of peace during
which he devoted himself to the work he loved, the conversion of the
pagans and the visitation of his huge diocese, the Patriarchate of
Alexander. He traveled from city to city confirming and strengthening
the Church and making friends with the holy men over whom he had been
called to rule.

One day, when he had been but a few months Patriarch, a message was
brought to him from a stranger who wished to speak with him. His name
was Frumentius, and he had traveled from a distant country. Athanasius
was presiding at a meeting of Bishops. "Let him be brought in," he
said, "and let him tell us what he desires." The stranger was a man of
noble bearing and gentle manners. He had a wondrous tale to tell. He
and his brother AEdesiu