The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (283 page)

Athanasian Creed
.

A statement of faith formerly widely used in W. churches. It begins: ‘Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith. Which faith except everyone do keep whole and undefiled, he shall perish everlastingly.’ The opening words thus furnish the alternative title ‘Quicunque Vult’. It was composed in the 4th or 5th cent. (certainly after the time of
Athanasius
) in Latin.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(
c.
296–373).
Bishop of
Alexandria
and important church
father
. He opposed any compromise with
Arianism
at the council of
Nicaea
(325), and so was repeatedly deposed and exiled from his
see
while that party was in the ascendant. He was finally restored in 366. Athanasius's most important work (written before
c.
318) was
On the
Incarnation
. Athanasius's (probably genuine) Life of
Antony
stimulated the monastic movement in Egypt and made it known in the West.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Atharvan
.

The priest who in Indian religion was the first to generate fire, to institute its worship, and to offer
soma
(
g Veda
1. 83. 5). For those reasons he was called ‘the father of fire’. His descendants, the Atharv
nas, have inherited his responsibilities in relation to domestic rituals. See also
ATHARVA VEDA
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(Skt.). The
Vedic
collection of hymns used by the
Atharvan
priests in the domestic rituals. Because of its lack of connection to the larger, more public Vedic sacrifices, the
Atharva Veda
early on was relegated to a secondary position and denied the title
Veda
accorded the
tray
vidy
(threefold knowledge), i.e. the
g
,
S
ma
, and
Yajur Veda
. The Atharvan school responded by claiming the office of the domestic priest (
purohita
) and officiating priest (
brahman
), by adding a final section of hymns (book 20) devoted specifically to one of the major sacrifices, the
soma
sacrifice, and by expounding a tradition of the fourfold Veda. The Atharva Veda consists of sundry hymns not easily divided into these categories. Charms, curses, hymns intended for healing, recovering, or inflicting injury are mixed with hymns of praise and speculation.