Wybrane elementy napastliwej polemiki antyariańskiej w „Orationes contra Arianos” św. Atanazego Wielkiego na tle literackiej tradycji inwektywy

Abstract

The selected elements of the aggressive anti-Arian polemics in Orationes contra Arianos of St. Athanasius the Great in the literary tradition of the invective. An invective has a long story in the ancient literature. It was form of struggle with an opponent. The word „invective” comes from Latin verb inveho, which means in the passive voice „disapprove, rebuke, reprehend” We can comprehend it in two way: as an insult (contumelia) with vulgar expressions or as a literary work (invertiva oratio) written in accordance with canons of the ancient rhetoric. We meet it in the prose and poetry, we can find it also in the Bible, even in words of Jesus. Christians used invectives in struggles with their adversaries too. St. Athanasius, archbishop of Alexandria, fought with Arms and the Arian heresy in the defence of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and he used in this controversy invectives. There are many invectives in his Orations against Arians. I have divided it in 3 groups: against Arms and his followers, respect his opus, refer his style. St. Athanasius conjoined theological arguments with invectives for defending the orthodoxy in the Christian faith.