ATHANASIUS, bishop of ANAZARBUS. — A disciple of Lucian of Antioch, mentioned by Arius in his letters to Eusebius of Nicomedia among the bishops who accepted his doctrine (Theodoret, Hist. eccl., I, 4). He was bishop of Anazarbus (in Cilicia Secunda). St. Athanasius accused him of having written before the Council of Nicaea blasphemies similar to those of Arius, of which he preserved a sample (De Synodis, 27: PG 26, 712). He took part in the Council of Nicaea in 325, and it seems he submitted, at least outwardly (cf. Nicetas Choniates, in Thesaurus Orthodoxae fidei, V, 7: PL 139, 1368).
BIBL.: J. Mécerian, s.V. in DHG, IV, col. 1351. Mario Scarduto