Athanasius was bishop of Alexandria from 328 until his death (337). His fight for the right faith, his writings and his ability to win the pope of Rome for his aims and to integrate monkhood into the church made him the most important figure in the 4th century church. With his letters to Serapion, bishop of the Egyptian city of Thmuis, he initiated a new phase in the formulation of the faith by introducing into theology the question of the deity of the Holy Spirit with regard to the Nicene Creed (creed of the first ecumenical council in Nicaea).

A text-critical edition of the third speech against the Arians (in Greek) within the Berlin edition of Athanasius Werke. The edition presents the third speech against the Arians, which the Alexandrian bishop Athanaius composed probably between 342-345 CE. The new critical edition of this writing, which because of its dogmatic statements on Christology was often later cited in secondary sources, takes the place of Bernard de Montfaucon s edition of 1698 and the various reprints of it."