St. Athanasius was a warrior, but not in military battles. He was a warrior for the Truth about Christ. His first major work, written when he just about twenty years old, was On the Incarnation. He was secretary to the Bishop of Alexandria, (in which role he attended the Council of Nicaea) and then, upon the latter's death, became bishop himself. In subsequent years, the heresy of Arianism (which declared Jesus to be far less that fully divine - more like an exalted semi-deity) was born, and then took hold in many parts of the empire under a surprising number of sympathetic bishops. Athanasius was the leader in orthodoxy, and paid the price. During these post-Constantine years, of course, religion and politics were intertwined and the fate of Athansius rested with the sympathies of the Emperor - as a result, he was exiled five times.
St. Athanasius and orthodox, eventually prevailed, but not without paying a price. A good reminder for modern comfortable Catholics. From St. Athanasius:
The Word of God, incorporeal, incorruptible, and immaterial, entered our world.
Out of his loving-kindness for us he came to us, and we see this in the way he revealed himself openly to us. Taking pity on mankind's weakness, and moved by our corruption, he could not stand aside and see death have the mastery over us. He did not want creation to perish and his Father's work in fashioning man to be in vain. He therefore took to himself a body, no different from our own, for he did not wish simply to be in a body or only to be seen.
By dying for others, he immediately banished death for all mankind. The corruption of death no longer holds any power over mankind, thanks to the Word, who has come to dwell among us through his one body.
And...
All of us are naturally frightened of dying and the dissolution of our bodies, but remember this most startling fact: that those who accept the faith of the cross despise even what is normally terrifying, and for the sake of Christ cease to fear even death. When He became man, the Savior's love put away death from us and renewed us again; for Christ became man that we might become God."
And, of course, his most well-known quote:
He became what we are that He might make us what He is.
