Arianism

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Arianism , Christian heresy founded by Arius in the 4th cent. It was one of the most widespread and divisive heresies in the history of Christianity. As a priest in Alexandria, Arius taught (c.318) that God created, before all things, a Son who was the first creature, but who was neither equal to nor coeternal with the Father. According to Arius, Jesus was a supernatural creature not quite human and not quite divine. In these ideas Arius followed the school of Lucian of Antioch.

Rise of Arianism

Because of his heretical teachings, Arius was condemned and deprived of his office. He fled to Palestine and spread his doctrine among the masses through popular sermons and songs, and among the powerful through the efforts of influential leaders, such as Eusebius of Nicomedia and, to a lesser extent, Eusebius of Caesarea . The civil as well as the religious peace of the East was threatened, and Roman Emperor Constantine I convoked (325) the first ecumenical council (see Nicaea, First Council of ). The council condemned Arianism, but the Greek term homoousios [consubstantial, of the same substance] used by the council to define the Son's relationship to the Father was not universally popular: it had been used before by the heretic Sabellius. Some, like Marcellus of Ancyra , in attacking Arianism, lapsed into Sabellianism (see under Sabellius ).

Eusebius of Nicomedia used this fear of Sabellianism to persuade Constantine to return Arius to his duties in Alexandria. Athanasius , chief defender of the Nicene formula, was bishop in Alexandria, and conflict was inevitable. The Eusebians managed to secure Athanasius' exile, and when the Arian Constantius II became emperor, Catholic bishops in the East, e.g., Eustathius , were banished wholesale.

Athanasius' exile in Rome brought Pope Julius I into the struggle. A council wholly favorable to Athanasius, convened at Sardica (c.343), was avoided by the Eastern bishops and ignored by Constantius. The Catholics were left dependent on Rome for support. After the West fell to Constantius, the Eusebians reversed the decisions of Sardica in several councils (Arles, 353; Milan, 355; Boziers, 356), and Pope Liberius , St. Hilary of Poitiers , and Hosius of Cordoba were exiled. The victorious Arians, however, had now begun to quarrel among themselves.

Divisions within Arianism

The Anomoeans [Gr.,=unlike], followers of Eunomius and Aetius , were pure Arians and held that the Son bore no resemblance to the Father. The semi-Arian court party were called Homoeans [Gr.,=similar], from their teaching that the Son was simply like the Father as defined by Scripture. A third party called Homoiousians [Gr.,=like in substance] were largely prevented from joining the orthodox (Homoousian) party through a misunderstanding of terms. The Arians debated their differences at Sirmium (351–59). The final formula was an ambiguous Homoean declaration that Constantius imposed (359) on the church in two councils, Rimini (for the West) and Seleucia (for the East).

Arianism Defeated

The voices of orthodoxy, however, were not silent. In the West St. Hilary of Poitiers and in the East St. Basil the Great , St. Gregory Nazianzen , and St. Gregory of Nyssa continued to defend and interpret the Nicene formula. By 364 the West had a Catholic emperor in Valentinian I, and when the Catholic Theodosius I became emperor of the East (379), Arianism was outlawed. The second ecumenical council was convoked to reaffirm the Nicene formula (see Constantinople, First Council of ), and Arianism within the empire seems to have expired at once.

However, Ulfilas had carried (c.340) Homoean Arianism to the Goths living in what is now Hungary and the NW Balkan Peninsula with such success that the Visigoths and other Germanic tribes became staunch Arians. Arianism was thus carried over Western Europe and into Africa. The Vandals remained Arians until their defeat by Belisarius (c.534). Among the Lombards the efforts of Pope St. Gregory I and the Lombard queen were successful, and Arianism finally disappeared (c.650) there. In Burgundy the Catholic Franks broke up Arianism by conquest in the 6th cent. In Spain, where the conquering Visigoths were Arians, Catholicism was not established until the mid-6th cent. (by Recared), and Arian ideas survived for at least another century. Arianism brought many results—the ecumenical council, the Catholic Christological system, and even Nestorianism and, by reaction, Monophysitism .

Bibliography

See H. M. Gwatkin, Studies of Arianism (2d ed. 1900); J. H. Newman, The Arians of the Fourth Century (1933, repr. 1968); J. Pelikan, The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (1971).

Arianism. The main heresy which denied the full Divinity of Christ, so called after its author, Arius. Arius seems to have held that the Son of God was not eternal but created by the Father from nothing as an instrument for the creation of the world; He was therefore not God by nature, but a creature susceptible of change, even though He differed from other creatures in being the one direct creation of God; His dignity as Son of God was given Him by the Father on account of his foreseen righteousness. Earlier scholars saw this teaching as an adulteration of Christian faith by pagan philosophical concerns; recently it has been argued that a major objective of the Arians was to distinguish the Divinity of the Father from that of the Son in order to avoid ascribing the limitations of the Incarnate Son to the full Divinity which they attributed only to the Father.

The teaching of Arius, though condemned by a synod at Alexandria (c.320), spread until Constantine, anxious for peace in the Empire, called a General Council which met at Nicaea in 325. The Council, largely under the leadership of Athanasius, defined the Catholic faith in the coeternity and coequality of the Father and the Son; the famous term ‘homoousios’ was used to express their consubstantiality. Constantine, at first a supporter of the Nicene faith, soon wavered, and in 350 Constantius, an avowed Arian, became sole ruler. Among the Arians three main groups emerged: the ‘Anomoeans’, also known in modern times as ‘Neo-Arians’, pressed the differences between the Father and the Son; the ‘Homoeans’ tried to avoid dogmatic precision by affirming that the Son is similar to the Father ‘according to the Scriptures’; the ‘Semiarians’ favoured the term ‘homoiousios’ as expressing both the similarity and the distinction between the first two Persons of the Trinity. A Homoean formula, drawn up by a Council of Sirmium (357), was accepted by a double Council of E. and W. bishops which met at Seleucia and Ariminum respectively in 359. This crowning victory of Arianism frightened the Semiarians into the ranks of orthodoxy, and with the death of Constantius (361) Arianism lost its chief supporter. In 362 Athanasius held a Council which helped to unite a wide spectrum of opponents of Arianism. In the W. Arius had little direct influence, though for some time a more straightforward biblical form of subordinationism was a powerful force there. The brilliant expositions of the Nicene faith by the Cappadocian Fathers prepared the way for the final victory of orthodoxy at the Council of Constantinople in 381.

Driven from the Empire, Arianism retained a hold among the Teutonic tribes, which prevented their assimilation with their Catholic subjects when they overran most of the W. Empire and caused persecutions in Spain and N. Africa. The conversion of the Franks to Catholicism (496) was the prelude to the disappearance of Arianism.

Arianism The teaching of Arius (250–336 AD), a Libyan priest living in Alexandria, who preached a Christian heresy. He declared JESUS CHRIST was not divine, simply an exceptional human being. In 325 the Council of NICAEA excommunicated and banished him. After CONSTANTINE's death the Roman empire was divided on the issue and another condemnation was issued at Constantinople in 381. Germanic invaders of the empire generally adopted Arianism as it was simpler than orthodox Christianity. It spread throughout western Europe and persisted in places until the 8th century.

Arianism. The Christian heresy according to which the Son of God was a creature and not truly God. In the Arian system the Son could be called ‘God’, but only as a courtesy title; he was created (not begotten) by the Father, and he achieved his divine status by his perfect obedience to him. As a creature, it must be said of Christ ēn pote hote ouk ēn (a famous slogan), ‘there was once when he was not’. The chief proponent of the doctrine was the Alexandrian priest Arius (c.250–c.336).

Arianism, a Christian heresy involving the denial of the full divinity of Christ, taking its name from its 4th‐century originator, Arius of Alexandria. Arian opinions led to the imprisonment in 1702 of Thomas Emlyn. From 1813 their public expression ceased to be a crime, and some leading Irish Presbyterian ministers acknowledged their Arianism, plunging the Synod of Ulster into the bitter controversy that led to the Remonstrant schism of 1830.

R. F. G. Holmes

Arianism in Christian theology, the main heresy denying the divinity of Christ, originating with the Alexandrian priest Arius (c.250–c.336). Arianism maintained that the son of God was created by the Father and was therefore neither coeternal nor consubstantial with the Father. It retained a foothold among Germanic peoples until the conversion of the Franks to Catholicism (496).

Arianism Theological school based on the teachings of Arius (c.ad 250–336), considered heretical by orthodox Christianity. Arius taught that Christ was a created being, and that the Son, though divine, was neither equal nor co-eternal with the Father. Arianism was condemned by the first Council of Nicaea (325).