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MELETIUS OF
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MELETIUS OF LYcOPOLIS), and on this See also:account excommunicated by See also:Peter of See also:Alexandria, who had ordained him See also:deacon. After the See also:death of Peter (See also:November 25, 311), he was received into communion by Peter's successor, Achillas, elevated to the See also:presbytery, and put in See also:charge of one of the See also:great See also:city churches, Baucalis, where he continued to See also:discharge his duties with apparent faithfulness and See also:industry after the See also:accession of See also: Paul, starting with the conviction that the One See also:God cannot appear substantially (oI rLw&as) on See also:earth, and, consequently, that he cannot have become a See also:person in Jesus See also:Christ, had taught that God had filled the man Jesus with his See also:Logos (oo la) or See also:Power (SGvains). Lucian, on the other See also:hand, presisted in holding that the Logos became a person in Christ. But since he shared the above-mentioned belief of his master, ncthing remained for him but to see in the Logos a.. second essence, created by God before the See also:world, which came down to earth and took 'upon itself a human See also:body. In this body the Logos filled the See also:place of the intellectual or spiritual principle. Lucian's Christ, then, was not " perfect man," for that which constituted in him the See also:personal See also:element was a divine-essence; nor was he " perfect God," for the divine essence having become a person was other than the One God, and of a nature See also:foreign to him. It is this See also:idea which Arius took up and interpreted unintelligently. His doctrinal position is explained in his letters to his See also:patron See also:Eusebius, bishop of the imperial city of See also:Nicomedia, and to Alexander of Alexandria, and in the fragments of the poem in which he set forth his dogmas, which bears the enigmatic See also:title of " Thalia " (96.Xeta), used in See also:Homer, in the sense of " a goodly banquet," most unjustly ridiculed by See also:Athanasius as an See also:imitation of the licentious See also:style of the drinking-songs of the See also:Egyptian See also:Sotades (270 B.c.). From these writings it can, even nowadays be seen clearly that the See also:principal See also:object which he had in view was firmly to establish the unity and simplicity of the eternal God. However far the Son may surpass other created beings, he remains himself a created being, to whom the See also:Father before all time gave an existence formed out of not being (it 01')K 6vrwv); hence the name of Exoukonlians sometimes given to Arius's followers. On the other hand, Arius affirmed of the Son that he was " perfect God, only-begotten " (aXiipns Oees povoyeviis); that through. him God made the worlds (ai&ves, ages); that he was the product or offspring of the Father, and yet not as one among things made (4vvnpa 6.AA' mix ws €v rWv yeyevnnivwv). In his eyes it was See also:blasphemy when he heard that Alexander proclaimed in public that " as God is eternal, so is his Son,—when the Father, then the Son,—the Son is See also:present in God without See also:birth (ayevvi rws), ever-begotten (aeiryev'ris), an unbegotten-begotten (ayevvnroyev, s)." He detected in his bishop See also:Gnosticism, See also:Manichaeism and Sabellianism, and was convinced that he himself was the See also:champion of pure See also:doctrine against See also:heresy. He was quite unconscious that his own mono-See also:theism was hardly to be distinguished from that of the See also:pagan philosophers, and that his Christ was a demi-god. For years the controversy may have been fermenting in the See also:college of presbyters at Alexandria. See also:Sozomen relates that Alexander only interfered after being charged with remissness in leaving Arius so Iong to disturb the faith of the church. According to the See also:general supposition, the negotiations which led to the See also:excommunication of Arius and his followers among the presbyters and deacons took place in 318 or 319, but there are See also:good reasons for assigning the outbreak of the controversy to the time following the overthrow of See also:Licinius by See also:Constantine, i.e. to the See also:year 323. In any See also:case, from this time events followed one another to a speedy conclusion. Arius was not without adherents, even outside Alexandria. Those bishops who, like him, had passed through the school of Lucian were not inclined to let him fall without a struggle, as they recognized in the views of their See also:fellow-student their own doctrine, only set forth in a somewhat See also:radical See also:fashion. In addressing to Eusebius of Nicomedia a See also:request for his help, Arius ended with the words: Be mindful of our adversity, See also:thou faithful comrade of Lucian's school (,vXXovciai'wrhs)"; and Eusebius entered the lists energetically on his behalf. But Alexander too was active; by means of a circular See also:letter he published abroad the excommunication of his presbyter, and the controversy excited more and more general See also:interest. It reached even the ears of Constantine. Now See also:sole See also:emperor, he saw in the one See also:Catholic church the best means of See also:counter-acting the See also:movement in his vast See also:empire towards disintegration; and he at once realized how dangerous dogmatic squabbles might prove to its unity. His letter, preserved by the imperial biographer, Eusebius of Caesarea, is a See also:state document inspired by a wisely conciliatory policy; it made out both parties to be equally in the right and in the wrong, at the same time giving them both to understand that such questions, the meaning of which would be grasped only by the few, had better not be brought into public discussion; it was advisable to come to an agreement where the difference of See also:opinion was not fundamental. This well-meaning See also:attempt at reconciliation, betraying as it did no very deep understanding of the question, came to nothing. No course was See also:left for the emperor except to obtain a general decision. This took place at the fist See also:oecumenical See also:council, which was convened in See also:Nicaea (q.v.) in 325. After various turns in the controversy, it was finally dicided, against Arius, that the Son was " of the same substance " (8poov rios) with ' the Father,' and all thought of his being created or even subordinate had to be exduded. Constantine accepted the decision of the council and resolved to uphold it. Arius and the two bishops of Marmarica Ptolemais, who refused to subscribe the creed, were excommunicated and. banished to See also:Illyria, and even Eusebius bf Nicomedia, who accepted the creed, but not its anathemas, was exiled to See also:Gaul. Alexander returned to his see triumphant, but died soon after, and was succeeded by Athanasius (q.v.), his deacon, with whose indomitable fortitude and See also:strange vicissitudes the further course of the controversy is See also:bound up. It only remains for us here to See also:sketch what is known of the future career of Arius and the Arians. Although defeated at the council of Nicaea, t h e Arians were h 'no means subdued. Constantine, while strongly disposed at 'first to enforce the Nicene decrees, was gradually won to a more conciliatory policy by the See also:influence especially of Eusebius of Caesarea and Eusebius of Nicomedia, the latter of whom. returned from See also:exile in 328 and won the See also:ear of' the emperor, whom he baptized on his death-See also:bed. In 330 even Arius was recalled from banishment. Athanasius, on the other hand, was banished to Treves in 335. During his See also:absence Arius returned to Alexandria, but even now the See also:people are said to have raised a fierce See also:riot against the heretic. In 336 the emperor wasforced to summon him to See also:Constantinople. Bishop Alexander reluctantly assented to receive him once more into the bosom of the church, but before the See also:act of See also:admission was completed, Arius was suddenly taken See also:ill while walking in the streets, and died in a. few moments. His death seems to have exercised no influence See also:worth speaking of on the course of events. His theological radicalism had in any case never found many convinced adherents. It was mainly the opposition to the Homoousios, as a See also:formula open to heretical misinterpretation, and not See also:borne out by See also:Holy See also:Writ, which kept together the large party known as Semiarians, who under the leadership of the two Eusebiuses carried on, the strife against the Nicenes and especially Athanasius. Under the sons of Constantine See also:Christian bishops in numberless synods cursed one another turn by turn. In the western See also:half of the empire Arianism found no foothold, and even the despotic will of See also:Constantius, sole emperor after 351, succeeded only for the moment in subduing the bishops exiled for the See also:sake of their belief. In the See also:east, on the other hand, the Semiarians had for See also:long the upper hand. They soon split up into different See also:groups, according as they came to stand nearer' to or farther from the original position of Arius. The actual centre was formed by the Homoii, who only spoke generally of a likeness (o/µof.orils) of the Son to the Father; to the left of them were the Anomoii, who, with Arius, held the Son to be unlike *hums) the Father; to the right, the Homoiousians who, taking as their catchword " likeness of nature " (O uoQ r1js ear' ovQiav), thought that they could preserve the religious content of the Nicene formula with-out having to adopt the formula itself. Since this. party in the course of years came more and more into sympathy with the representatives of the Nicene party, the Homoousians, and notably with Athanasius, the much-disputed formula became more and more popular, till the council summoned in 381 at Constantinople, under the auspices of See also:Theodosius the Great, recognized the Nicene doctrine as the only orthodox one. Arianism, which had lifted up its See also:head. again under the emperor See also:Valens, was thereby thrust out of the state church. It lived to flourish anew among the Germanic tribes at the time of the great migrations. Goths, See also:Vandals, See also:Suebi, Burgundians and Langobardi embraced it; here too as a distinctive See also:national type of See also:Christianity it perished before the growth of See also:medieval Catholicism, and the name of Arian ceased to represent a definite See also:form of Christian doctrine within the church, or a definite party outside it. The best account of the proceedings, both See also:political and theological, may be found in the following books:—H. M. Gwatkip., Studies of Arianism (2nd edit., Cambtid e, 1900); A. See also:Harnack, See also:History of Dogma (Eng. trans., 1894-1899); J. F. See also:Bethune-See also:Baker, An Introduction to the Early History of Christian Doctrine (See also:London, 1903); W. See also:Bright, The See also:Age of the Fathers (London, 1903). See also:Cardinal See also:Newman's celebrated Arians off the See also:Fourth See also:Century is interesting more from the controversial than from the See also:historical point of view. See also Paavo Snellman, Der Anfang See also:des arianischen Streites (See also:Helsingfors, 1904) ; See also:Sigismund Rogala, See also:Die Anfange des arianischen Streites (See also:Paderborn, 1907). (G. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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