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Arianism is the nontrinitarian, theological teaching attributed to Arius (c. AD 250–336), a Christianpresbyter in Alexandria, Egypt, concerning the relationship of God the Father to the Son of God,Jesus Christ. Arius asserted that the Son of God was a subordinate entity to God the Father. Deemed a heretic by the Ecumenical First Council of Nicaea of 325, Arius was later exonerated in 335 at the regional First Synod of Tyre,[1] and then, after his death, pronounced a heretic again at the Ecumenical First Council of Constantinople of 381.[2] The Roman Emperors Constantius II (337–361) and Valens (364–378) were Arians or Semi-Arians.
The Arian concept of Christ is that the Son of God did not always exist, but was created by—and is therefore distinct from—God the Father. This belief is grounded in the Gospel of John (14:28)[3]passage: "You heard me say, 'I am going away and I am coming back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I."
Arianism is defined as those teachings attributed to Arius, supported by the Council of Rimini, which are in opposition to the post-Nicaean Trinitarian Christological doctrine, as determined by the first two Ecumenical Councils and currently maintained by the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Assyrian Church of the East, all Reformation-founded Protestant churches (Lutheran, Reformed/Presbyterian, and Anglican), and a large majority of groups founded after the Reformation and calling themselves Protestant (such as Methodist, Baptist, most Pentecostals). Modern Christian groups which may be seen as espousing some of the principles of Arianism include Unitarians, Oneness Pentecostals, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses, Iglesia ni Cristo and Branhamism, though the origins of their beliefs are not necessarily attributed to the teachings of Arius.[4] "Arianism" is also often used to refer to other nontrinitarian theological systems of the 4th century, which regarded Jesus Christ—the Son of God, the Logos—as either a created being (as in Arianism proper and Anomoeanism), or as neither uncreated nor created in the sense other beings are created (as in Semi-Arianism).
Contents
[hide]- 1 Origin
- 2 Beliefs
- 3 First Council of Nicaea and its aftermath
- 4 Theological debates
- 5 Theodosius and the Council of Constantinople
- 6 Later debates
- 7 Early medieval Germanic kingdoms
- 8 Remnants in the West, 5th to 7th centuries
- 9 "Arian" as a polemical epithet
- 10 Arianism resurfaces after the Reformation, 16th century
- 11 See also
- 12 References
- 13 External links
Origin[edit]
Main articles: Arius and Arian controversy
Arius taught that God the Father and the Son of God did not always exist together eternally.[5] Arians taught that the Logos was a divine being created by God the Father before the world. The Son of God is subordinate to God the Father.[6] In English-language works, it is sometimes said that Arians believe that Jesus is or was a "creature", in the sense of "created being". Arius and his followers appealed to Bible verses such as Jesus saying that the father is "greater than I" (John 14:28), and "The LORD/Yahweh created me at the beginning of his work" (Proverbs8:22).[7]
Controversy over Arianism arose in the late 3rd century and persisted throughout most of the 4th century. It involved most church members—from simple believers, priests and monks to bishops, emperors and members of Rome's imperial family. Such a deep controversy within the Church during this period of its development could not have materialized without significant historical influences providing a basis for the Arian doctrines.[8]Some historians define and minimize the Arian conflict as the exclusive construct of Arius and a handful of rogue bishops engaging inheresy;[citation needed] but others reinvent Arius as a defender of 'original' Christianity,[citation needed] or as providing a conservative response against the politicization of Christianity seeking union with the Roman Empire.[citation needed] Of the roughly three hundred bishops in attendance at theCouncil of Nicea, only two bishops did not sign the Nicene Creed, which condemned Arianism.[9] Two Roman emperors, Constantius II andValens, became Arians, as did prominent Gothic, Vandal and Lombard warlords both before and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
Lucian of Antioch had contended for a Christology very similar to what would later be known as Arianism[citation needed] and is thought to have influenced its development.[citation needed] (Arius was a student of Lucian's private academy in Antioch.) After the dispute over Arianism became politicized and a general solution to the divisiveness was sought—with a great majority holding to the Trinitarian position—the Arian position was officially declared heterodox.
Arianism continued to exist for several decades, even within the family of the emperor, the imperial nobility, and higher-ranking clergy.[citation needed] But, by the end of the 4th century it had surrendered its remaining ground to Trinitarianism in the official Roman church hierarchy.[citation needed] In western Europe, Arianism, which had been taught by Ulfilas, the Arian missionary to the Germanic tribes, was dominant among the Goths and Lombards (and, significantly for the late Empire, the Vandals); but it ceased to be the mainstream belief by the 8th century, as the rulers of these Germanic tribes gradually adopted Catholicism, beginning with Clovis I of the Franks in 496. It was crushed through a series of military and political conquests,[citation needed] culminating in religious and political domination of Europe over the next 1,000 years by Trinitarian forces in the Catholic Church. Trinitarianism has remained the dominant doctrine in all major branches of the Eastern and Western Church and later within Protestantism.