ARIUS, the founder of the Arian sect, was a native of Lybia, or, according to Photius, of Alexandria, and flourished at the beginning of the fourth century. With the circumstances of his education and early life, we are not fully or accurately acquainted. He first distin guished himself by the peculiar opinions which lie held concerning the person of Christ. Alexander, the bishop of Alexandria, and in whose diocese he was a presbyter, having advanced doctrines which were thought to sa vour of Sabellianism, Arius opposed him, and carried his opposition so far, as to argue that Jesus Christ was not a divine person, but only the highest of created be ings. Arius was exhorted by Alexander to renounce such opinions; but having persisted in maintaining and disseminating them, he was accused of impiety by tha, zealous prelate before a council of a hundred bishops, assembled for the purpose of trying him ; and there his doctrine was condemned, and he himself solemnly ex pelled from the communion of the church. In conse quence of this, he retired into Palestine, where he was well received. From that country he wrote letters to the most eminent men of those times in defence and il lustration of his system, and with such success, that great numbers adopted it, among whom were several of considerable influence and authority.
This controversy, which was chiefly carried on by Arius and Alexander, attracted the notice of the empe ror Constantine. At first he was contented with ad dressing a letter to the contending parties, and admo nishing them to put an end to their disputes. But find ing that the affair was of greater moment than he ori• ginally suspected, and that his admonitions did not produce their intended effects, he at length assembled a general council at Nicc, by which, after many violent debates, Arius was found guilty of being a great and obstinate heretic. He was banished among the Illy rians, his doctrine was publicly condemned, his writings were committed to the flames, his followers were com pelled to give their assent to a creed which was com posed by the council, and so preposterous and inconsis tent was the zeal which endeavoured to bear down his cause, that while Arians, and even Arius himself, were subjected to banishment only, Constantine ordered all those who should conceal any of Arius's works to be put to death in the most summary way.
It was not long after this that Arius and his followers succeeded in recovering that place and credit in the church which they had thus lost. ' Constantine having been persuaded by an Arian priest, whom his sister Constantia had recommended to him on her death-bed, that Arius had been unjustly and malicioubly treated, recalled him from banishment, repealed the laws that had been enacted against him, and anxiously endeavour ed to get him reinstated in his former office. This was firmly and resolutely opposed by Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, who, however, on account of this opposition to the emperor's measures, was deposed by a council held at Tyre, and banished into Gaul. Arius and his followers were solemnly restored to their privileges, and received again into the communion of the church at Jerusalem. Still, however, the people of Alexandria were obstinate in their refusal to admit him as one of their presbyters ; upon which the emperor invited him to Constantinople, and issued a peremptory order for his admission into the Constantinopolitan church. But, before this order could be executed, and just as he was going to attend the great church of that city, for the purpose of receiving the sacrament, he died in a man ner too dismal and shocking to relate. His enemies, triumphing in his fall, declared, without hesitation, that it was a judgment from heaven for his impiety. But, after considering all the circumstances of the case, there seems to be great reason for suspecting that poison had been administered, and that this inhuman method had been adopted from motives of revenge, or from a foolish distrust of the power of argument and truth.