ARIUS, an Alexandrian theologian and controversialist, the father of Arianism (q.v.) : b. in Libya, north Africa, about 256 A.D.; d. Constantinople, 336. He was educated under Lucien at Antioch and later went to Alexandria, where several years afterward he so severely suffered from the Diocletian persecution. He was ordained deacon by Peter, Bishop of Alex andria, whom he had joined in the Meletian Schism; then joined the schismatics and in consequence was excommunicated; later re pented and was restored to his former good standing; and about 311 was advanced to the priesthood and placed in charge of a suburban church.
In 318 Arius became involved in a contro versy with Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, about the doctrine of the person of Christ, the latter contending that there was only a single essence, whereas Arius denied that Christ was unoriginated being, but was created out of nothing and therefore in essence must be dif ferent from the Father. He also affirmed that though Christ were the Son of God, he was not so and of himself, but only so by the grace of God the Father; and that, were he in the truest sense a son, he must have come after the Father, therefore the time obviously was when he was not, and hence he was a finite being. These doctrines, emanating from a man of so great personal popularity and so highly regarded as a presbyter, though they contained nothing essentially new or original in thought and had been more or less prevalent in the Church for three or four generations, soon gained many adherents. Alexander, fearing the spread of the so-called heresy, in 321 called a council of 100 Egyptian and Libyan bishops, and Arius was immediately excommunicated.
Arius then retired to Nicomedia, under the protection of one of his supporters, Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, who, notwithstanding Alexander's exhortations to exclude the her etic, absolved him, and at a local synod in 323 brought about an endorsement of his opinions and actions. The dispute soon attracted the attention of Constantine, who had become em peror in•323. Thinking to avert further con troversy he sent his ecclesiastical adviser, Ho sius, Bishop of Cordova, to Alexandria, in an effort to arrange, through concessions by both parties, a doctrine to which both would sub scribe. This attempt at reconciliation being barren of results, Constantine in 325 called a general council of all the bishops of the Church at Nicaea, in Bithynia, Asia Minor. This was the first oecumenical council and the attendance has been variously estimated. Gibbon places the number of bishops at 318; Eusebius at 250; and others at 300 and 320. About 2,000 other representatives of the Church throughout the East also attended the sessions. The Eastern bishops attended in person; the Western Church was represented by seven delegates, the most important of • whom was Hosius, Bishop of Cordova, who presided over the sittings, which continued for about two months.
The conference developed into three distinct parties: (1) The strict Arians, led by Arius himself, who claimed that Christ was a pre existent, divine, finite being and was different in essence (heteroousios) from the Father ; that he was created by the Father out of nothing, but that he himself was the creator of the world and the incarnate Saviour; (2) The semi-Arians, who maintained that Christ was not identical in essence, but was of similar essence (homoiousios) with the Father; and (3) the Athanasians, led by Athanasius (q.v.),
a young deacon of Alexandria, as Alexander's personal representative, who contended that the Son was identical in essence (homoousios). There were two other parties present, those of Eusebius of Nicomedia, and those of Eusebius of Caesarea, the latter of which formulated a compromise creed, which was not, however, adopted. These two favored Arius and were classed as heretical, but later both signed the creed as adopted. After much discussion of the doctrines of Arius, his creed was torn in pieces and he himself ejected from the council, and the Athanasians succeeded, with the help of Constantine and the Western bishops, in securing the adoption of a creed to which the Arians would not subscribe. The council de clared that it was and always had been the teaching of the Church Apostolic, in conformity with the apostolic tradition in all the churches, that Jesus Christ was aconsubstantialp— in essence the same— with the Father. Thus in the Nicene Creed will be found the words con substantialis patri, an exact rendering of the Athanasian claim homoousios. The creed reads: uWe believe in the God, the Father Al mighty, maker of all things visible and invisi ble; and in one Lord Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father (that is of the essence of the Father) before all worlds God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being one substance (homoousios) with the Father,' etc. This was somewhat abridged in the Nicmno-Constantinopolitan creed of 381 A.D. In consequence of refusing to sign the creed as adopted, Arius and two of his companions were excommunicated and banished to Illyria.
Soon after the Nicene Council had con cluded its work, the semi-Arians began to as sail the creed, and during the next few years Anus himself carried on propaganda work against it, corresponding with several prominent bishops, with the result that in 331, through the influence of Eusebius and Constantia, sister of the Emperor, Arius was recalled to court. Constantine, upon being convinced that the creeds of Arius and Athanasius were sub stantially alike, ordered Athanasius to receive Arius into the communion of the Church. Athanasius refused, was deposed by a synod of bishops at Tyre in 335, and sent to Gaul. A second synod, convened at Jerusalem in the same year, remitted the decree of excommuni cation against Arius and his followers, but even this did not establish him in his former exalted position nor cause his doctrines to be accepted by the followers of Athanasius. Dis appointed and disheartened, Arius in 336 re turned to Constantinople, where, again con vincing Constantine of his orthodoxy, orders were issued to Alexander, Bishop of Constan tinople, to administer the holy communion to him the following Sunday, but on the Saturday preceding his expected restoration, he was sud denly taken ill and died. See CHRISTOLOGY ; COUNCIL; CREEDS; EUSEBIUS OF NICOMEDIA ; EUSEBIUS OF CESAREA ; INCAR NATION ; NICALA, COUNCIL OF ; NICENE CREED.