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Arianism was a Christological view held by followers of Arius in the early Christian Church, claiming that Jesus Christ and God the Father were not of the same fundamental essence, seeing the Son as a pre-existent divine being, created by the Father (and subsequently inferior to Him.) Some historical records indicate that Arius believed, quite simply, that Jesus was an important prophet, but also a man like other men. The belief grew rapidly, so much so that it was the majority view of all Christians for a time. Other records indicate that the belief did not so much grow rapidly but was in fact brutally enforced upon the Christian community (the notion that a complex idea such as the trinity could have spread amongst the largely illiterate Christians in so short a time is dubious). The First Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) condemned this doctrine, after much controversy, and declared it heretical; similar views, and in some cases revival of the name, have recurred. It is also indicated that many of the Arian Christians became Muslims, although Islam itself rejects the Arian Christology. Constantine is said to have renounced trinitarianism in favor of Arianism on his death bed. Arius was reported to have been poisoned, though his enemies claimed that God had struck him down.
The letter of Auxentius , a 4th century Arian bishop of Milan, regarding the missionary Ulfilas, gives the clearest picture of Arian beliefs on the nature of the Trinity: God the Father ("unbegotten"), always existing, was separate from the lesser Jesus Christ ("only-begotten"), born before time began and creator of the world. The Father, working through the Son, created the Holy Spirit, which was subservient to the Son as the Son was to the Father.
The conflict between Arianism and the Trinitarianism that has since become dominant was the first important doctrinal difficulty in the Church after the legalization of Christianity by Emperor Constantine I. At one point in the conflict, Arianism held sway in the family of the Emperor and the Imperial nobility, and, because Ulfilas was the apostle to the GothsThis article is about the Germanic tribes. For the late 20th century youth subculture see Goth. The Goths were a Germanic tribe which according to their own traditions originated in southern Sweden (cf. Gotaland and Gotland). They migrated southwards and, the Ostrogoths and the Visigoths arrived in western Europe already Christians, but Arians.
Arius was a Christian priest in AlexandriaLocated on the Mediterranean Sea coast, Alexandria (in Arabic, al-iskandariyyah is the chief seaport in Egypt, and that country's second largest city, and the capital of the Al Iskandariyah governate. It is located at 31°12'N, 29°15'E, 208 km (129 miles), Egypt. In 321Events Publication of the first blue law by Constantine I of the Roman Empire: trade is forbidden on Sundays; agriculture is allowed The Roman Catholic church is allowed to hold property Births Deaths 321. he was denounced by a synodA synod (also known as a council is a council of a church, usually a Christian church, convened to decide an issue of doctrine or administration. An ecumenical council is so named because it is a synod of the whole church (or, more accurately, of what tho at Alexandria for teaching a heterodox view of the relationship of Jesus Christ to God the Father. Arius and his followers agreed that Jesus was the son of God, but denied that they were one substance (Greek: homo-ousios). Instead, they viewed God and the Son as having distinct but similar substances (Greek: homoi-ousios). The difference in Greek was literally one iota (reflected in the English letter I) of difference. The apparently trivial nature of this difference led Edward Gibbon to remark that "the profane of every age have derided the furious contests which the difference of a single diphthong excited between the Homoousians and the Homoiousians". Jesus is, for Arianism, inferior or subordinate to God the Father. A specific summary statement that came to be at issue was that "there was a stage when Jesus Christ was not"; this statement implied Jesus to be a created being, rather than one coeternal with the Father, and thereby denied the doctrine of the Trinity as it is generally understood today.Because Arius and his followers had great influence in the schools of Alexandria — counterparts to modern universities or seminaries — their theological views spread, especially in the eastern Mediterranean. By 325 the controversy had become significant enough that Emperor Constantine I called an assembly of bishops, the First Council of Nicaea (modern Iznik, Turkey), which condemned Arius's doctrine, largely by excluding those bishops who accepted it.
The trinitarian arguments that prevailed at Nicaea were formulated in the Nicene Creed, which is still recited in Catholic, Orthodox, and some Protestant services. The Athanasian Creed is less often used but is a more overtly anti-Arian statement on the Trinity. Constantine ordered all Arian books burned and Arius exiled. Arius died in 336 without having recanted.
Despite the decision of the Council of Nicaea, Arianism not only survived but flourished for some time. The patronage of members of the imperial family allowed Arian bishops to sit in many sees. Having never converted any sizable group of the laity, Arianism had died out inside the Empire by the 380s; it was debated and rejected again by the Second Ecumenical Council in Constantinople in 381.