Home > Hosius of Córdoba

Elected to the see of Córdoba before the end of the 3rd century, he narrowly escaped martyrdom in the persecution of Maximian (303-305). In 305 or 306 he attended the council of Illiberis or Elvira (his name appearing second in the list of those present), and upheld its severe canons concerning such points of discipline as the treatment of the lapsed and clerical marriages.

In 313 he appears at the court of Constantine, being expressly mentioned by name in a constitution directed by the emperor to Caecilianus of Carthage in that year. In 323 he was the bearer and possibly the writer of Constantines letter to Bishop Alexander of Alexandria and Arius his deacon, bidding them cease disturbing the peace of the church; and, on the failure of the negotiations in Egypt, it was doubtless with the active concurrence of Hosius that the council of Nicaea was convened in 325. He certainly took part in its proceedings, and was one of the large number of confessors present; that he presided is a very doubtful assertion, as also that he was the principal author of the Nicene Creed. Still he powerfully influenced the judgment of the emperor in favour of the orthodox party.

After a period of quiet life in his own diocese, Hosius presided till 343 at the fruitless synod of Sardica , which showed itself so hostile to Arianism; and afterwards he spoke and wrote in favour of Athanasius in such a way as to bring upon himself a sentence of banishment to Sirmium (355). From his exile he wrote to Constantius IIConstantius II Roman Emperor ( 337 361), was the middle of the three sons of Constantine I the Great and Fausta. He was born in Illyricum and named Caesar or Junior Emperor. When his father died in 337, he led the massacre of his relatives decended from t his only extant composition, a letter not unjustly characterized by the great French historian Sebastian Tillemont as displaying gravity, dignity, gentleness, wisdom, generosity and in fact all the qualities of a great soul and a great bishop. Subjected to continual pressure the old man, who was near his hundredth year, was weak enough to sign the formula adopted by the second synod of Sirmium in 357, which involved communion with the AriansThis article is about the theological doctrine of Arius. See Aryan, Aryan race for the ethnic concept. 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 t but not the condemnation of Athanasius. He was then permitted to return to his diocese, where he died in 359.

See S Tillemont, Memoires, VII. 300321 (1700); HefeleKarl Josef von Hefele ( March 15, 1809 June 6, 1893), German theologian, was born at Unterkochen in Wurttemberg, and was educated at Tubingen, where in 1839 he became professor-ordinary of Church history and patristics in the [Roman Catholic] faculty of t, eonciliengeschichte, vol. i.; HMG Watkin, Studies of Arianism (Cambridge, 1882, 2nd ed., 1900); AWW Dale, The Synod of Elvira (London, 1882); and article s.v. in Herzog-Hauck, Realencyklopädie (3rd ed., 1900), with bibliography.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. 1911 Britannica