Arius

“ Eusebius was the fast friend of Arius, whom he admired and loved beyond all living men (for Pamphilus had already suffered martyrdom) ; and the great ecclesiastic, rejoicing at the praises bestowed upon his friend by the greatest ruler of men, strove to call out yet more of his opinion, and accordingly said unto him, "Couldst thou not, then, attack the moral character of Arius, and call a council to condemn him for some irregularity, and so get rid of him?"
"Nay," answered the emperor, "the man is proof against all earthly temptations. ”

“ Many of them, knowing his great erudition and holy character, consulted him privately, and he fully gave them the benefit of his learning and opinions. Arius was now sixty years of age, and was greatly changed from the bright and happy youth whom we knew at Baucalis; greatly changed even from the broken-hearted but ever-diligent, earnest, and eloquent presbyter of the earlier years of his ministry at Alexandria. "He is tall and thin, apparently unable to support his stature; he has an odd way of contorting and twisting himself, which his enemies compare to the wrigglings of a snake. ”

“ Eusebius glowed with pleasure as he listened to the language in which the emperor depicted the character of Arius, and replied: "Only the truly great are able to do justice to those whom they have strong reason to dislike, but thou hast painted the grand and lonely soul of the Libyan even as it is. He hath been purified by sorrow. He is all for Christ, and earthly hopes, fears and ambitions no more can move his chaste and lofty spirit." ”

“ It is clear, from Arius's own letter (also extant) to Eusebius of Nicomedia, that Alexander's charges against Arius were in no way unfair. The question, as the event has shewn, was a vital one, and plainly called for an authoritative decision. Arius taught: (1) that the Logos and the Father were not of the same οὐσία (essence) ; (2) that the Son was a created being (κτίσμα or ποίημα) ; and (3) that though He was the creator of the worlds, and must therefore have existed before them and before all time, there was—Arius refused to use such terms as χρόνος or αἰών—when He did not exist. ”

“ Hosius, Marcellus, Alexander, and others of the same party, seemed to have been stricken dumb by the clear, incisive, fearless, and uncompromising declarations of Arius. Only Athanasius seemed to preserve his marvelous self-possession, and laughed musically, while, in order to distract attention from the dangerous question which the old heretic seemed determined to bring up at every possible turn of the discussion, he cried aloud: "But hast thou not commonly taught that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three, and not one God, and thereby made thy heresy assume the complexion of polytheism? ”

“ Thus the new theory made a great sensation at Alexandria, and it was not without much hesitation and delay that Alexander ventured to excommunicate his heterodox presbyter with his chief followers, like Pistus, Carpones, and the deacon Euzoius—all of whom we shall meet again. Arius was a dangerous enemy. His austere life and novel doctrines, his dignified character and championship of 'common sense in religion,' made him the idol of the ladies and the common people. ”

“ Sarapion, Parammon, Zosimus, and Irenæus, the deacons, have gone over to the party of Arius, and have preferred to be deposed with them; that you may know what is now written, and that you should declare your consent in these matters, and give your suffrage for the deposition of those about Arius and Pistus. For it is right that you should know what I have written, and that you should each one, as if he had written it himself retain it in his heart. ”

“ No one of the ancients has left us a connected and systematic account of the religion professed by Arius and his associates.
The opinions of Arius were no sooner divulged than they found very many abettors, and among them men of distinguished talents and rank, both in Egypt and the neighboring provinces. Alexander, on the other hand, accused Arius of blasphemy before two councils assembled at Alexandria, and cast him out of the Church. ”

“ The exiles were recalled and Arius himself was received at court and his faith approved by a synod of prelates and presbyters at Jerusalem; but on the day that he was to be publicly received in the cathedral church at Constantinople, by the order of the emperor, who, by the way, received the sacrament at the hands of Arius, he expired under circumstances which have led many to believe that other means than the prayers of the orthodox against him were the cause of his death. The leaders of the orthodox party, Athanasius of Alexandria. ”

“ The fortunesof Arius.
"I am persecuted," Arius plaintively said, "because I have taught that the Son had a beginning and the Father had not." It was the influence of the court theologians that had made the emperor his personal enemy. Constantine, as we have seen, had looked upon the dispute, in the first instance, as altogether frivolous, if he did not, in truth, himself incline to the assertion of Arius, that, in the very nature of the thing, a father must be older than his son. ”

“ And the difference between the highest of created beings and God, the maker of all creatures, is infinite; so that it mattered little how Arius might smooth over his shocking opinion, so long as he did not allow our Lord to be truly God from all eternity.
The bishop of Alexandria, whose name was Alexander, excommunicated Arius for his impiety; that is to say, he solemnly turned him out of the Church, so that no faithful Christian should have anything to do with him in religious matters. ”

“ Cut off the decayed flesh, expel the mangy sheep from the fold, lest the whole house, the whole paste, the whole body, the whole flock, burn, perish, rot, die. Arius was but one spark in Alexandria, but as that spark was not at once put out, the whole earth was laid waste by its flame. ”

“ This holy father was an honorable man, and much tribulation came upon him through the people of Arius. And in his day Abba Athanasius renewed the excommunication of Arius, and he removed him, and expelled his followers, from the churches of the city of Alexandria. And Arius departed to the city of Constantinople, and he went unto the Emperor Constantine, the son of Constantine the Just, and he made accusations against Athanasius to him. And when he found no rest with him, Arius asked the emperor to command this Father Alexander to receive him with his priests. ”

“ Having called Arius and his opponents before him, Alexander heard their respective arguments, and finally, after due examination, gave judgment against Arius. The result was a wide-spread commotion, extending not only through Africa, but other provinces of the Roman empire. Bishops joined issue with bishops; congregations were violently excited; and the greatest mystery of the Christian religion became a subject of irreverent controversy among women and children. Even the heathen joined in the profane uproar. Arius himself cannot be excused from stirring up this popular and unworthy clamour ”

“ And in the first instance we examined the very beginning of the question which had arisen, and we thought fit to hear recited the letter of Arius, who is found to be the author of the Arian heresy, from whom also the heresy received its name, the arrangement being thus far even favourable to them, that since they had been in the habit of denying that they were Arians they might either by censure condemn the blasphemies of Arius, or by argument maintain them, or at least not refuse the name of the person, whose impiety and perfidy they followed. ”

“ And He begat him not in appearance, but in truth, and subjected him to his own will, unchangeable and immutable, a perfect creature of God, but not as one of the creatures.” Arius’ use here of the word “begat,” and his qualification of the word “creature” by the adjective “perfect,” and by the statement that he was “not as one of the creatures” naturally tended to make Eusebius think that Arius acknowledged a real divinity of the Son, and that appeared to him to be all that was necessary. ”

“ Long ago, in one of our social gatherings, when Arius did press the bishop fiercely upon the point that Christians must have naught to do with any government except the kingdom of heaven, which Jesus ordained for them, I arose and asked permission to put a question, which being granted, I said, 'If Tiberius Cæsar had been a Christian, would not our Lord have rejoiced to see him rule the world?' And for some time the fierce man was silent. ”

“ It was a heresy that struck at the very roots of Christianity. Alexander remembered, too late, the warning of Peter. Gentle and peaceful by nature, he tried at first to win Arius by kindness. "Let him explain his difficulty," he said, "and discuss the question with theologians"; but all such suggestions were met with pride and obstinacy. Arius at last sent a haughty statement of his opinions, which were condemned by nearly all the Bishops of Egypt. He was therefore deposed and forbidden to preach, but he was not the man to take his defeat humbly. ”

“ Each should operate in its appropriate sphere, and the ruler whom God hath given should direct the movements of them all. For he standeth in the place of God."
"Yet," muttered Constantine to himself, "the heretic Arius saith that it is a blasphemy for any man to seek to stand in that high place, which belongeth unto Christ alone!" But unto Athanasius he presently made answer: "Thou hast wisdom far beyond thine age; but in regard to these things thou dost not agree well with the opinions of the most wise and learned presbyter, Arius the Libyan!" ”

“ Those who were compelled by necessities of nature, as is wont to be the case in a crowd, to visit the public place, when they entered, spoke to one another to avoid the seat, and the place was shunned afterwards, because Arius had there received the punishment of his impiety. At a later time a certain rich and powerful man, who had embraced the Arian tenets, bought the place of the public, and built a house on the spot, in order that the occurrence might fall into oblivion, and that there might be no perpetual memorial of the death of Arius. ”

“ In the most severe terms he condemned the doctrine of Arius, commanding that his writings, wherever found, should be burned. It was a dark age. Toleration was but little known. The emperor even went to the unwarrantable length of saying,—
“Whoever shall conceal any thing which Arius has written, instead of delivering it up to be burned, shall be put to death immediately upon being taken.”
Conversions from paganism were becoming frequent and numerous. Under the fostering care of the emperor, churches rose all over the land. ”

“ The aged bishop hath been raised too much under the influence of the mighty causes which molded the character of Arius himself, to be a fit antagonist for him; and younger blood, warm with the new age of Constantine rather than with that of primitive Christianity, is imperatively required. Thine agents at Alexandria have been zealous and faithful, but a remarkable man is needed at that place; less than genius will accomplish nothing."
"Such men are rare enough," responded the emperor; "but surely thou must have discovered at least one." ”

“ Accordingly Aetius studied the controversy, and, having laid a train of syllogisms from what he remembered of Aristotle, he became notorious for even going beyond Arius, the father of the heresy, in the novel character of his speculations; or rather he perceived the consequences of all that Arius had advanced, and so got this character of a shrewd discoverer of truths not obvious; revealing as he did that the Created, even from things non-existent, was unlike the Creator who drew Him out of nothing. ”

“ And so the next four years glided quietly away, during which the routine of their peaceful lives pursued its usual course; and in their flight Arius became a tall and graceful youth of twenty; Theckla grew into a blooming and exquisitely beautiful woman of sixteen; for in the ardent Libyan latitudes the girls grow quickly into womanhood. These years made small changes in Ammonius and Arete; they told lightly upon the venerable Am-nem-hat, whose pure and quiet life had been favorable to longevity and to the preservation of his faculties unimpaired even unto an extreme old age ”

“ Death, it is true, is the common end of all men, and we ought not to insult the dead, though he be an enemy, for it is uncertain whether the same event may not happen to ourselves before evening. But the end of Arius was not after an ordinary manner, and therefore it deserves to be related. Eusebius and his fellows threatening to bring him into the Church, Alexander, the Bishop of Constantinople, resisted them; but Arius trusted to the violence and menace of Eusebius. ”

“ Then he called a council of bishops (about 100 in number) , and sought their advice. They decided against Arius. Alexander then delayed no longer. He acted with resolution as well as promptitude, deposed Arius from his office, and repelled both him and his supporters from communion. Then he wrote (the letters are extant) to Alexander of Constantinople and Eusebius of Nicomedia (where the emperor was then residing) , detailing the errors into which Arius had fallen, and complaining of the danger to the Christian church arising from his heresy. ”

“ But Arius could not endure to keep quiet, but wrote to all those whom he believed to agree with him in opinion. His letter to Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, is a clear proof that the divine Alexander wrote nothing that was false concerning him. I shall here insert his letter, in order that the names of those who were implicated in his impiety may become generally known. ”