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Arius

c. 256 – 336 · b. Libya
presbyter

Alexandrian presbyter whose teaching that the Son was a created being sparked the Arian controversy. Condemned at Nicaea (325). Heretic.

Why Arius matters

Arius is on this site because the church can't tell its story without him. He was an Alexandrian priest who taught that the Son was created by the Father — that there was a 'when' when the Son was not. It was a tidy solution to the problem of how Jesus can be God without there being two Gods, and it nearly won. Half the empire's bishops backed some version of it for fifty years after Nicaea condemned him in 325. Athanasius and the Cappadocians had to fight him for two generations. The Nicene Creed exists in the form it does because of Arius. You can't understand 'one in being with the Father' without knowing what it was rejecting.

Chain to Jesus

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Common questions

Who was Arius?
Arius (256–336) — Alexandrian presbyter whose teaching that the Son was a created being sparked the Arian controversy. Condemned at Nicaea (325). Heretic.
Who did Arius oppose?
Alexander of Alexandria, Athanasius of Alexandria, and Cyril of Jerusalem.

Sources for biography

  • Athanasius, De Synodis 15-16 primary
  • Socrates Scholasticus, Hist. Eccl. 1.5-1.9 primary
  • Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. 1.2-1.4 primary

documented connections(4)

  • opposed (incoming) Alexander of Alexandria
    Alexander first condemned Arius and excommunicated him c. 318.
    Socrates Scholasticus, Hist. Eccl. 1.5-6 · Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. 1.3-4
  • opposed (incoming) Athanasius of Alexandria
    Athanasius's life work was the refutation of Arianism.
    Athanasius, Orationes contra Arianos
  • knew of (incoming) Eusebius of Nicomedia
    Eusebius of Nicomedia was Arius's chief patron and protector after his condemnation.
    Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. 1.5 · Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. 1.15
  • opposed (incoming) Cyril of Jerusalem
    Cyril's Catechetical Lectures defend the Nicene faith and oppose Arian subordinationism, and he subscribed the Nicene-Constantinopolitan creed at the council of 381.
    Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses 4.7; 11; 15 · Theodoret, Hist. Eccl. 2.26

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