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Arius - Early Life

Arius - Early Life: Encyclopedia II - Arius - Early Life

Arius was a pupil of Lucian of Antioch, who was both a celebrated Christian teacher and a martyr for the faith. In a letter to bishop Alexander of Constantinople, Alexander of Alexandria wrote that Arius derived his heresy from Lucian. The object of the letter is to complain of the errors Arius was then diffusing but the charge is vague in itself, and is unsupported by other authorities, and Alexander's language, like that of most controversialists in those days, is not a little violent. Moreover, Lucian is not stated, even by Alexander himself, to have fallen into the heresy afterwards promulgated by Arius, but is accused ad i ...

Arius: Encyclopedia II - Arius - Early Life

Arius - Early Life

Although the character of Arius has been severely assailed by his opponents, Arius appears to have been a man of ascetic character, pure morals, and decided convictions who believed he was preserving the true faith.

The historian Socrates Scholasticus reports that Arius first became controversial under the bishop Achillas of Alexandria, when he made the following syllogism, as quoted by Socrates:

"‘If,’ said he, ‘the Father begat the Son, he that was begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is evident, that there was a time when the Son was not. It therefore necessarily follows, that he had his substance from nothing.’" (Thus his actions were not the result of any jealousy on account of his unsuccessful candidacy for the patriarchate of Alexandria in rivalry with Alexander.) He no doubt had a disproportionate number of female supporters, but there are no grounds for Alexander's insinuation in the letter, that these women were of loose morals. There appears, however, more foundation for the charge that Arius allowed the songs or odes contained in the book called Thaleia -- which he wrote after his first condemnation, in order to popularize his doctrine -- to be set to melodies with infamous associations. The furious debates among Christians in Egypt "became a subject of popular ridicule, even in the very theatres." (Socrates)

As Scholasticus describes above, Arius was strongly opposed by Alexander, who was bishop of Alexandria from 313 AD. Alexander insisted that the Son was fully and truly God, in as absolute a sense as the Father was. Arius insisted this led to a belief in two gods, which was heresy.

The patriarch of Alexandria has been criticized for his slow action against his subordinate. Like his predecessor Dionysius, he has been charged with vacillation in his treatment of Arius. Yet it is difficult to see how he could have acted otherwise than he did. The question had been unsettled for two generations previously, (or if it could be said to have been settled, it had been settled in favour of the opponents of the homoousion, "Same Substance" view).

Therefore Alexander allowed the controversy to go on until he felt that it had become dangerous to the peace of the church. Then, to resolve the difficult doctrinal problem, Alexander assembled a vote of about 100 fellow Egyptian bishops in 320 which denounced Arius for heresy. Once they decided against Arius, Alexander delayed no longer. He deposed Arius from his office, and excommunicated both him and his supporters. Then he wrote a letter 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 he presented to the Christian church:

"That God was not always the Father, but that there was a period when he was not the Father; that the Word of God was not from eternity, but was made out of nothing; for that the ever-existing God (‘the I AM’—the eternal One) made him who did not previously exist, out of nothing; wherefore there was a time when he did not exist, inasmuch as the Son is a creature and a work. That he is neither like the Father as it regards his essence, nor is by nature either the Father’s true Word, or true Wisdom, but indeed one of his works and creatures, being erroneously called Word and Wisdom, since he was himself made of God’s own Word and the Wisdom which is in God, whereby God both made all things and him also. Wherefore he is as to his nature mutable and susceptible of change, as all other rational creatures are: hence the Word is alien to and other than the essence of God; and the Father is inexplicable by the Son, and invisible to him, for neither does the Word perfectly and accurately know the Father, neither can he distinctly see him. The Son knows not the nature of his own essence: for he was made on our account, in order that God might create us by him, as by an instrument; nor would he ever have existed, unless God had wished to create us."

Arius, however, was not ready to give up without a fight. He also wrote letters seeking support throughout the eastern empire from other students of Lucian, his mentor. Lucian’s ex-students who were now presbyters or bishops, and Arius wrote to each of them, addressing them as “Dear fellow-pupils of Lucian" and requested their support against the heretics.

It is clear, from reported accounts of Arius's letters (one to Eusebius of Nicomedia also exists), that Alexander's main charges against Arius were reasonably accurate interpretations of Arius' view of Christ and God:

"To his very dear lord, the man of God, the faithful and orthodox Eusebius, Arius, unjustly persecuted by Alexander ..., on account of that all conquering truth of which you also are a champion, sendeth greeting in the Lord. Ammonius, my father, being about to depart for Nicomedia, I considered myself bound to salute you by him, and withal to inform that natural affection which you bear towards the brethern for the sake of God and His Christ, that the bishop greatly wastes and persecutes us, and leaves no stone unturned against us. He has driven us out of the city as atheists, because we do not concur in what he publicly preaches, namely, God always, the Son always; as the Father so the Son; the Son co-exists unbegotten with the God; He is everlasting; neither by thought nor by any interval does God precede the Son; always God, always Son; he is begotten of the unbegotten; the Son is of God Himself. Eusebius, your brother bishop of Caesarea, Theodotus, Paulinus, Athanasius, Gregorius, Aetius, and all the bishops of the East, have been condemned because they say that God had an existence prior to that of his Son... But we say and believe, and have taught, and do teach, that the Son is not unbegotten; and that He does not derive his subsistence from any matter; but that by His own will and counsel He has subsisted before time, and before ages, as perfect God, only begotten and unchangeable, and that before He was begotten, or created, or purposed, ot established, He was not. For He was not unbegotten. We are persecuted, because we say that the Son has a beginning, but that God is without beginning. This is the cause of our persecution, and likewise, because we say that He is of the non-existent. And this we say, because He is neither part of God, nor of any essential being. For this are we persecuted; the rest you know. I bid thee farewell in the Lord, remembering our afflictions, my fellow-Lucianist, and true Eusebius." (Arius' Letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia c 319 CE from Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History, I, IV. LPNF, ser. 2, vol. 3, 41.)