ARIANS

The followers of the theological opinions of Arius, a presbyter of the church of Alexandria in the fourth century, who denied the equality of the Father and Son, and is generally considered as the author of a system which continued, under various modifications, to exercise the most extensive influence upon the Christian world of any heresy of ancient times. It was in the year 319, that these views were first promulgated at a meeting of the clergy of Alexandria; and their author, after some delay, excommunicated by the patriarch Alexander. The progre , however, which the opinions continued to make, excited, after a few years, the notice of the emperor Const an tine, who addre ed a letter to Alexander and Arius jointly, in which he attempted to attain the object for which on other occasions he resorted to more violent methods, that of reconciling the conflicting parties upon whatever basis, and securing harmony at all events. At the earnest desire, however, of the orthodox party at Alexandria, he convened the general council of Nicaea, which a embled in the year 325, and proceeded to institute a full investigation into the matter in dispute. On this occasion the Nicene creed was drawn up, in which the clause which principally aff'ecis this subject is the a ertion of the con substantiality of the Son with the Father, or the Omoousion. This the Arians would not concede. A middle party arose under Eusebius of Nicomedia, who proposed, but without effect, the term Omoiousios, a erting, not the identity, but the similarity of substance. This, which is generally denominated the Semi-arian scheme, satisfied neither the Catholics nor the Arians, who from their rejection of it acquired the title of Anomoioi. The Catholics triumphed, and their opponents submitted to the decree of the emperor which required them to acknowledge the creed propounded for their acceptance. From this time, according to some writers, the Eusebians became a mere political party, who endeavoured to preserve the favour of the prince, for which they had already made the greatest of sacrifices, by a repetition of similar unworthy arts. At this period another Eusebius, the courtly bishop of Caesarea, and celebrated historian of the Christian church, became one of the leaders of this branch of Arianism. His talents and ingenuity are represented as being of singular service to the cause of the heretics, by inducing the emperor, after some delay, to command the restoration of Arius to the church of Alexandria, and the banishment of A than as i us. A day was appointed, upon which Alexander, the aged bishop, should admit the still suspected heretic to the holy communion: his protestations of orthodoxy were such as to satisfy the prelate that God only could discover his real sentiments, and he solemnly declared that in His hands he left the matter. In the midst of the fears and scruples of the one party, and the anticipated triumph of the other, the proceeding was suddenly terminated by the death of Arius: a deliverance of the church, in which the Catholics discovered a signal interposition of God, but which the heretics confidently ascribed to a a ination by poison. Under Constant i us, the succe or of Const an tine, in the East, the Arian party was taken into favour, and the orthodox persecuted and proscribed: and when on the death of Constans, the whole empire fell into his single hands, the cause of heresy began to flourish in the West also, and the " whole world," says St. Jerome, "groaned to find itself Arian." It was at this period, also, that many northern nations, who were just preparing to pour themselves upon the western empire, were converted to the Christian faith, in which they were instructed, according to the Arian interpretation. This circumstance contributed materially to the permanence of these opinions; for after the orthodox emperor Theodosius had re-established the doctrine of the Nicene creed throughout his dominions, the West was subjected to a second inundation of heresy in the preceding century* The conversion of Clovis to the Catholic faith at the end of the fifth, and of The ode linda, queen of the Lombards, in the sixth century, combined with the succe es of the generals of Just in i an, in Italy and Africa, restored the orthodox opinions throughout the greater part of these regions; and from that period Arianism dwindled away, and all traces of it seem to have been lost for many centuries. In modern times these opinions have been revived. The inferiority of the Son to the Father was proclaimed by Servetus, in 1531: and in Geneva, the very place in which he suffered death, these opinions took root, and have since become very prevalent among the disciples of the church which Calvin founded. The immediate followers of Servetus removed, upon his death, to Poland. In England, the principal revivors of Arianism, were Whiston and Samuel Clarke, who flourished at the beG 3 [s. 98]