Arius was a conservative, not an exegetical rebel.

Introduction

In the traditional account, the ‘Arian’ Controversy began with a dispute between Arius and his bishop Alexander.

Arius was a presbyter in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. In the year 318, he confronted his bishop Alexander for ‘erroneous’ teachings concerning the nature of the Son of God. Their disagreement escalated. So, Emperor Constantine called a council at Nicaea in the year 325 where Arius’ theology was presented, discussed, and soon rejected.

Purpose

This article discusses Arius’ antecedents: From whom did Arius receive his theology? Or did he develop his theology himself? In the traditional account of the Arian Controversy, Arius’ theology was an innovation opposing established orthodoxy. But this article shows that Arius did not say anything new.

Was Arius important?

In the fourth century, Arius was not regarded as important. He is regarded as important today because Athanasius falsely claimed that the anti-Nicenes were followers of Arius.

Only a few pages of what Arius wrote survived until today because, as discussed in a previous article, Arius was not regarded as a particularly significant writer. As discussed here, while Athanasius’ enemies labeled him as a Sabellian, Athanasius invented the terms ‘Arian’ and ‘Arianism’ to label his enemies as followers of Arius’ theology, with all the incoherence and inadequacy that teaching displayed. But Athanasius’opponents did not follow Arius. They were the anti-Nicenes of a different place and time. Indeed, they also opposed Arius’ theology.

Nevertheless, Arius was significant in the first 7 of the 62 years of the ‘Arian’ Controversy. (See – The Arian Controversy had two phases.) To understand the Nicene Creed, we need to understand Arius.

Authors Quoted

This article series is based on the latest available books on this subject, all by world-class Catholic scholars and Trinitarians.

Following the last full-scale book on the Arian Controversy, published in English by Gwatkin at the beginning of the 20th century,1“Gwatkin nearly a century ago in the last full-scale book written in English on the Arian Controversy” (Hanson Lecture) R.P.C. Hanson in 1988 published perhaps the most influential book in modern history on the Arian Controversy.2Hanson RPC, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381. 1988 This was followed in 2004 by a book by Lewis Ayres.3Ayres, Lewis, Nicaea and its Legacy, An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology, 2004 Ayres confirmed the importance of Hanson’s book.4“Richard Hanson’s The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God (1988) and Manlio Simonetti’s La Crisi Ariana nel IV secolo (1975) remain essential points of reference.” (Ayres, p. 12) Ayres’ book is based on those surveys and “in some measure advances on their texts.” (Ayres, p. 5) I also quote from another important book by Rowan Williams, focusing specifically on Arius.5Williams, Rowan (24 January 2002) [1987]. Arius: Heresy and Tradition (Revised ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-4969-4.

Specific Predecessors

“A very large number of names have been suggested as predecessors of Arius.” (Hanson, p. 60)

“His enemies first associated him with Paul of Samosata and with Judaizing tendences in Christology; later on, after the reputation of Origen had been virtually ruined in the Church, Arius was regarded by some as an Origen redivivus (a reborn Origen). Some more modern scholars have been much preoccupied with the question of whether Antioch or Alexandria should be seen as his spiritual and intellectual home.” (Williams, p. 116)

This section summarizes Hanson’s and Williams’ conclusions concerning Arius’ dependence on specific predecessors:

Plato

Arius was influenced by Plato, but so was every other theologian of his time.

Plato’s philosophy of time and the origin of the universe still dominated in the fourth century and shaped what most influential writers of that time said about creation:

“Plato’s Timaeus served as the central text upon which discussions of the world’s origins focused, not only in late antiquity, but right up to the revival of Christian Aristotelianism in the thirteenth century. …

There can be no doubt that for many of the most influential writers of the age, from Origen to Eusebius Pamphilus, the contemporary discussion of time and the universe shaped their conceptions of what could intelligibly be said of creation.” (Williams, p. 181)

“Plato distinguishes between:

      • What exists without cause and, therefore always exists and never comes into being, and
      • The universe as we perceive it, which had a beginning, is not eternal, and never exists stably.” (Williams, p. 181)

Furthermore, Plato argues that, since the cosmos is beautiful; it must therefore be modeled upon what is higher and better. The Creator made something like himself; reflecting order and beauty. To establish this order, God created time. The heavenly bodies are made in order to measure and regulate time. In other words, so to speak, time did not always exist. (Williams, p. 181-2) (Similar to the modern big bang theory)

Philo of Alexandria

To the same extent that Arius was influenced by Philo, Alexandrian theologians, in general, were also influenced by him. Philo was not the origin of Arius’ idiosyncrasies.

Philo (20 BC – 50 AD) was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who interpreted Jewish scripture in terms of Greek philosophy. That is significant because the Christian theologians of the second and third centuries did the same with the New Testament (See – the Apologists).

Wolfson concluded, “Arius was responsible for ‘a reversion to the original view of Philo’ on the Logos, after the aberrations of a modalism which deprived the Logos of real subsistence” (Williams, p. 117).

“Wolfson … suggested that Philo may have been a former of Arius’ thought because he too taught two Logoi, and the creation of one of them ex nihilo, and the incomparability of God.

But then, Wolfson was obsessed to an excessive degree with the influence of Philo on the fathers; Philo’s Logos-doctrine is confused and obscure; he does not make the same division between the Logos and God as did the Arians. We cannot claim Philo as an ancestor of Arius’ thought.” (Hanson, p. 60)

After discussing the evidence, Rowan Williams comes to a similar conclusion. He says that the similarities between Philo and Arius “should not … mislead us into hastily concluding that Arius was an assiduous student of Philo. What all this shows is, rather, that Philo mapped out the ground for the Alexandrian theological tradition to build on, and that Arius’ theological problematic is firmly within that tradition.” (Williams, p. 122-123)

Gnosticism

Arius also did not receive his theology from the Gnostics.

“There are some resemblances to Gnostic doctrines in Arius’ thought. … But these resemblances are either too general or refer to terms used for different things in the two authors. Furthermore, Arius several times rejects the favourite Gnostic concept of the ‘issue’ … of beings, from God.” (Hanson, p. 60)

Clement of Alexandria (150-215)

Arius inherited many things from Clement, just like he received many things from many other theologians, but the peculiar aspects of Arius’ theology cannot be blamed on Clement (Hanson, p. 60).

Clement was the bishop of Alexandria in the early third century in the same city where Arius and his bishop lived.

Clément’s theology included one of the peculiar aspects of Arius’ theology, namely, “two Logoi.” (See the explanation below.) However, Clement’s “two Logoi are quite different from those of Arius.” (Hanson, p. 60)

Furthermore, while Arius taught ‘there was when He (the Son) was not, Clement taught “the eternity of the Son.” (Hanson, p. 60)

Clement describes the Logos as:

“The primary image of God …
the ‘second cause’ in heaven,
‘life itself’.” (Williams, p. 125-126)

After showing that Clement’s theology is significantly different from that of Arius, Williams concludes:

“However, this is not to deny that Clement also passes on a positive legacy to Arius and his generation. … There are the numerous parallels in vocabulary between Arius’ Thalia and the language of Clement.” (Williams, p. 126)

“It is less a question of a direct influence on Arius than of a common ethos … Arius begins from the apophatic tradition shared by Philo, Clement and heterodox Gnosticism … but his importance lies in his refusal to … (admit) into the divine substance … a second principle.” (Williams, p. 131)

Origen (185-253)

Arius “was not without influence from Origen, but cannot seriously be called an Origenist.” (Hanson, p. 98)

Origen was the most influential theologian of the first three centuries. “From very early on, there were those who saw Origen as the ultimate source of Arius’ heresy” (Williams, p. 131). The similarities and differences between Origen and Arius are discussed in a separate article. Hanson concluded:

“Arius probably inherited some terms and even some ideas from Origen, … he certainly did not adopt any large or significant part of Origen’s theology.” (Hanson, p. 70)

Another article compares Arius’ theology to that of Origen in more detail. Origen taught three hypostases, meaning that the Father, Son, and Spirit are three distinct Persons with three distinct minds. This was the dominant view in the third century and was also taught by the Eusebians, including Arius, in the fourth century. 

Dionysius of Alexandria

Arius probably received his theology from Dionysius of Alexandria, who was the bishop of the city when Arius was born.

“Dionysius was bishop of Alexandria from 247 to 264.” (Hanson, p. 72) “The Arians … were adducing (offering) Dionysius of Alexandria as a great authority in the past who supported their doctrine.” (Hanson, p. 73) For example, Dionysius wrote:

“The Son of God is a creature and generate,
and he is not by nature belonging to
but is alien in ousia from the Father,
just as the planter of the vine is to the vine,
and the shipbuilder to the ship;

Further, because he is a creature
he did not exist before he came into existence” (Hanson, p. 73).

“Dionysius … rejected homoousios because it did not occur in the Bible.” (Hanson, p. 75)

“Athanasius defends Dionysius, though he admits that he wrote these words, on the grounds that the circumstances, since he was combating Sabellianism, justified such expressions” (Hanson, p. 73).

“Basil … says that Dionysius unwittingly sowed the first seeds of the Anhomoian error, by leaning too far in the opposite direction in his anxiety to correct wrong Sabellian views” (Hanson, p. 74).

Hanson concludes as follows:

“However Dionysius may have refined his later theology, it is impossible to avoid seeing some influence from his work in the theology of Arius. The later Arians and Basil were right. The damning passage quoted from his letteris altogether too like the doctrine of Arius for us to regard it as insignificant.” (Hanson, p. 75-76)

“If, as seems likely, Arius put together an eclectic pattern of theology … Dionysius of Alexandria certainly contributed to that pattern.” (Hanson, p. 76)

In conclusion, of the writers discussed so far, Dionysius is the first one who really could have been the source of Arius’ theology.

Paul of Samosata

While this Paul believed that Jesus was a ‘mere man’ and did not exist before His birth, Arius believed that the Father begat the Son before time began.

Paul was Bishop of Antioch from 260 to 268. At the time, Antioch was the headquarters of the church. “Many scholars have conjectured that the views of Paul of Samosata, or at least of his school, must have influenced Arius” (Hanson, p. 70). However:

“Apparently for Paul the Son was Jesus Christ the historical figure without any preexistent history at all.

And the stock accusation made against Paul by all ancient writers who mention him from the ivth century onward was that he declared Jesus to be no more than a mere man.” (Hanson, p. 71)

“Apart from his (moral?) superiority to us in all things because of his miraculous generation, he is ‘equal to us’. Wisdom dwells in Jesus ‘as in a temple’: the prophets and Moses and “many lords’ (kings?) were indwelt by Wisdom, but Jesus has the fullest degree of participation in it.” (Williams, p. 159-160)

“This is an idea which all Arian writers after Arius (and, in my view, probably Arius himself) regularly rejected.” “Arius believed firmly in a pre-existent Son.” (Hanson, p. 71) “Arius … ranges himself with those who most strongly opposed Paul. (Williams, p. 161)

To conclude:

“We know very little with certainty about Paul of Samosata.” Therefore, “any attribution of influence from Paul of Samosata upon Arius must rest almost wholly upon speculation.” (Hanson, p. 72)

Theognostus of Alexandria

While Arius believed in two Logoi, meaning that the Son is a distinct Person with a distinct mind, Theognostus taught one Logoi, meaning that Father and Son share a single mind.

“We cannot glean any satisfactory evidence that Theognostus was a predecessor of Arius.” (Hanson, p. 79) Theognostus wrote between 247 and 280. His views “echoes Arian concerns in insisting that the Father is not divided” but he also had some quite un-Arian views, such as that:

The Son is an issue of the Father (Hanson, p. 78).

“The ousia of the Son … was (not) introduced from non-existence, but it was of the Father’s ousia.” (Hanson, p. 77) “Theognostus explicitly disowned the doctrine, which Arius certainly held, that the Son was created out of non-existence” (Hanson, p. 78).

While Arius taught “that there are two Logoi (one immanent in the Father and one a name given somewhat inaccurately to the Son),” … Theognostus insisted that there was only one Logos (Hanson, p. 79).

Methodius of Olympia

Methodius, like Arius, taught that the Father alone exists without cause, and that the Son is subordinate to the Father; the first of all created things.

Methodius of Olympia (died c. 311) was a bishop, ecclesiastical author, and martyr.

He was “the most vocal critic of Origen in the pre-Arian period” (Williams, p. 168). He “seems to assume that Origen’s doctrine of the eternity of creation implies the eternity of matter as a rival self-subsistent reality alongside God” (Williams, p. 168).

He “produces some views which interestingly resemble those of Arius. For example:

“The Son … is wholly dependent on the Father.” (Hanson, p. 83).

The Son is “the first of all created things” (Hanson, p. 83).

“God alone … is ingenerate [meaning, exists without a cause]; nothing else in the universe is so, certainly not, he implies, the Son.” (Hanson, p. 83)

“God the Father is the ‘unoriginated origin’, God the Son the beginning after the beginning, the origin of everything else created.” (Hanson, p. 83)

“God the Father creates by his will alone. God the Son is the ‘hand’ of the Father, orders and adorns what the Father has created out of nothing.” (Hanson, p. 83)

Lucian of Antioch

Arius drew on the teachings of Lucian. Arius represents a school, probably the school of Lucian of Antioch, but we do not know what Lucian taught.

The authorities above are discussed in chronological sequence. Lucian was the last of them. He died as a martyr in 312, only 6 years before Arius and his bishop clashed.

“Jerome ... describes Lucian thus: ‘A very learned man, a presbyter of the church of Antioch” (Hanson, p. 81). He was “well versed in sacred learning” (Hanson, p. 79).

Evidence that Arius was a follower of Lucian

“A figure to whom many scholars have looked in order to explain the origins of Arius’ thought is Lucian of Antioch:”

“Arius describes Eusebius of Nicomedia, to whom he is writing, as ‘a genuine fellow-disciple of Lucian’” (Hanson, p. 80), implying that Arius himself was a “disciple of Lucian.”

Philostorgius also described Eusebius of Nicomedia, one of Arius’ close friends, as “the _ disciple of Lucian the martyr’” (Hanson, p. 81).

Epiphanius identifies “the Arians” with “the Lucianists” (Hanson, p. 80). “’Lucian and all the Lucianists’, he says, ‘deny that the Son of God took a soul [i.e. a human soul), ‘in order that, of course, they may attach human experiences directly to the Logos.” (Hanson, p. 80) This was a standard teaching of the Arians.

Lucian’s theology

“According to Sozomen, the second creed of the Dedication Council on Antioch in 341 was said to be a confession of faith stemming from Lucian.” (Williams, p. 163-4; cf. RH, 80-81)

“There is one fact, and one fact only, which we can with any confidence accept as authentic about Lucian’s doctrine. … Lucian taught that the Saviour at the Incarnation assumed a body without a soul” (Hanson, p. 83).

But Arius deviated from Lucian.

“Philostorgius knew of a tradition that Arius and the Lucianists disagreed about the Son’s knowledge of the Father, (Williams, p. 165)

While Arius maintained “that God was incomprehensible … also to the only-begotten Son of God’ (Williams, p. 165), “the Lucianists … were remembered to have held that God was fully known by the Son … Eusebius of Caesarea says much the same.” (Williams, p. 165)

If these are true, then Arius differed from Lucian on this key aspect of his teachings.

Conclusions re Lucian

“We can be sure that Arius drew on the teachings of Lucian, but … we do not know what Lucian taught” (Hanson, p. 82, cf. 83). “Our witnesses to Lucian’s theology are fragmentary and uncertain in the extreme.” (Williams, p. 163)

“It is wholly unlikely that Arius was a vox clamantis in deserto (a lone voice calling in the desert). He represents a school, probably the school of Lucian of Antioch, and the school was to some extent independent of him. Arianism did not look back on him later with respect and awe as its founder.” (Hanson, p. 97)

Antioch or Alexandria?

Arius is an unmistakable Alexandrian. We have no real justification even for regarding him as a rebel in the matter of exegesis.”

“Some … modern scholars have been much preoccupied with the question of whether Antioch or Alexandria should be seen as his spiritual and intellectual home.” (Williams, p. 116).

However, “the stark distinctions once drawn between Antiochene and Alexandrian exegesis or theology have come increasingly to look exaggerated. (Williams, p. 158)

“Arius is an unmistakable Alexandrian in his apophaticism (knowledge of God). … We have no real justification even for regarding him as a rebel in the matter of exegesis.” (Williams, p. 156) “Arius inherits a dual concern that is very typically Alexandrian.” (Williams, p. 176)

Conclusions

Arius did not cause the Controversy.

The dispute around Arius continued the dispute that raged during the preceding century.

The analysis above shows that the authors preceding Arius had very conflicting views of the Son. Sabellian and his supporters are not even mentioned above because Arius was on the opposite end of the spectrum. Consequently:

“We will find pre-existing deep theological tensions at the beginning of the fourth century. Controversy over Arius was the spark that ignited a fire waiting to happen, and the origins of the dispute do not lie simply in the beliefs of one thinker, but in existing tensions that formed his background.” (Ayres, p. 20)

“The views of Arius were such as in a peculiar manner to bring into unavoidable prominence a doctrinal crisis which had gradually been gathering … He was the spark that started the explosion, but in himself he was of no great significance.” (Hanson, p. xvii-xviii)

Two authors influenced Arius.

The two authors who particularly influenced Arius were Dionysius of Alexandria and Methodius of Olympia:

Arius rejected Gnosticism and the theology of Paul of Samosata.

Arius is unmistakably Alexandrian in his theology and the general heritage of the church in Alexandria was shaped by Plato, Philo, Clement, Origen, and Lucian:

Arius’ theology was “clearly the result of a very large number of theological views.” (Williams, p. 171)

The two authors whom Arius could rightly claim as his theological predecessors are Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, and Methodius, bishop of Olympia:

It is likely that Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria contributed to Arius’ theology (Hanson, p. 76).

Bishop Methodius of Olympia regarded the Father alone as ingenerate; the ‘unoriginated origin’ and the Son as the first of all created things and wholly dependent on the Father (Hanson, p. 83).

While Hanson said that “Arius … represents a school, probably the school of Lucian of Antioch” (Hanson, p. 97), Williams proposed that “it is perhaps a mistake to look for one self-contained and exclusive ‘theological school’ to which to assign him” (Williams, p. 115).

Arius did not say anything new.

Arius was not the strange monster of heresy traditionally claimed.

Arius’ book (The Thalia) “is conservative in the sense that there is almost nothing in it that could not be found in earlier writers; it is radical and individual in the way it combines and reorganizes traditional ideas and presses them to their logical conclusions.” (Williams, p. 177).

“Arius … can no longer be regarded as the strange monster of heresy which Gwatkin, and even Harnack, depicted him to be” (Hanson, p. 84-85).

Specific Doctrines

This second section discusses specific doctrines that Arius might have received from his predecessors. Almost everything that Arius wrote can be found in the writings of his predecessors. This section relies on both the discussion above and the article – Was Origen the ultimate source of Arius’ heresy?

A Creature

Both Origen and Dionysius of Alexandria, like Arius, described the Son as a ‘creature’ (Hanson, p. 63).

“Origen did … describe the Son both as ‘having come into existence’ and as a ‘creature’. … But at the same time, he declares his belief in the eternity of the Son as a distinct entity from the Father” (Hanson, p. 63-64). He used the term ‘creature’ in the general sense of a being whose existence was caused by another. That would include ‘begotten’ beings.

Dionysius described the Son of God as “a creature,” “alien in ousia from the Father” (Hanson, p. 73).

Originated

Methodius and Origen, like Arius, taught that the Father generated the Son.

Methodius emphasized that the Father alone exists without a cause and, therefore, without a beginning. Origen, similarly, described the Son as “the originated God” (Hanson, p. 62).

Subordinate

All theologians of the first three centuries, like Arius, claimed that the Son is subordinate to the Father.

“Origen, with Arius, can be said to have subordinated the Son to the Father” (Hanson, p. 64). Hanson also explains that, for Origen, the Son was less subordinate than for Arius (Hanson, p. 64). Nevertheless, Hanson goes on to say that all theologians in the Eastern or the Western Church before the outbreak of the Arian Controversy regarded the Son as subordinate to the Father.

“Subordinationism might indeed, until the denouement (end) of the controversy, have been described as accepted orthodoxy” (Hanson, p. xix).

For example, Bishop Methodius of Olympia (died c. 311) regards the Son as the first of all created things and wholly dependent on the Father (Hanson, p. 83).

Not fully understand

Like Arius, Origen taught that the Son does not fully understand the Father.

Produced by the Father’s will

In contrast to Nicene theology, in which God never decided to generate the Son, but that the Son simply always exists, “Ignatius, Justin, Hippolytus, Clement of Alexandria and Origen,” like Arius, taught “the Son was produced by the Father’s will.” (Hanson, p. 90)

Not homoousios

Dionysius of Alexandria, like Arius, “rejected homoousios” (Hanson, p. 75) and said that “the Son of God … is alien in ousia from the Father.” (Hanson, p. 73)

There was when He was not

Dionysius of Alexandria, like Arius, said that the Son did not always exist.

As indicated by the anathemas attached to the Nicene Creed, one of the main aspects of Arius’ theology to which the Council objected was that the Son is from non-existence and, related to that, that there was when He was not. In opposition to this view, the Nicene Creed interprets “begotten” as that He is from the substance of the Father. Hanson says that “Arius’ view, that “the Son was created from non-existent things, has never been supplied with a convincing antecedent.” (Hanson, p. 88)

But I would like to differ a bit from Hanson in this regard. I cannot find where Arius adds the word “things” to this statement. Arius merely said, “God made him ‘out of non-existence'” (Hanson, p. 20, 24). This means that the Son did not exist before He was begotten. Bishop Dionysius of Alexandria said the same thing about 50 years earlier when he said:

“Because he is a creature he did not exist before he came into existence” (Hanson, p. 73).

Two Logoi

Both the traditional Logos-theology of the Gentile church and Sabellianism taught ‘one Logos’, meaning that Father and Son only have one mind between them. Alexander and Athanasius continued this teaching by Arius taught ‘two Logoi’.

One of the aspects of Arius’ teaching was ‘two logoi’. Clement of Alexandria also taught “two Logoi” (Hanson, p. 60) but Theognostus of Alexandria “insisted that there was only one Logos” (Hanson, p. 79).

Logos-theology had only one Logos.

The church became Gentile (non-Jewish) dominated in the second century but was still persecuted by the Roman Empire. Most of these Gentile Christians accepted Logos-theology, which interpreted the New Testament based on Greek philosophy, which still dominated the intellectual world of the Roman Empire (see – The Apologists).

In Greek philosophy, God’s Logos (the Word or Wisdom has always existed as part of God but became a hypostasis (a distinct existence) when God decided to create. These church fathers explained the pre-existent Jesus Christ as the Logos of Greek philosophy and, therefore, as God’s only Logos. In this theology, God does not have another Logos. In other words, God does not have his own ‘mind’ or ‘Wisdom’ apart from His Son.

In the third century, Sabellianism challenged Logos-=theology but Sabellianism was rejected. Consequently, Logos-theology was the general explanation of the Son with which the church entered the fourth century. For example, Theognostus of Alexandria (247 to 280) “insisted that there was only one Logos” (Hanson, p. 79).

Since Hanson mentions only one theologian who taught “two Logoi” (Clement of Alexandria, p. 60), presumably all other theologians taught one single Logos – as per the traditional Logos theology. For a further discussion, see – Logos-Theology

Arius deviated from Logos-theology.

Both Alexander and Athanasius noted that Arius taught two Logoi (two Wisdoms): The Son is Logos and God has His own Logos (mind). For example, Athanasius, in his paraphrasing of Arius’ teaching, wrote:

“There are … two Wisdoms, one God’s own who has existed eternally with God, the other the Son who was brought into existence. … There is another Word in God besides the Son” (Hanson, p. 13, cf. 16).

The fact that they mentioned this shows that they regarded this as noteworthy and a deviation from tradition. Arius is very often accused of bringing philosophy into the church. However, his ‘two Logoi’ seem to protest against the influence of Greek philosophy on church doctrine:

“Our mistake is to try to interpret him (Arius) in terms of a theology with which he was not at home, the Logos-theology he shares with his opponents.” (Williams, p. 12)


OTHER ARTICLES

FOOTNOTES

  • 1
    “Gwatkin nearly a century ago in the last full-scale book written in English on the Arian Controversy” (Hanson Lecture)
  • 2
    Hanson RPC, The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God: The Arian Controversy, 318-381. 1988
  • 3
    Ayres, Lewis, Nicaea and its Legacy, An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology, 2004
  • 4
    “Richard Hanson’s The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God (1988) and Manlio Simonetti’s La Crisi Ariana nel IV secolo (1975) remain essential points of reference.” (Ayres, p. 12)
  • 5
    Williams, Rowan (24 January 2002) [1987]. Arius: Heresy and Tradition (Revised ed.). Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8028-4969-4.

What did Arius teach that caused the Arian Controversy?

INTRODUCTION

Purpose

This article identifies the main points of Arius’ teaching. What did he teach that had such an explosive effect? 

The fourth-century ‘Arian’ Controversy, about the relation between God and His only begotten Son, began in the year 318 when Arius, a presbyter in charge of a district in Alexandria, publicly criticized the Christological views of his bishop Alexander (RH, 3).

“The crisis of the fourth century was the most dramatic internal struggle the Christian Church had so far experienced” (RW, 1). 

Why we should learn about Arius

The traditional account of the Controversy misleadingly presents Arius as the mother of all heretics. 

AriusAfter Emperor Theodosius, in the year 380, made the Trinitarian version of Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire and brutally eliminated all opposition, “Arius himself came more and more to be regarded as a kind of Antichrist among heretics, a man whose superficial austerity and spirituality cloaked a diabolical malice.” (RW, 1).

However, Bishop R.P.C. Hanson, a world expert on the Arian Controversy, concluded that the traditional account of the Arian Controversy is a complete travesty. Specifically, in a recent book about Arius, Archbishop Rowan Williams described Arius as:

“A thinker and exegete of resourcefulness, sharpness and originality.” (RW, 116)

“An important dimension in Christian life that was dis-edifyingly and unfortunately crushed.” (RW, 91)

“Arius’ solution is no better or worse than most efforts that have been made by theologians through the ages.” (RW, 114)

We do not agree with everything Arius said, but he had some fascinating perspectives that are worth studying.

Authors Quoted

This article series is based on books by world-class scholars of the last 50 years. 

Due to research and a store of ancient documents that have become available over the last 100 years, scholars today conclude that the traditional account of the Controversy – of how and why the church accepted the Trinity doctrine – is history written by the winner and fundamentally flawed. In some instances, it is the opposite of the true history.

Following the last full-scale book on the fourth-century Arian Controversy in English, written by Gwatkin at the beginning of the 20th century, only a handful of full-scale books on the Arian Controversy have been published. This article series is largely based on the following books:

RH Bishop RPC Hanson
The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God –
The Arian Controversy 318-381, 1987

RW Archbishop Rowan Williams
Arius: Heresy and Tradition, 2002/1987

LA = Lewis Ayres
Nicaea and its legacy, 2004
Ayres is a Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology

‘Arian’ is a misnomer.

Arius did not have followers. Athanasius invented the ‘Arian’ concept as a polemical device. 

Arius was already dead when Athanasius wrote. However, he used Arius as a stick to beat his opponents with. He called his opponents ‘Arians’, meaning followers of Arius, and then selectively quoted Arius as an attack on his opponents.

But his opponents were not followers of Arius. Arius did not leave behind a school of disciples. He had very few real followers. Nobody regarded his writings worth copying. His theology played no part in the Controversy after Nicaea. The term ‘Arian’, therefore, is a serious misnomer. The only reason so many Christians believe Arius was important is because they accept Athanasius’ distortions. (Read more)

In reality, Arius was part of a group we may call the ‘Eusebians’; followers of Eusebius of Caesarea and Eusebius of Nicomedia. (Read more) Consequently, this article series often refers to the anti-Nicenes as the Eusebians rather than ‘Arians’.

Arius’ Writings

Most of what we know about Arius comes from the writings of Athanasius, who maliciously misrepresented him. 

Of Arius’ own writings, we only have three letters.

List these writings

Everything else we know about him comes from the writings of his enemies; particularly Athanasius:

“We are wholly dependent upon the reports of his enemies.” (RW, 95)

However, since Athanasius used Arius’ writings for polemical purposes, we can never be sure that his views were transmitted correctly:

“Athanasius … would not have stopped short of misrepresenting what he (Arius) said.” (RH, 10)

“In places (Athanasius) may be suspected of pressing the words maliciously rather further than Arius intended” (RH, 15).

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Athanasius describes Arius’ teachings in De Synodis 15 and in Contra Arianos 1.5-6:

The first seems to be a direct quote and provides a balanced perspective. For example, Arius described the Son as “full of truth, and grace, God, Only-begotten, unaltering.” (RH, 6)

The second seems to be Athanasius’ paraphrase of Arius’ teachings and describes the Son as completely different from God and as merely a created being.

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Over the centuries, people have formed a wrong view of Arius because they base it on Athanasius’ writings.

We also have two letters from Alexander, archbishop of Alexandria, in which he gives an account of what Arius taught. Since the Arian Controversy began as a dispute between him and Arius, Alexander must be regarded as a biased witness.

ARIUS’ THEOLOGY

The anathemas in the Nicene Creed reflect Arius’ views that attracted the most opposition.

List these anathemas

Arius’ theology may be summarized as follows:

God alone exists without a cause.

The central principle of Arius’ theology is that the Father alone exists without cause. 

For Arius, the Father alone is “unbegotten,” meaning to exist without a cause. The Father, therefore, gave existence to all things and has no equal. Arius’ entire theological system hangs on this central principle.

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The Father gave existence to the Son.

It follows that the Son does not exist without a cause but that the Father gave Him existence. 

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The Son is a Created Being

The Son is the only Being ever produced by God Himself, and the greatest Being God could produce. 

Arius described the Son as “a creature and a product” (RH, 16). Both Athanasius and Alexander claimed that Arius taught that the Son is equal to other created beings. For example, they wrote:

“He was then such as is every man. We are able to become the sons of God as he is.” (RH, 17)

“He is one of the many ‘powers’ that exist besides God, among which are also the locust and the caterpillar.” (RH, 13)

This is an example of how Arius’ enemies misrepresented his teachings, for Arius taught that the Son is:

      • The only Being ever created directly by God,
      • The Creator of all other beings, 
      • ‘God’ as far as the rest of creation is concerned, 
      • The greatest being that God could possibly produce. He received everything from the Father that a created being could receive.

Consequently, the only-begotten Son has no equal.

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Created to Create

God produced the Son to create all things through Him. 

In Nicene theology, the Son is co-eternal with the Father. In other words, He does not exist for a specific reason. For Arius, the Son was created specifically to create all things.

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Not Literally Begotten

The term “begotten” is a symbol and means that God Himself produced the Son. 

By describing the Son as a created being, Arius seems to contradict the Bible, which says that the Son was “begotten;” the only Being ever “begotten” by God.

The Nicene Creed says that the Son was begotten from the substance of God and, therefore, is of the same substance as God. This seems to interpret “begotten” literally, as if the Son was born from God like human children are born from their parents.

Arius responded that the term “begotten” and the titles Father and Son must not be understood literally but symbolize that the Son is the only being ever directly produced by the Father and that He is an exact visible replica of the invisible God.

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Begotten before Time Existed

The Son always existed. 

Since He made all things, the Son existed before all things. Consequently, the Son was begotten before time itself existed. From the perspective of beings who exist ‘in’ or subject to time, the Son has ‘always’ existed.

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There was when He was not

In the infinity beyond time, the Father existed metaphysically before the Son. 

On the other hand, Arius argued that “God must preexist the Son. If not, we are faced with a whole range of unacceptable ideas .. (such as) that he is, like God, self-subsistent.” (RW, 97) Therefore, “the Son was produced before everything, before anything conceivable, but is still not co-eternal with the Father.” (RH, 103) In that incomprehensible infinity beyond time, the Father exists metaphysically ‘before’ the Son. There was when He was not but there was no literal ‘time’ before the Son.

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Both Athanasius and Alexander – Arius’ enemies – claimed that Arius taught that there was ‘time’ before the Son. They wrote, for example:

“There was a time when God was not Father.”
There was a time when he (the Son) did not exist.” (RH, 13, 16, 17).

But Arius did not use the word “time” in this context. Since he said the Son was “brought into existence … before all times and ages” (RW, 97), the Son was begotten in the unknowable and timeless infinity beyond time, and “there was when He was not” only in a metaphysical sense. He did not say that there was literal time before the Son. For our purposes, living within time, the Son has ‘always’ existed.

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Created out of Nothing

One aspect where Arius deviated from other Eusebians is his view that the Son was produced out of nothing. 

Arius stated:

“God … made him when he did not exist out of non-existence” (RH, 16).

In other words, God made Him out of nothing. “This was certainly the feature of Arius’ thought which gave rise to more scandal than any other.” (RH, 88) This was one aspect in which Arius deviated from the mainstream Eusebians, who argued that the Son was begotten from the being of God. Eusebius of Caesarea “consistently rejects the doctrine that the Son was produced from nonexistence” (RH, 59; cf. RH, 52, 53).

By saying that the Son was derived from the substance of the Father, the Nicene Creed explicitly opposes this statement. After the Nicene Creed has anathematized this statement, “it is noteworthy too that … Arius deliberately refrains from describing the Son as ‘deriving from nonexistence’” (RH, 8).

Created by the Will of God

Alexander taught that the Son is part of the Father, existing without cause and without the Father’s will. 

Arius’ opponents Alexander and Athanasius believed that the Son is part of the Father. (See here) Consequently, the Son exists without cause and the Father never ‘willed’ the Son to exist. Arius and the Eusebians, in contrast, since they regarded the Son as a created Being, argued that God willed the Son to exist.

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Therefore, whether the Son exists by God’s will was a significant discussion point in the ‘Arian’ Controversy. It still is today. One key aspect of the Trinity doctrine is Eternal Generation. In it, God never ‘willed’ to generate the Son. It teaches that the Father has always been begetting the Son and will always be begetting the Son. In other words, it is an eternal reality and part of what God is.

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Subordinate

Since the Son received His life and being from the Father, He is subordinate to the Father.  

Eusebians even described the Father as the Son’s God whom He worships.

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They argued that the Son cannot be on equal footing with the Father, for that would mean “two unoriginated ultimate principles” (RH, 8) and referred to “Christ’s human infirmities (as a proof of his divine inferiority).” (RH, 17) However, when Arius wrote, all theologians, also the pro-Nicenes, regarded the Son as subordinate to the Father.

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So, the issue was not whether the Son is subordinate to the Father. Everybody accepted that He is. (Read more) The real issue in the ‘Arian’ Controversy was whether the Son is part of the Father, as Alexander and Athanasius, claimed, or whether He is a distinct Person, as the Eusebians thought. (Read more) People familiar only with the traditional (19th century) account of the ‘Arian’ Controversy will find these statements surprising. 

God

All theologians described the Son as theos but that term did not mean “God.”  

In Arius’ day, the Greek language did not have a word equivalent to the modern term ‘God’ (the Ultimate Reality). It only had the term theos, which means ‘god’ and which the Greeks used for their multitude of gods; thought of as immortal beings with supernatural powers. Since all agreed that the Son is an immortal Being with supernatural powers, all parties to the Controversy described the Son as theos, but the Eusebians, such as Arius, distinguished between the Son as theos and the Father as the only true theos.

However, translators have a dilemma. They believe that the Son is God and, therefore, when they translate theos, when referring to the Son, they render it as “God.” However, this is an application of the Trinity doctrine and should not be used as proof of the Trinity doctrine. On the other hand, the term ‘god’ is not acceptable because of the negative connotation of that term in today’s English. (Read more)

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The Trinity

Arius did refer to the Father, Son, and Spirit as a Trinity but meant a group of three distinct Beings.  

The Trinity doctrine, in contrast, does not merely teach that three divine Persons exist, or even that they are equal, but that they are one single Being. (Read more)

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Different Substance

In the Nicene Creed, the Son is of the same substance as the Father. Arius claimed His substance is different. 

Arius said that the Son is “unlike in substance to the Father” because the substance of a created being can never be the same as God’s substance that exists without a cause. Arius may be what became later known as a Hetero-ousian (different substance). (Read more)

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Two Wisdoms

Alexander believed the Father and Son share a single mind. Arius taught that they are two distinct minds. 

Arius’ enemies Alexander and Athanasius believed in only one Logos (Mind, Word, Wisdom, Reason) in God and that the Son is the Father’s Wisdom and Word. In other words, the Father and Son share a single mind. (Read more)

In contrast, Arius believed that the Father and Son have two distinct minds: He taught “two Logoi and two Wisdoms,” meaning that God also has His own Wisdom.

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Immutable

Arius taught that the Son can change but will never change. 

This is discussed in a dedicated article. (See here) In summary:

Following ancient Greek philosophy, theologians generally accept that God is immutable, meaning, unable to change. The question arises, Is God’s Son also immutable? Can He change? In particular, can He become evil?

Arius’ opponents Alexander and Athanasius believed that the Son is part of the Father. (See here) As such, the Son is as immutable as the Father.

The Nicene Creed similarly anathematizes those who say, “The Son of God is … subject to alteration or change.” 

Arius described the Son as “Like the Father, ‘unchangeable’.” (RW, 96) However, his enemies Alexander and Athanasius claimed that Arius taught the exact opposite, namely, that the Son is, “like all others … subject to change.” (Athanasius in Contra Arianos(v), RW, 100) Arius’ thinking was as follows:

By nature, the Son is mutable. His enemies preferred to emphasize this point.

God did not override the Son’s freedom (mutability). God did not make it impossible for His Son to change or to sin.

The Son does not sin because He loves righteousness and hates iniquity. He is “unchangeable” because He will not sin; not because He cannot sin.

God had always given the Son all authority in heaven and earth because He always knew His Son would never sin.

Note how Arius’ enemies emphasize the one part of Arius’ thinking, that the Son is mutable by nature, and omits that Arius also said the Son will never change. This is one example of how Athanasius misrepresents Arius. (Read more)

The Son came to this world to be tested to see whether He would also sin under the ‘right’ circumstances. (See here) If He couldn’t sin, His victory over sin would be meaningless.

Knowledge of God

Arius also said that the Son knows everything about the Father that a created being can know

The Bible says several times that God is invisible. (e.g., Col 1:15; John 1:18; 1 Tim 6:16). Ancient writers understood this also to mean that nobody understands God fully. So, the question arose, is the Son able to “see” and “understand” the Father fully?

Show Origen's view

Arius said that the Son also does not understand God fully, for how could a being who has a beginning possibly understand a Being who is without a beginning?

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But Arius also said that the Son knows everything about the Father that a created being can know.

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Knowledge of Himself

Arius also said that “the Son does not know the nature of his own substance (ousia)” (RH, 16; cf. RH, 15). Williams understands Arius as saying:

“He is willed into existence by the Father, and cannot therefore have that ‘perspective’ on his own substance which his creator possesses.” (RW, 105-6)


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