Catholic Apologetics Online

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Comparative Study of Non-Catholic Denominations

To and From Rome

Arianism

1247. What was the heresy of Arius?

Arius was born in Lybia in 256 A.D., and was ordained a Catholic priest in 313 A.D. In the year 318, at the Synod of Alexandria, the Patriarch of that city gave a discourse on the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity. Arius declared that the Patriarch had fallen into error, and proceeded to set out his own ideas of Christian doctrine. He denied that Christ was really the Eternal Son of God, equally sharing in the Divine Nature with the Father. According to him, the Person of Christ existed before all other created things, and was nobler than them all. But God had created that Person of Christ in eternity, and then through Him created all other things in time. Later that created Personality of Christ became man for the redemption of the human race. In 320 A.D. a second Synod of Alexandria condemned the doctrine of Arius as heretical because it made the Eternal Son of God a mere creature, denying that He was equally the uncreated God with the Father and the Holy Ghost. Arius would not submit, but went on teaching and publicly spreading his errors, securing many followers and causing immense disturbance in the Church, and also in the State. The Emperor Constantine demanded that a General Council be held to settle the matter, and in 325 A.D. the Bishops met at Nicea. They condemned the teaching of Arius because he denied the Deity of Christ, and he was excommunicated because he would not submit to the authority of the Church. His heresy led multitudes astray, and for over four centuries Arian heretics were proportionately as numerous as the various forms of Protestantism during the last four centuries. Arius himself died in 335 A.D., and his movement died out also in the seventh century. In modern times Unitarianism is really a revived form of Arianism, at least by its denial of the doctrine of the Trinity and of the Deity of Christ.

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MORE FROM VOLUME 2

• About the Author
• Introduction
  - Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty
• Preface
  - John Gregory Murray
  Archbishop of Saint Paul
• Forward
  - Dr Leslie Rumble, MSC

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