Trinity

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TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD: PROF. M. M. NINAN he could not serve as both presiding official and chief accuser. On that basis, he turned over the presidency to Hosius of Cordova. Alexander remained adamant about his position and at another general council of his diocese the excommunication of Arius was reaffirmed. Arius then formally complained to Constantine about his treatment by Alexander. Constantine directed Arius to plead his case before a general council of the church, to be convened at Nicea in Asia Minor on June 14, 325 AD. All came to a head and the Emperor, to safeguard the unity of the empire and the church, convened a general council at Nicea, which declared the Son to be equal with the Father and issued the Creed saying that Christ is “God from God, true God from true God, begotten not created, of the same essence as the Father....” All but two of Arius’s supporters - Secundus of Ptolemais and Theonas of Marmarica - signed the Creed. Arius still refused. These three were sent into exile by Constantine the emperor. They were anathemized and condemned. To enforce the decisions of the Council, Constantine demanded, the death penalty for disobedience, the burning of all books composed by Arius and deposed Eusebius of Nicomedia and another bishop who had been active in their support of Arius.. Arianism believes that Jesus Christ is the Son, but is an entirely distinct form from God the Father. This holds to Arius’ key argument that the Son of God did not always exist, but was created by-and is therefore distinct from God the Father. The Son must therefore be deemed a creature who has been called into existence out of nothing and has a beginning. Moreover the Son can have no direct knowledge of the Father since the Son is finite and of a different order of existences. According to Bishop Athanasius, Arius‘ teachings reduced the Son to a demigod, meaning not wholly God or human, reintroducing polytheism which believed in the worship of the Son and the Father as separate entities. This lead to the undermining of the Christian concept of redemption, since only he who is truly God could be deemed to have reconciled man to the Godhead. 51
TRINITY & OTHER DOCTRINES OF GOD: PROF. M. M. NINAN http://www.arian-catholic.org/arian/arius.html Arius (256 - 336 AD) was a Libyan theologian and of Berber descent. His father’s name is given as Ammonius. He was educated in the theological school of Antioch (now Antakya) under the distinguished Greek scholar, Presbyter and non-trinitarian Lucian of Antioch. He was regarded as the founder of Arianism, although its concept was by no means new, which some Christian sects regard as a heresy and was a key issue in the early Church, leading to the formation of the heretical Nicene Creed. At the turn of the fourth century Arius was already known to hold strong views on theology and was a close associate of Lucian and Meletius (an Egyptian schismatic against Peter I), however following reconciliation in AD 306 Arius was ordained as a Deacon by Peter I (Patriarch of Alexandria: AD 300 - 311). Further disputes led the Bishop (Peter I) to excommunicate Arius, who, however, gained the friendship of Achillas, Peter’s successor. Arius was re-instated and then ordained by Achillas (Patriarch of Alexandria 312 - 313) as the Presbyter of the district of Baucalis in Alexandria in AD 313, but when Achillas died that same year Arius was denied the Patriarchate of Alexandria (to which he aspired) by Alexander I of Alexandria (a Sebellianist heretic). Arius’s most important work was “Thalia” (The Banquet, 323), a work comprising both prose and poetry, in which he defended his beliefs. The document was destroyed by the trinitarians and is no longer extant, and knowledge of most of Arius’s writings comes only from the works of his critics, who, in condemning him, revealed much information. Arius continued to campaign against trinitarianism. He was excommunicated locally in 321 AD. He was declared orthodox in Asia Minor, where he had fled (323), but he was anathematised by the Council of Nicaea (324) and banished by the Roman Emperor Constantine I (325). But in the reaction after Nicaea, where Arius gained support from Clergy across all Europe especially in the east and at one point Arians outnumbered the trinitarians, he came into imperial favour. The emperor had ordered the Athanasians at Alexandria to receive him at communion when he suddenly died under suspicious circumstances immediately after having an audience with the Emperor at the imperial palace. Arians believed that Arius had been poisoned. 52
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The Mystery of tefillin The Manduky
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Trinity

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