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Arius and the Arian controversy
c. 256–336; dispute from c. 318· Person· People
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
A popular priest of Alexandria who taught that the Son of God was created, sparking the early church's biggest dispute.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Arius (c. 256–336) taught from about 318 that the Son was made by the Father before time began: divine, but not eternal or equal. His slogan: 'There was when he was not.' He spread his ideas through popular songs. His bishop, Alexander, expelled him; the quarrel spread across the East, and Nicaea (325) condemned him. Constantine later moved to readmit him, but Arius died suddenly in Constantinople in 336.
Why it matters
The fight over his ideas produced the Nicene Creed and the formal doctrine of the Trinity. Arian Christianity also spread to the Goths and Vandals, shaping post-Roman Europe.
Life, legacy and sources
Only fragments of his writings survive, quoted mostly by enemies such as Athanasius, plus a few of his letters preserved by later church historians.
Questions and debates
Modern scholars such as Rowan Williams argue 'Arianism' was largely a label made by opponents, lumping varied views into one heresy.
Connections (3)
▸Council of Nicaea condemned Arius and the Arian controversyHistorical record
The connection
The council condemned Arius's teaching. Arius and two Libyan bishops who refused to sign were exiled to Illyricum (the Balkans), and Constantine ordered Arius's books burned. Yet within a few years Constantine let him return, and the dispute dragged on for more than half a century, until 381.
When and where
Nicaea, 325; exile to Illyricum; Arius was recalled around 327–328.
Historical evidence
The council's letter to the Egyptian churches, Constantine's letter ordering Arius's writings burned, and Socrates Scholasticus's Church History (c. 440).
Questions and debates
Arius's own views are known mostly from hostile quotations; whether most bishops signed from conviction or under imperial pressure is debated.
▸Arius and the Arian controversy provoked the defining of The Trinity: Father, Son and Holy SpiritHistorical record
The connection
By denying that the Son was eternal and equal with the Father, Arius forced bishops to define exactly what they believed. That produced the term homoousios (325) and, later, the Cappadocian formula: one essence (ousia), three persons (hypostases). Without the controversy, the doctrine might have stayed far less precise.
When and where
Alexandria from about 318; debated across the empire until 381; resolved by Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus and Gregory of Nyssa.
Historical evidence
Writings from both sides survive, including Athanasius's Orations Against the Arians and Basil's On the Holy Spirit (c. 375).
Questions and debates
Was the Trinity already implied in earlier Christian faith (the traditional view) or worked out through these debates (many historians)? Many say both.
▸Athanasius of Alexandria spent decades opposing Arius and the Arian controversyHistorical record
The connection
As a deacon, Athanasius attended Nicaea alongside his bishop. As bishop himself (from 328) he refused to readmit Arius, even when Constantine ordered it. His opponents had him exiled five times. In his Orations Against the Arians he argued that only a fully divine Son could save humanity, and he lumped his varied opponents together as 'Arians'.
When and where
Alexandria, Nicaea, Trier and Rome, and the Egyptian desert, 325–373.
Historical evidence
Athanasius's own defenses and treatises survive, and Arius's letters are preserved in them and in later historians such as Theodoret.
Questions and debates
How much of the clash was theology and how much Alexandrian church politics, including Athanasius's feud with the rival Melitian clergy, who allied with Arius's supporters, is debated.