Arianism was the view of
Arius and his followers, the
Arians, that
Jesus was subordinate to, and of a different being (
ousia) from,
God the Father. Arians opposed the view that the three persons of the
Trinity were of one being or
substance. Arianism spread throughout the Church of
Alexandria and the Eastern Mediterranean. After the
First Council of Nicaea condemned Arianism as
heresy, many Christians adopted compromise views in which they remained
in communion with Arians without adopting Arianism itself. Various formulae, such as the
homoiousian and the
homoean, were proposed to compromise between Arian teachings (
heteroousios) and the doctrine of one substance (
homoousios) asserted in the
Nicene Creed. After the 325 Council of Nicaea anathematized Arianism, the majority of the Eastern bishops—who agreed to the deposition of
Athanasius of Alexandria at
Tyre in 335 and received the Arians into communion at
Jerusalem upon their repentance—were not Arians. The
Dedication Council of Antioch in 341 put forth a creed that was unexceptionable except for its omission of the Nicene formula "of One Substance." Even disciples of Arius, such as Bishop
George of Laodicea (335–47) and
Eustathius of Sebaste (c. 356–80), joined the moderate party. After the death of
Eusebius of Nicomedia, the leaders of the court faction—
Ursacius of Singidunum,
Valens of Mursa, and
Germinius of Sirmium—were not tied to any formula, for Emperor
Constantius II himself hated Arianism, although he disliked Athanasius even more. When Marcellus of Ancyra was deposed in 336, he was succeeded by Basil. Marcellus was reinstated by the
Council of Serdica and by Bishop
Julius of Rome in 343, but Basil was restored in 350 by Constantius, over whom he gained considerable influence. Basil led a council at
Sirmium in 351, held against
Photinus, who had been a deacon at Ancyra; the canons of this synod begin by condemning Arianism, though they do not meet the Nicene standard. Basil later had a disputation with the
Anomoean Aëtius. After the defeat of
Magnentius at
Mursa in 351, Valens, bishop of that city, became Constantius's spiritual director. In 355 Valens and Ursacius obtained the exile of the Western confessors Eusebius,
Lucifer of Cagliari,
Hilary of Poitiers, and Liberius. In 357 they issued the second
Creed of Sirmium, or "formula of
Hosius", in which
homoousios and
homoiousios were both absent.
Eudoxius seized the see of Antioch and supported Aëtius and his disciple Eunomius. It has also been noted that the Greek term "
homoousian", which
Athanasius of Alexandria favored, was reported to have been used and favored by
Sabellius, and that many followers of Athanasius took issue with and were uneasy about the term. The Semi-Arians also objected to it. Their objection to "homoousian" was that it was considered un-Scriptural, suspicious, and of a
Sabellian tendency. This was because Sabellius also considered the Father and the Son to be "one substance", meaning that, to Sabellius, the Father and Son were "one essential person" interacting with creation as necessary.
Basil of Ancyra In Lent of 358, Basil, along with many bishops, was holding the dedicatory feast of a new church he had built at
Ancyra when he received a letter from
George of Laodicea relating how Eudoxius had approved of Aëtius and begging
Macedonius of Constantinople, Basil, and the rest of the assembled bishops to decree the expulsion of Eudoxius and his followers from
Antioch, lest that great see be lost. Consequently, the
Synod of Ancyra published a long reply addressed to George and the other bishops of
Phoenicia, in which they recited the Creed of Antioch (341), added explanations against the "unlikeness" of the Son to the Father taught by the Arians and Anomoeans (from
anomoios), and showed that the very name of Father implies a Son of like substance (
homoiousios, or
homoios kat ousian). Anathematisms were appended in which Anomoeanism was explicitly condemned and the teaching of "likeness of substance" was enforced. The nineteenth of these canons also forbids the use of
homoousios and
tautoousios; this may be an afterthought prompted by the instance of Macedonius, as Basil does not seem to have insisted on it later.
Legates were dispatched to the council at Sirmium; Basil, Eustathius of Sebaste, an ascetic of no dogmatic principles; Eleusius of
Cyzicus, a follower of Macedonius; and the priest Leontius, one of the emperor's chaplains. They arrived just in time, for the emperor had been lending his ear to a Eudoxian, but he now veered round, issuing a letter (Sozomen, IV, xiv) declaring the Son to be "like in substance" to the Father and condemning the Arians of Antioch. According to
Sozomen, at this point
Pope Liberius was released from exile upon signing three formulae combined by Basil. Basil persuaded Constantius to summon a
general council,
Ancyra being proposed, then
Nicomedia (both in Asia Minor), but as the latter city was destroyed by an earthquake, Basil was again at
Sirmium in 359, where the Arianizers had meanwhile regained their footing. With
Germinius of Sirmium, George of Alexandria, Ursacius and Valens, and Bishop (later Saint)
Marcus of Arethusa, he held a conference that lasted until night. A confession of faith, ridiculed under the name of the "dated creed", was drawn up by Marcus on 22 May (Hilary, "Fragment. xv"). Arianism was, of course, rejected, but the
homoios kata ten ousian was not admitted, and the expression
kata panta homoios, "like in all things", was substituted. Basil was disappointed and added to his signature the explanation that the words "in all things" meant not only in will but in existence and being (
kata ten hyparxin kai kata to einai). Not content with this, Basil, George of Laodicea, and others published a joint explanation (Epiph., lxxiii, 12–22) that "in all things" must include "substance". However, when the Trinity was officially defined, the offended binitarians walked out. For the rest of the history of the Semi-Arians (also called
Macedonians), see
Pneumatomachi. In more modern times, Semi-Arian groups are said to include non-Trinitarian bodies such as
Jehovah's Witnesses and
Creation Seventh-day Adventists. ==See also==