Autor: Lonergan, Bernard J. F.

Buch: The Way to Nicea

Titel: The Way to Nicea

Stichwort: Arius, Arianismus: 3 Phasen (Konstantin)

Kurzinhalt: Arianism arose in Alexandria but spread rapidly ... In the earlier period there were three main phases ...

Textausschnitt: 68a Arianism arose in Alexandria but spread rapidly. Before long it had the whole Eastern part of the Roman Empire in a state of turmoil that was to last nearly fifty years; then, having spread to the external proletariat it was transported by the conquering barbarians into the Western part of the Empire. In the earlier period there were three main phases. During the first phase, under the Emperor Constantine the First, who died in 337, stubborn defenders of the Council of Nicea were deposed from their episcopal sees, because of many and various accusations brought against them by the Arians. The second phase, under the Emperor Constantius, who died in 361, was marked by a plethora of minor councils and a multiplicity of creeds. In the third and final phase the faith of Nicea began to find general acceptance and within a short time was in fact universally accepted. (Fs)

68b Although they share the same name, the Arians did not all share the same basic position. Arius himself held that the Son was a creature. But the followers of Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea, did not so much embrace the teaching of Arius as take a stand against the council of Nicea: they criticised the council for using non-scriptural language; they urged that the opinion of Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra, be accepted as the authentic exposition of the Nicene formula; and they themselves were content with the ambiguous doctrine of Origen, to which they appealed, namely, that the Son is, without difference, most like the Father. Then came those whom we may call the second-generation Arians: the Anomoeans, Aetius and Eunomius, who attempted a philosophically rigorous proof that the Son was a creature; the Homoeousians, such as Basil, bishop of Ancyra, who rejected the homoousion of Nicea, but held that the Son was truly Son, similar to the Father in substance (ousia) and in all things; and finally, the Homoeans, who said that the Son should be called the image of God, according to the usage of scripture, and that the very words ousia, homoousion, homoiusion, should be proscribed. (Fs) (notabene)

69a
1. The roots of Arianism are traced back to Lucian of Antioch, founder of the exegetical school at Antioch, who favoured subordinationism, spent a long time outside of the Church but then apparently underwent a conversion, and died a martyr's death in 312. Arius and his first followers studied under Lucian, but what his own teaching was-or indeed, whether there were two Lucian's or only one-can be established only by laborious historical reconstruction. For the literature on the subject, see Altaner, p. 242. (Fs)

2. Arius, an Alexandrian priest, having studied under Lucian, later became head of the exegetical school at Alexandria.1 He publicly attacked the teaching of Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, for which, in 318, he was excommunicated by the synod of Alexandria. In spite of this, he continued to spread his own doctrine, and even managed to find favour with other bishops. So again he was condemned, first by the synod of Antioch,2 in 325, and then, in the same year, by the ecumenical council of Nicea. He died in the year 336. (Fs)