Arius
Arius (c.250-c.336) Libyan Christian theologian responsible for the heresy of Arianism.
Around 319 CE he created controversy by saying that Christ is ‘divinized’ but remains subordinate to God.
For Arius, God is absolutely transcendent and cannot be present in a human being.
Although he gained some support, Arius was excommunicated in 321 by a synod of bishops at Alexandria, mostly because his idea countered the central belief of the Trinity, in which the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are co-equal and co-eternal.
Although well-understood within Christian communities, the dogma of the Trinity had not been firmly defined at the time of the controversy.
In 325 the Council of Nicea formulated the Trinity as three equal, eternal persons.
While often criticized as a historical fabrication, for Catholic believers this tenet of their faith is not arbitrarily manufactured within history; rather, it regarded as the reception and conceptual articulation of an eternal truth within the course of history.
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Posted on March 25, 2008, in A and tagged arius, catholic, christianity, God, heresy, Jesus, jesus christ, religion, spirit, theology, trinity. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment.
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Arius’ position affected both his concept of God–nontrinitarian, as you say–and his concept of the person of Jesus whom he regarded as not divine but a creature like other human beings. The Orthodox position is that Christ is begotten of the Father and not made (or created), the person of Christ is both fully human and fully divine. It is complicated stuff when you look at it closely, but there it is.