Historical Spotlight: Revenge of the Semi-Arians

This week, we’ll be picking up where we left off last weekend. To settle the dispute over the bishop of Constantinople, as well as the dozens of other problems facing the Church, it was decided that a local council was to be called.

Hosius of Cordova

The Council of Sardica happened in 343 AD and involved 170 bishops. The split between Semi-Arians and orthodox bishops was 76 heretics to 94 orthodox. The bishop presiding over the council, Hosius, was also present at the Council of Nicaea, and was getting very, very old. The Semi-Arians tried to prevent Athanasius from appearing at the council, doing what they could to stop him from arriving, but when Athanasius walked into the council, the Semi-Arians fled. Because of this, any bishop who fled the council was deposed and considered a heretic. The results of the council led to appeals to Rome to decide whether or not a bishop has been validly deposed. If a bishop has been deposed and he appeals it to Rome, it can’t be filled until the investigation is complete.

Unfortunately, this council also led to a few problems. The Semi-Arian bishops who fled went and held their own council. They excommunicated the pope and all the bishops who had appealed to Rome. Then they pretended that their decrees had come from Sardica. Unfortunately, this succeeded in North Africa and it was thought that this was a legitimate council until Augustine.

By the year 353, Constantius, the Emperor of the East, had taken complete and total reign over the entirety of the Roman Empire. Eusebius then officially had influence everywhere in the empire. In that year, Pope Julius also died. He was replaced by an orthodox man named Liberius. Around that time, Constantius also remarried. His new wife, Eusebia, was very interested in philosophy. She got along remarkably

Constantius, Emperor of Constantinople

well with a certain bishop in Constantinople with a very similar name (Eusebius).

In 353, Constantius had had enough of the controversy in the Church. He convoked a council at Arles, where he lived, but only really invited Arian bishops and the pope’s representatives. The entire council was a joke. The result was basically that Athanasius was ordered into another exile and political statements. There were no doctrinal questions even raised during the proceedings. By the end of it, only one bishop refused to sign the acts of the council. He died in exile. Even the papal representatives signed, though there was a large amount of force used to get most of the signatures. Liberius, though, would rather die than be thought to approve of the council.

Two years later, Constantius hosted another council in Milan. Here, he said a quote that shows just how great the problems to come would be: “My will is the canon.” After this council, the Christians in the Empire were forced to bring the Arians back into their churches. The majority of people themselves, though, were not Arian. In the Eastern part of the Church, there were really only three men left to fight the Emperor. Liberius, the pope, Hosius, the 100-year-old bishop at Sardica, Nicaea, and many other councils, and Athanasius were all that stood between the Church and Arianism.

It was at this point that constantius began a reign of terror throughout the Empire. There was a persecution of the orthodox believers of the Church, the people who believed in the true Trinity. Here, Constantius began to show his true colors. He had Liberius exiled and installed his own anti-pope, Felix. He had Hosius exiled at 100 years old. Athanasius was physically dragged out of Alexandria so that Constantius could install his own Arian puppet. Orthodoxy itself seemed to be all but forgotten.