Historical Spotlight: Rise of Semi-Arians

Today, we’re going to take a look at the after effects of the Council of Nicaea, which we discussed earlier. I mentioned the little story about how some of the bishops from the council added an iota to the “homoousios” to change the word from “consubstantial” to “of a similar substance,” which let them continue being Arians, while also being okay with the Church. This was a very long and very messy affair.

It kicked off a massive controversy, starting the dissidents from Nicaea. They had two leaders, Eusebius of Caesarea and Eusebius of Nicomedia.

This would eventually be a problem with the Church. This conflict is actually where Arianism almost tore the Church apart. These Semi-Arians were a group of people upset with the Council of Nicaea.

The first thing these heretics did was get the Emperor on their side. Eusebius of Nicomedia was good friends with the Emperors and so was able to get the entire Roman Empire to move to try to force the world to try to become Arian. Constantine tried this first by summoning a council. The “Council” of Tyre was called in 336 by Constantine in order to try to pacify everybody involved. However, the council was led by two heretical groups, the Meletians (who had been condemned at Nicaea), and the Eusebians, followers of Eusebius. Because of this, the council never received the sanction of the Church and is not recognized as authoritative. Athanasius attempted to attend the council, but he walked out when he realized just what was going on.

After this so-called council, the semi-Arians split into two parties. One group was called the Eusebians. These are the followers of the two Eusebiuses. The other group was called the Anomians. The name comes from a Greek word, anomoios. They got this name from their ideas about the creed. Unlike the authentic teaching, which used homoousios (of the same substance), or the Eusebians, who used homoiousios (of a similar substance), the Anomians used anomoios, which means “unlike.”

Now, this conflict was a conflict that really only happened in the Eastern half of the Church, because to the Latin Church, it was very clear that there was a difference between the words “substance” and “person.” However, in Greek, the word they had been using was “ousia.” This word can be rendered as both person OR substance. Because of this, the Latin side of the Church escaped most of this problem.

The Semi-Arians had a good understanding of the role of authority in the Church. Because of this, they had an unfortunate tendency of deposing bishops and replacing them with Semi-Arian bishops. It got to be such a problem that in 340, Pope Julius I had to hold a small council in Rome. He invited the bishops of the world, and by the end of the council, he had replaced most of the bishops that had been deposed.

The next year, another council was called. This council was not to settle the controversy, but rather to dedicate a cathedral, the “Golden Church.” At this council, 97 bishops from the East, almost all Semi-Arians, were present. These bishops decided to put forth 4 different creeds, in opposition to the Nicene Creed. Because of this, this Council is not seen as an ecumenical council. However, it does demonstrate the lengths the Semi-Arians were willing to go to in order to get their point across.

At the same time, there were political happenings in Constantinople that would simply make the problem even more intense. The rightful bishop of Constantinople was a man named Paul I, a good and holy man. The Emperor at the time, Constantius II, sent Paul into exile in 341 and replaced him with Eusebius of Nicomedia. That same year, Eusebius died. Paul, the rightful bishop, had been relieved of his exile, but had not yet returned to Constantinople to reclaim his authority. The Semi-Arians jumped at the chance to replace a champion of Orthodoxy with one of their own heretics.

And here is where we will break for the week. Two bishops claim authority in Constantinople, one legitimate, one heretical. Multiple pseudo-councils convened, each trying to undermine the faith of Nicaea. An Emperor that is not friendly to Arians, but is also a strict opponent of Athanasius, and thus, orthodoxy. And Athanasius, the champion of Nicaea, in exile. We’ll pick up the story next time.