Summary
An encyclopedia says of St. Athanasius (293-373): "His life is intimately connected with the progress of the Arian controversy, and he was by far the most formidable antagonist encountered by that heresy. Athanasius advocated the homoousian doctrine according to which the Son of God is of the same essence or substance with the Father, whereas Arius maintained that the Son was of different substance from that of the Father, but the first of creation and more than man."
Arius, the encyclopedia tells us, was a Greek ecclesiastic and theologian who became known in the year 318 because of his views on the Trinity. If the son of God were truly a son, he reasoned, there must have been a time when the son did not exist. A council of 100 Egyptians and Libyan bishops condemned that view, but the controversy spread throughout the church. Roman Emperor Constantine I called the council of Nicaea in 325 to settle the dispute. Arius was banished to Illyria. His writings were publicly burned.See the full content of this document
Extract
Reflection: ; When Jesus Became God
Evelyn R. Smith, an ardent Trinitarian, who writes an essay on faith regularly in the Sunday Gazette-Mail, hails the sainthood of Athanasius and goes to lengths extolling the virtues of the formidable antagonist of Arianism and the stalwa...
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