Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| The Dispute of Arius with Alexander, his Bishop.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter V.—The Dispute
of Arius with Alexander, his Bishop.
After Peter, bishop of
Alexandria, had suffered martyrdom under Diocletian, Achillas was
installed in the episcopal office, whom Alexander succeeded, during the
period of peace above referred to. He, in the fearless exercise of his
functions for the instruction and government of the Church, attempted
one day in the presence of the presbytery and the rest of his clergy,
to explain, with perhaps too philosophical minuteness, that great
theological mystery—the Unity
of the Holy Trinity. A certain one of the presbyters under his
jurisdiction, whose name was Arius, possessed of no inconsiderable
logical acumen, imaging that the bishop was subtly teaching the same
view of this subject as Sabellius the Libyan,119
| 119Though Sabellius was the originator of one of the
earliest and most plausible attempts at explanation of the mystery of
the Trinity (for which see life of Sabellius in Smith and Wace,
Dict. of Christian Biog., and Hodge, System. Theol. Vol.
I. p. 452, 459), nothing is known of him, not even why he is called a
Libyan here (also by other ancient writers, e.g. Philastrius, de
Hæres. 26, and Asterius, quoted by Phot. Biblioth. Cod.
27). Some say that he was a native and resident of Libya, others that
he was an ecclesiastic appointed to some position there; nor is it
known whether the Libya meant is the Libyan Pentapolis or the
Pentapolitan Ptolemais.
|
from love of controversy took the opposite opinion to that of the
Libyan, and as he thought vigorously responded to what was said by the
bishop. ‘If,’ said he, ‘the Father begat the Son, he
that was begotten had a beginning of existence: and from this it is
evident, that there was a time when the Son was not. It therefore
necessarily follows, that he had his substance120
| 120ὑπόστασιν. Through
the Arian controversy this word is used in its metaphysical sense of
‘real nature of a thing as underlying and supporting its outward
form and properties’; hence it is equivalent to the Latin
substantia, Eng. essence and Greek οὐσία. Cf. below III. 7. Later
it was applied to the ‘special or characteristic nature of a
thing,’ and so became the very opposite of οὐσία (the general nature);
hence equivalent to person.
|
from nothing.’
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
