Arian Christianity
Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2011 4:24 am
Another early form of Christianity is known to history as Arianism, it also came to the game world I run in 720 CE when the first humans from our own Earth were transplanted there. I present it here for your review.
Arianism
St. Arius (ca. 250 C.E. or 256 – 336 C.E.) was a Berber Christian priest from Alexandria, Egypt in the early fourth century whose teachings, now called Arianism, form the basis of Ardenese Christianity.
In about the year 318, he was involved in a dispute with his bishop, Alexander of Alexandria, maintaining against him that Jesus, "the Son of God," was not consubstantial or coeternal with God the Father, but that there was once a time, before he was begotten, that he (Jesus) did not exist. Arius, with a following of other priests, was suppressed by the Western Roman Church, but debate continued throughout the Eastern Roman Empire. Many bishops, particularly those who studied under Lucian of Antioch, agreed with Arius. By the time Constantine I took over the East in 324, debate was fierce, with various councils condemning and approving Arius's views on the Son.
St. Arius taught that God was not always the Father, but that there was a period when he was not the Father; that the Word of God was not from eternity, but was made out of nothing; for that the ever-existing God (‘the I AM’—the eternal One) made him who did not previously exist, out of nothing; wherefore there was a time when he did not exist, inasmuch as the Son is a creature and a work. That he is neither like the Father as it regards his essence, nor is by nature either the Father’s true Word, or true Wisdom, but indeed one of his works and creatures, since he was himself made of God’s own Word and the Wisdom which is in God, whereby God both made all things and him also. Wherefore he is as to his nature mutable and susceptible of change, as all other rational creatures are: hence the Word is alien to and other than the essence of God; and the Father is inexplicable by the Son, and invisible to him, for neither does the Word perfectly and accurately know the Father, neither can he distinctly see him. The Son knows not the nature of his own essence: for he was made on our account, in order that God might create us by him, as by an instrument; nor would he ever have existed, unless God had wished to create us.
The Church of Arden endorses the following doctrines about The Son/The Word (Logos, referring to Jesus, see the Gospel of John chapter 1):
1. that the Word (Logos) and the Father were not of the same essence (ousia);
2. that the Son was a created being (ktisma or poiema);
3. that the worlds were created through him, so he must have existed before them and before all time
4. however, there was a "once" [Arius did not use words meaning "time", such as chronos or aion] when Jesus did not exist, before he was begotten of the Father.
5. God is one; the Trinity and the worship of saints are heretical doctrines.
Arian Christianity was the dominant form of Christianity among the Vandals and the Gothic barbarians across the Danube, thanks to a mission favored for political reasons by emperor Constantius II of Byzantium. The initial success in converting this Germanic people to an Arian form of Christianity was strengthened by later events. When the Germanic peoples entered the Roman Empire and founded successor-kingdoms in the western part, most had been Arian Christians for more than a century. The 4th century had seen Arian and Nicene factions struggling for control of the Church. In contrast, in the Arian German kingdoms established on the wreckage of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, there were entirely separate Arian and Nicene Churches with parallel hierarchies, each serving different sets of believers. The Germanic elites were Arians, and the majority population was Nicene.
Many scholars see the persistence of Germanic Arianism as a strategy that was followed in order to differentiate the Germanic elite from the local inhabitants and their culture and also to maintain the Germanic elite's separate group identity.
Most Germanic tribes were generally tolerant of the Nicene beliefs of their subjects. However, the Vandals tried for several decades to force their Arian beliefs on their North African Nicene subjects, exiling Nicene clergy, dissolving monasteries, and exercising heavy pressure on non-conforming Christians.
However, much of southeastern Europe and central Europe, including many of the Goths and Vandals respectively, had embraced Arianism (the Visigoths converted to Arian Christianity in 376), which led to Arianism being a religious factor in various wars in the Roman Empire. In the west, organized Arianism survived in North Africa, in Hispania, and parts of Italy until the 6th and 7th centuries on Earth and many Arian communities were transported to Yrth by the Banestorm.
Unlike the Pelagians, the Arian Church is run by its Bishops. Since the Arians regard Jesus as a man and not a god – a position not that distant from the Jews – the Arian Church has never persecuted the Jews and holds many theological positions in common with them.
Arianism is dominant in Arden and has adherents across the northern kingdoms.
Arianism
St. Arius (ca. 250 C.E. or 256 – 336 C.E.) was a Berber Christian priest from Alexandria, Egypt in the early fourth century whose teachings, now called Arianism, form the basis of Ardenese Christianity.
In about the year 318, he was involved in a dispute with his bishop, Alexander of Alexandria, maintaining against him that Jesus, "the Son of God," was not consubstantial or coeternal with God the Father, but that there was once a time, before he was begotten, that he (Jesus) did not exist. Arius, with a following of other priests, was suppressed by the Western Roman Church, but debate continued throughout the Eastern Roman Empire. Many bishops, particularly those who studied under Lucian of Antioch, agreed with Arius. By the time Constantine I took over the East in 324, debate was fierce, with various councils condemning and approving Arius's views on the Son.
St. Arius taught that God was not always the Father, but that there was a period when he was not the Father; that the Word of God was not from eternity, but was made out of nothing; for that the ever-existing God (‘the I AM’—the eternal One) made him who did not previously exist, out of nothing; wherefore there was a time when he did not exist, inasmuch as the Son is a creature and a work. That he is neither like the Father as it regards his essence, nor is by nature either the Father’s true Word, or true Wisdom, but indeed one of his works and creatures, since he was himself made of God’s own Word and the Wisdom which is in God, whereby God both made all things and him also. Wherefore he is as to his nature mutable and susceptible of change, as all other rational creatures are: hence the Word is alien to and other than the essence of God; and the Father is inexplicable by the Son, and invisible to him, for neither does the Word perfectly and accurately know the Father, neither can he distinctly see him. The Son knows not the nature of his own essence: for he was made on our account, in order that God might create us by him, as by an instrument; nor would he ever have existed, unless God had wished to create us.
The Church of Arden endorses the following doctrines about The Son/The Word (Logos, referring to Jesus, see the Gospel of John chapter 1):
1. that the Word (Logos) and the Father were not of the same essence (ousia);
2. that the Son was a created being (ktisma or poiema);
3. that the worlds were created through him, so he must have existed before them and before all time
4. however, there was a "once" [Arius did not use words meaning "time", such as chronos or aion] when Jesus did not exist, before he was begotten of the Father.
5. God is one; the Trinity and the worship of saints are heretical doctrines.
Arian Christianity was the dominant form of Christianity among the Vandals and the Gothic barbarians across the Danube, thanks to a mission favored for political reasons by emperor Constantius II of Byzantium. The initial success in converting this Germanic people to an Arian form of Christianity was strengthened by later events. When the Germanic peoples entered the Roman Empire and founded successor-kingdoms in the western part, most had been Arian Christians for more than a century. The 4th century had seen Arian and Nicene factions struggling for control of the Church. In contrast, in the Arian German kingdoms established on the wreckage of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, there were entirely separate Arian and Nicene Churches with parallel hierarchies, each serving different sets of believers. The Germanic elites were Arians, and the majority population was Nicene.
Many scholars see the persistence of Germanic Arianism as a strategy that was followed in order to differentiate the Germanic elite from the local inhabitants and their culture and also to maintain the Germanic elite's separate group identity.
Most Germanic tribes were generally tolerant of the Nicene beliefs of their subjects. However, the Vandals tried for several decades to force their Arian beliefs on their North African Nicene subjects, exiling Nicene clergy, dissolving monasteries, and exercising heavy pressure on non-conforming Christians.
However, much of southeastern Europe and central Europe, including many of the Goths and Vandals respectively, had embraced Arianism (the Visigoths converted to Arian Christianity in 376), which led to Arianism being a religious factor in various wars in the Roman Empire. In the west, organized Arianism survived in North Africa, in Hispania, and parts of Italy until the 6th and 7th centuries on Earth and many Arian communities were transported to Yrth by the Banestorm.
Unlike the Pelagians, the Arian Church is run by its Bishops. Since the Arians regard Jesus as a man and not a god – a position not that distant from the Jews – the Arian Church has never persecuted the Jews and holds many theological positions in common with them.
Arianism is dominant in Arden and has adherents across the northern kingdoms.
