Arius

Attested. The quarrel, the condemnation, and the death in 336 are secure. The Thalia is known through hostile quotation. Modern scholars such as Rowan Williams argue that the slogan flattens a more conservative theology.

Arius, a presbyter at Alexandria, taught that the Son is not eternal in the way the Father is eternal. Opponents summed him up with 'there was when he was not.' He could call the Son a creature, a perfect one, begotten before the ages but not without a beginning. His poem, the Thalia, survives only in fragments quoted by enemies, especially Athanasius. Alexander excommunicated him; the outbreak is usually placed around 318 or 321, and the year is disputed. Nicaea condemned his teaching and exiled him. He died in Constantinople in 336, before a planned restoration. The lurid account of that death is Athanasius's, not a medical report. Later bishops called Arian often did not repeat his sentences.

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