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The Arian heresy challenged the belief in the divinity of Christ, leading to debates and the Council of Nicaea. Arius believed Christ was created by God, not equal to Him. The Nicene Creed affirmed Christ’s equality with God, but some nontrinitarian sects still hold the Arian heresy. Today, the term heresy carries less weight in Catholic thought.
The Arian heresy can be a difficult thing to understand by individuals who were not raised reciting the Nicene Creed, or in a religion based on Christianity. Among other things, it demonstrates the long-running battles, speeches, or disputes that have surrounded the attempt to discern the nature of Christ. The debate, and the expression of the Arian heresy, reached its climax during the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century.
The founders of the early Christian church, with the help of Constantine, who was not a practicing Christian at the time, found it essential to clarify the nature of God and the belief in God. Most important was to identify and define the divinity of Christ. While many believed that Jesus was the son of God and shared the essence of him, a concept called homoousion, some thought that giving Jesus the same position as God was not monotheistic.
Chief among these ostinatos were Arius and Eusubius. Arius, whose followers were called Arians, felt that God created Christ, not from his own stuff. This meant, according to him, that Christ was not God and was not equal to Him. To worship Christ would be to worship another God, and this specifically went against God’s teaching that only he should be worshipped.
Arius’s teachings were called the Arian heresy because most members of the Council of Nicaea believed in the equal divinity of Christ and in the concept of Jesus as one essence with God. Because Arius taught a different idea of the nature of Jesus was labeled a heretic and his work was called heresy according to the Church. The diminution of Christ’s divinity was considered an evil, and Arius’s promotion of the Arian heresy quickly led to his banishment.
Ariano’s exile did not completely cement the doctrine of the Roman Church and put an end to the debate. The Council of Nicaea adopted the Nicene Creed, a statement of beliefs expressly supporting the idea of homosexuality, that Christ is “one in being with the Father” and “begotten not made.” However, some small sects of Christianity continued to hold the Arian heresy and would later become the nontrinitarians.
Today, the Arian heresy is considered heretical only by trinitarians. There are many churches that disprove the divinity of Christ and do not believe in the combined Trinity. The term heresy has also come to carry much less weight in mainstream Catholic thought. At the height of Catholic rule and power, being considered a heretic could lead to excommunication, torture, and execution.
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