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Life of St Athanasius the Great and Account of Arianism

By Archibald Robertson.

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Page 14

They would seem to have seriously and honestly underrated the novelty of their own teaching (cf. the letter of Arius in Thdt. i. 5), and to have come to the council with the expectation of victory over the party of Alexander. But they discovered their mistake:--

'Sectamur ultro, quos opimus

Fallere et effugere est triumphus."

'Fallere et effugere' was in fact the problem which now confronted them. It seems to have been agreed at an early stage, perhaps it was understood from the first, that some formula of the unanimous belief of the Church must be fixed upon to make an end of controversy. The Alexandrians and 'Conservatives' confronted the Arians with the traditional Scriptural phrases (pp. 163, 491) which appeared to leave no doubt as to the eternal Godhead of the Son. But to their surprise they were met with perfect acquiescence. Only as each test was propounded, it was observed that the suspected party whispered and gesticulated to one another, evidently hinting that each could be safely accepted, since it admitted of evasion. If their assent was asked to the formula 'like to the Father in all things,' it was given with the reservation that man as such is 'the image and glory of God.' The 'power of God' elicited the whispered explanation that the host of Israel was spoken of as dunamis kuriou, and that even the locust and caterpillar are called the 'power of God.' The 'eternity' of the Son was countered by the text, 'We that live are alway (2 Cor. iv. 11)!' The fathers were baffled, and the test of homoousion, with which the minority had been ready from the first, was being forced (p. 172) upon the majority by the evasions of the Arians. When the day for the decisive meeting arrived it was felt that the choice lay between the adoption of the word, cost what it might, and the admission of Arianism to a position of toleration and influence in the Church.

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Reference address : https://elpenor.org/athanasius/athanasius-life-arianism.asp?pg=14