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By Archibald Robertson.
St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print
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128 Pages (Part I)
Page 56
The Nicene definition in this sense emphasized the Unity of the Godhead in Three Persons, against the Arian division of the Son from the Father. How then did it escape the danger of lending countenance to Monarchianism? Athanasius feels the difficulty without solving it, for the distinction given by him, p. 84, between homoousios and monoousios is without real meaning (we say with Tertullian 'of one substance'). On the whole in mature years he held that the title 'Son' was sufficient to secure the Trinity of Persons. 'By the name Father we confute Arius, by the name of Son we overthrow Sabellius' (p. 434; cf. p. 413); and we find that the council in its revision of the Caesarean creed shifted hui& 231;s to the principal position where it took the place of logos. Beyond this the Creed imposed no additional test in that direction (the ek tes ousias is important but not decisive in this respect). This was felt as an objection to the Creed, and the objection was pointed by the influence of Marcellus at the council. The historical position of Marcellus is in fact, as we shall see, the principal key to the 'conservative' reaction which followed. The insertion into the conservative creeds of a clause asserting the endlessness of Christ's Kingdom, which eventually received ecumenical authority, was an expression of this feeling. But a final explanation between the Nicene doctrine and Monarchianism could not come about until the idea of Personality had been tested in the light of the appearance of the Son in the Flesh. The solution, or rather definition, of the problem is to be sought in the history of the Christological questions which began with Apollinarius of Laodicea.
The above account of the anti-Arian test formulated at Nicaea will suffice to explain the motives for its adoption, the difficulties which made that adoption reluctant, and the fact of the reaction which followed. One thing is clear, namely that given the actual conditions, nothing short of the test adopted would have availed to exclude the Arian doctrine.
Reference address : https://elpenor.org/athanasius/athanasius-life-arianism.asp?pg=56
