76
edits
Changes
→Later years and death: Rewording; eliminating unneeded word; adding new section
With Constantine now favoring Arius, he commanded Anthanasius to readmit Arius to communion. This Anthanasius refused, leading to charges of treason against the emperor and Athanasius's exile to Trier. Given their new-found acceptance by the emperor, Arius's supporters began disturbances in Alexandria aimed at taking power over the Church there. The emperor directed Alexander of Constantinople to receive Arius into communion. Opposed to Arius's reinstatement, Alexander asked his supporters to pray for the removal of either him or Arius from the world before Arius could be re-admitted to communion. Incredibly, the day before Arius was to receive communion, he suddenly died. Socrates Scholasticus reports that while parading through the streets of the Imperial City Arius was suddenly seized with pain in his bowels, barely making it to an outdoor privy before expiring due to loss of blood.<ref>''[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wace/biodict.html A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century A.D., with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies]'' by [[Henry Wace]].</ref> While many Orthodox Christians—then and now—regarded his death as miraculous, many modern scholars believe that Arius was actually poisoned by some of his enemies.<ref>Edward Gibbons "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Chapter 21, (1776–88), Jonathan Kirsch, ''God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism'', 2004, and Charles Freeman, ''The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason'', 2002.</ref>
Although Arius's death and then that of Constantine a year later led to a lull in the controversyreduced debate, the Christological controversies he ignited continuedeventually resumed. Ultimately, the [[Cappadocian Fathers]]: [[Basil the Great]], [[Gregory the Theologian]] and [[Gregory of Nyssa]], would provide a comprehensive Orthodox answer to the issues dilemmas raised by Arius, burying Arianism in the Church once and for all. Their doctrines were confirmed by the [[Second Ecumenical Council]] in 381. Arius is still considered by the Orthodox church (and most of the rest of Christianity) to be one of its greatest heretics; in icons of the First Ecumenical Council, he is usually portrayed lying prostrate beneath the feet of [[Jesus Christ|the Lord]] and/or the bishops. ==Arianism today==Today, a so-called [www.arian-catholic.org Holy Arian Catholic and Apostolic Church] in England claims to proclaim Arius's teachings, even "canonizing" him in 2006. However, this body differs with its namesake on several crucial points, including its rejection of the [[Nativity|Virgin Birth]] and [[Resurrection]] of Christ, which Arius himself never questioned. The Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormon sects are often accused (especially the former) of being Arian, and while both certainly exhibit doctrines which tend toward Arianism—and which are rejected by the Orthodox Church as being heretical together with many other teachings—each sect's Christology differs somewhat from classial Arian teaching. No remnant of any of the Arian sects established in Western Europe or elsewhere is known to exist today.
==Notes==
