76
edits
Changes
→Later years and death: Minor wording change
==Later years and death==
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 reinstatemenreinstatement, Alexander asked his supporters to pray for the removal of either him or Arius from this 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 controversy, the Christological controversies he ignited continued. Ultimately, the [[Cappadocian Fathers]]: [[Basil the Great]], [[Gregory the Theologian]] and [[Gregory of Nyssa]], would provide a comprehensive Orthodox answer to the issues 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.