An alternative theory of the history of Christianity
ARIUS: Heresy & Tradition by Rowan Williams
Web Publication by Mountain Man Graphics, Australia

'I am striving to give back
the Divine in myself
to the Divine in the All.'

--- Final words of Plotinus
to Eustochius (C.270 CE)

ARIUS: Heresy & Tradition by Rowan Williams

NOTES:



ARIUS: Heresy & Tradition
Rowan Williams
Revised Edition (2002)

Arius before Arianism

p.31

"Although he is described as a skilled dialectician [23],
we cannot with certainty reconstruct a philosophical education"

[23] Socrates HE I.5, PG 67, 41A, Sozomen HE I.15, 33.2-3


p.32

Epiphanius' portrait [27]:

	"He was very tall in stature [28], with downcast countenance [29],
	counterfeited like a guileful serpent, and well able to deceive 
	any unsuspecting heart through its cleverly designed appearance.
	For he was always garbed in a short cloak (hemiphorion) and sleeveless
	tunic (kolobion); he spoke gently, and people found him persuasive 
	and flattering."
	
The sleeveless tunic is reminiscent of the "exomis" worn by both the
philosophers and asdcetics: Philo [30] mentions that the contemplative
Therapeutae of his day were dressed thus.  Arius' costume would have
identified him easily as a teacher of the way of salvation - a guru,
we might almost say... Epiphanius also notes [31] that he had the care
of seventy women living a life of ascetic seclusion, presumably attached
to his church. 

[27] Haer 69.3, 154.12-16
[28] Or possibly "advanced in years".
[29] Or possibly "with a stooping figure"
[30] Vita Cont. 38
[31] Haer 69.3.154.17ff





INTELLECT and BEYOND

199-209

Is spent searching for any precedents in the beliefs expressed by Arius.

p.209

".... It should be fairly clear by now that these views were unusual
 in the church of his day, if not completely without precedent of some
 sort in Origen. Kannengeisser suggests [63] that we should look directly
 at the fifth Ennead [of Plotinus] for the background to Arius's ideas,
 and for the heresiarch's 'break with Origen and his peculiarity with
 respect to all the masters of Middle-Platonism with whom he has been
 compared. [64]
 
 For Kannengiesser .... only the radical disjunction between first and
 second principles for which Plotinus argues can fully account for Arius'
 novel teaching in this area.
 
 	"Arius' entire effort consisted precisely in acclimatizing 
 	 Plotinic logic within biblical creationism." [66]
 	 
 
 [63-66] Charles Kannengeisser
 
 
 
 
 ANALOGY and PARTICIPATION
 
 p.227
 
 Arius is tempting a bold and delicate task, simultaneously
 stressing the total disjunction between monad and dyad, in
 strongly Neoplatonist and Neopythagorean style, and asserting
 real knowledge of the monad as a gracious will.  
 
 He is walking exactly the same tightrope as the Cappodocians
 later in the century. [75]"
 
 
 Conclusion
 
 p.230
 
 "In so far as we can catch a glimpse of Arius; metaphysics
  and cosmology, it is of a markedly different kind from the
  philosophical assumptions of Eusebius of Caesarea or, for
  that matter, Athanasius himself in his apologetic works.
  
  ....[...]...

 "In his insistence on the utter independence and separateness  
  of the source of all, he unquestionably stands closer to
  Plotinus and his successors.
 
 "... It is tempting to think that Anatolius of Laodicaea is
  the 'missing link' connecting Arius with the Neoplatonic world."
 
 
 
 p.231
 
 "If the analysis in the foregoing pages is accurate, 
  what finally sets him [Arius] apart as a theologian 
  is the attempt to incorporate such a metaphysic within 
  an account of God's creating   and revealing work 
  drawn largely from Scripture and retaining 
  a strong personalist element in its view of God. 
  
  Post-Plotinian cosmology and logic are what make Arius a 'heresiarch'"
  
  
 
 
 (3.4) Anatolius of Laodicea the Christian, (c.210 - 283 CE)
 (3.4) Anatolius of Laodicea the Neoplatonist and teacher of Iamblichus, (c.210 - 283 CE)
 
 	"The suggestion that Anatolius, Iamblichus' teacher, is to identified
 	 with the Christian Bishop Anatolius of Laodicaea ... is a conjecture
 	 regarded very skeptically indeed by several well qualified judges.
 
 	 p.262 Rowan Williams, "Arius: Heresy & Tradition" (Revised Ed 2002
 





 


Index | Mountain Man Graphics