Arius the Libyan Amazigh, founder of the Arian Christian sect in the late third century AD.
Arius was a "Christian" priest and ascetic, a Berber from Libya, who lived between 250-336 AD. At that time, all of North Africa and much of the Middle East were Christian. Arius was ordained a priest in 313 AD, the year Christianity was codified in the Roman Empire. He served in Alexandria, Egypt, the Christian capital of North Africa at the time. Carroll, a Catholic historian, describes Arius as “tall and slender, with a distinguished appearance and polished address. Women fell in love with him, fascinated by his beautiful manners, influenced by his ascetic appearance. Men were impressed by the aura of intellectuals. Supremacy” (Carroll, A. History of Christendom, Vol. II. p. 10.).
His upbringing and life
None of Arius's personal writings have survived, so gathering information about his upbringing or even his beliefs is a difficult task, as Emperor Constantine ordered the burning of Arius' writings while Arius was still alive, and even those that remained after his death were destroyed by his Orthodox opponents. Nothing was inferred from the contents of his writings except through what churchmen wrote about his ideas, which they attacked as heretical. Which prompted some - but not all - scholars to question the credibility of what churchmen wrote about Arius. Arius was of Berber origin. It is said that his father's name is “Ammonius.” Arius studied at a Christian seminary in Antioch under Lucian of Antioch. After his return to Alexandria, Arius, according to what was mentioned by a single source, sided with Meletus, Bishop of Asyut, in his dispute over the issue of re-admitting those who denied Christianity for fear of Roman torture. Meletus ordained Arius as a deacon, and he was subjected to church excommunication by order of Peter I, Pope of Alexandria, in the year 311 AD. For his support of Miletus,
But during the reign of his successor, Pope Archelaus, Arius was again accepted into the Christian community, and in the year 313 AD Arius became a priest in the church of the Boccalia neighborhood in Alexandria.
Although Arius' character was severely attacked by his opponents, his asceticism and morals were praised by his opponents. Catholic Church historian Warren Carroll paraphrased Epiphanius of Salamis's description of his opponent Arius: “He was tall and slender, with a distinctive appearance and a radiant figure. He attracted women who were enchanted by his beautiful manners and influenced by his ascetic appearance. “Men were also impressed by the aura of his intellectual superiority.”
Although his opponents also accused him of being too liberal and loose in his theology, and engaging in heresy, some historians claimed that he was too conservative, and even attacked him for denouncing the mixing of Christian theology with Greek paganism.
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