Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/781

Rh ARQYROPULOS

707

ARIANISM

Ihe Seottuh BitKopt (Edinburgh. 1824); MOnch. Chronieon Rtoum Mannia ft Intularum (Cliri.siiania, 1800); Theineb, VeUra Monummta ticulorum it Utbernarum. etc. (Home. 1864).

D. O. Hunter-Ul.mr.

Argyropulos, John, Immunist, and translator of .\ristotle, b. at Constantinople, 1416; <i. at Home about 1480. It is certain that he was a teacher at Padua in 14154, although it is not clear why he re- turned to Constantinople in 1441. After the con- quest of his native city by the Turks (14.W) he joined the band of scholars who took refuge in Italy. In 14.')t) he Wiis .summoned to I'lorcncc by Cosimo de' Metiici for the [)urpose of leaching (.\ristotelian) philosophy and instructing the youthful I'lotro and Lorenzo. In 1471 a plague broke out in Florence: this was the occasion of his leaving Florence for Rome, where he was kindly received by Pope Sixtus IV. There he continued his career as teacher, havmg among his pupils many cardinals and bishops and some distinguished foreigners, such as Ueuchlin. He died at Home; the year of his death is uncer- tain, but 148t) is the most probable date. He was one of those who contributed most to the revival of Greek learning in Italy, .^fter Manuel Chryso- loras, he and Ccorge of Trebizond and George Gemi'stius had the largest share in making known to Western Europe the treasures of ancient Greek literature. Like all the other humanists, he was somewhat intemperate in his zeal for his chosen subject. In his desire to extol the excellence of Greek literature, he expre.ssed his contempt for the literature of ancient Home; he was especially severe in his criticism of Cicero. His most serviceable works are his translations of many of Aristotle's works (published by Aldo Manucci, l.'518-20) and his Commentaries on the "Ethics" and the "Politics" (published l.'")41). He also wrote several theological treatises, including one on the " Procession of the Holy Ghost" (P. G.,CLVIII, 991 sqq.). Many of his works are still in manuscript.

TiRABOscHi. Slorui delta Ulleraluru italiana (Horence. 180;>- 13) VI. 343, sqq.; Symonds, Rcnamancf in //X1. 404.

Arialdo, Saint, martyred at Milan in 106.5. for his attempt to reform the simoniacal and immoral clei^y of that city. He was of noble extraction, b. at Cutia- cum near Milan, and after his studies, at Laon and Paris, was made a canon in the cathedral city. For inveighing against abuses he was excommuni- cated by the bishop Ciuido, but was immediately re- instated by Poi>e .Stephen, who bade him continue the work of reformation. He succeeded m having the bishop excommuniiated because of h\B repeated lapses but a riot ensued, resulting in seriouB injury to^Vrialdo. Previously an attempt had been made on his life with a ptiisoned sword. Later, when on his way to Home, he was set upon by the emissaries of Guido and slain. Ten months after, his body was found in Lago Maggiore in a perfect state of preser- vation, and emitting a sweet odour. It was carried with great pomp to .Milan, and exposed in the church of St .\inbrosc from Ascension to Pentecost. It was subsequently interred in the church of St. Celsiis, and in the following year, 1067, Alexander II de- clared him a martyr.

Ada ss. Junii. VII. T. J. Campbell.

Arianism, a heresy which arose in the fourth century, and denied the Divinity of Jesus Christ.

Doctrine.— First among the doctrinal disputes which troubled Christians after Constantine had recognized the Church in a. d. 313. and the parent of many more during some three centuries, Ananism occupies a large place in ecclesiastical historj-. It is not a modern form of unbelief, and therefore will I.— 46

appear strange in modern eyes. But we sliall better grasp its meaning if we term it an Eastern attempt to rationalize the creed by stripping it of mystery so far as the relation of Christ to God Wiis concerned. In the New Testament and in Church teaching Jesus of Nazareth ap|X!ars !is the Son of God. This name He took to Himself (Matt., xi, 27; John, x, 36), while the Fourth Gospel declares Him to be the Word (Logos), Who in the Ix-ginning was with God and w:us God, by Whom all things were made. A similar doctrine' is laid down by St. Paul, in his undoubtedly genuine Epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians,"and Philippians. It is reiterated in the Letters of Ignatius, and accounts for Pliny's ob- servation that Christians in their as.semblies chanted a hvmn to Christ as God. Hut the question how the Son was related to the Father (Hiin.self acknowl- edged on all hands to \je the one Supreme Deity), gave rise, between the years a. u. 60 and JDO. to a numl^er of Theosophic .systems, called generally Gnosticism, and having for their authors Hasilides, Valentinus, Tatian, and other Greek speculators. Though all these visited Home, they had no follow- ing in the West, which remained free from contro- versies of an abstract nature, and was faithful to the creed of its baptism. InlcUoctual centres were chiefly .■Vlexandria and .^ntioch, ICgyptian or Syrian, and speculation was carried on in Greek. The Homan Church held steadfastly by tradition. Under these circumstances, when Gnostic schools had pas.sed away with their "conjugations" of Divine powers, and" "emanations" from the Supreme unknowable God (the "Deep" and the "Silence"), all speculation was thrown into the form of an inquiry touching the "likeness" of the Son to His Father and the "sameness" of His Essence. Catholics had always maintained that Christ was truly the Son, and truly God. They worshipix>d Him with divine honours; they would never consent to separate Him, in idea or reality, from the Father, Whose Word, Reason, Mind, He was, and in Whose Heart He abode from eternity. But the technical terms of doctrine were not fully defined; and even in Greek words like essence (oiala), substance (imdaTaa-it), nature (e undertaken for the Latin, which did not lend itself readily to subtle yet neces- .sary distinctions. That disputes should spring up even among the orthodox who all held one faith, was inevitable. And of these wranglings t he rational- ist would take advantage in order to substitute for the ancient creed his own inventions. The drift of all he advanced was this: to deny that in any true sense God could have a Son; as Mohammed tersely said afterwards, "God neither begets nor is He l)egotten" (Koran, cxii). We have learned to call that denial Unitarianism. It was the ultimate scoiie of Arian opposition to what Christians had always believed. But the Arian. though he did not come straight down from the Gnostic, pursued a line of argument and taught a view which the specu- lations of the Gnostic had made familiar. He de- scribed the Son .is a second, or inferior God, standing midway lietween the First Cause and creatuies: as Himself made out of nothing, yet as making all things el.'^e; as existing l)cfore the worlds or the ages; and as arrayed in all divine perfections except the one which was their stay and foundation. God alone w.-js without Ix-ginning. unoriginate; the Son was originated, and once had not existed. I'or all that has an origin must begin to be.