Page:History of the First Council of Nice.djvu/128

118 the Son, and the Holy Spirit are only one person, and that the Word is neither a substance nor a person.

Eusebius, of Nicomedia, the friend and protector of Arius, was maternally related to the Emperor Julian. Such was his zeal in his defence of Arius, that the Arians were often called Eusebians. Soon after the death of Arius, Alexander, of Constantinople, died, and Eusebius procured his own election to that vacant See, in defiance of the Nicene canon against translations from one See to another. He was the great leaders of the Arians until his death, about 342. His history must be gathered from the writings of his religious opponents, except what is extant of Philostorgius' account of him.

Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, a great Semi-Arian teacher, founded the sect of the Pneumatomachi, who held that the Holy Spirit is a divine energy diffused throughout the universe, and not a person distinct from the Father and the Son. This doctrine Macedonius taught during his exile, after his deposition from office by the Council of Constantinople, A. D. 360.

The three principal classes of Arians at this time were the old genuine Arians, the Semi-Arians, and the Eunomians.

Athanasius, after many trials, flights, restorations, controversies, with both the Arians and Meletians combined; and after triumphs, and persecutions, finally was firmly established upon his high throne, as shepherd and guardian of the universal church; but soon died, at Alexandria, exchanging his earthly mitre, 2 May, 373, for a crown of glory, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, having held the