Arianism - "Arian" As A Polemical Epithet

"Arian" As A Polemical Epithet

The term “Arian” bestowed by Athanasius upon his opponents in the Christological debate was polemical. Even in Athanasius’ Orations against the Arians, Arius hardly emerges consistently as the creative individual originator of the heresy that bears his name, even though it would have greatly strengthened Athanasius’ case to present him in that light. Arius was not really very important to general Arianism after his exile at Nicaea. The efforts to get Arius brought out of exile on the parts of Eusebius of Nicomedia were chiefly political concerns and there is little evidence that any of Arius’ writings were used as doctrinal norms even in the East. Labels such as ‘semi-Arian’ or ‘neo-Arian’ are misleading, for those labelled so would have disavowed the importance of their relation to Arius.

In many ways, the conflict around Arian beliefs in the fourth, fifth and sixth centuries helped firmly define the centrality of the Trinity in Nicene Christian theology. As the first major intra-Christian conflict after Christianity's legalization, the struggle between Nicenes and Arians left a deep impression on the institutional memory of Nicene churches.

Thus, over the past 1,500 years, some Christians have used the term Arian to refer to those groups that see themselves as worshiping Jesus Christ or respecting his teachings, but do not hold to the Nicene creed. Despite the frequency with which this name is used as a polemical label, there has been no historically continuous survival of Arianism into the modern era.