Arian controversy intensifies
About this date: Controversy developed over several years.
The dispute about the Son's relation to the Father prompts a wider conciliar response and careful language about the Son's full divinity.
Perspective note
Shared subject; this bundled record was originally written with an Orthodox-informed editorial lens.
People
- Arius
- Alexander of Alexandria
- Athanasius
Primary sources
Alexander reports the proposition he opposes:
Alexander reports and rejects the claim that the Son once did not exist; the quoted words are his opponents' position.
there was a time when the Son of God was not
Passage context and translation
Alexander reports the claim of Arius's party here; it is the position he rejects, not Alexander's own confession. He then argues from John 1:1-3 that the Word is not a creature.
Before the excerpt
I have stirred myself up to show you the faithlessness of these men who say that
After the excerpt
and that He who was not before, came into existence afterwards