Those years also saw the Arian “church” grow in stature. Roman Imperial authority sometimes supported Catholicism, sometimes Arianism, and sometimes attempted compromise. The five and a half decades between 325 (Council of Nicaea I) and 381 (Council of Constantinople I) saw dozens of synods with various factions waxing and waning in power. Athanasius was exiled from his see in Alexandria multiple times for his Pro-Nicene Catholic Trinitarianism. Alexander died, his star deacon Athanasius succeeded him as Patriarchal Archbishop. They claimed to be the Christian Church to the exclusion of the Church which recognized the Creed of Nicaea from 325. The Arians formed a “church” with complete alternative jurisdiction, hierarchy, property, and missionaries. But the issue did not remain simply a theoretical difference. They used a controversial term, homoousion in Greek, which could not be found in Sacred Scripture. The Catholics at Nicaea professed belief in the Trinity of coequal Father, Son, and Spirit, focusing especially on the equality between Father and Son. This was his way of making sense of the Incarnation and the Son’s role as mediator. Arius had taught that the Son was somehow less than the Father.

The Council which met in Nicaea in the year 325 condemned Arius’s doctrines. Numerous synods met in an attempt to resolve their dispute. Alexander and a clergyman in Alexandria named Arius.

Just as Imperial policy began to formally tolerate Christianity, a significant dispute arose between the Patriarchal Archbishop St. Early in the century Constantine fought bitter battles around the Mediterranean to “reunite” the Roman Empire under his solitary command. The fourth century was a time of great upheaval and controversy for Christianity.

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