Did Arius believe in the divinity of Jesus?

 The question now is

Did Arius believe in the divinity of Christ or was he a monotheist?

First witness

We begin with the words of Pope Shenouda III when he confirmed that Arius denied the divinity of Christ and considered him a creature who did not reach the level of divinity or the level of the Father and was not equal to the Father. This is what Pope Shenouda said (2) :

And as we find here, Pope Shenouda III explains to us that Arius denied the divinity of Jesus, and not as Father Abdel-Masih said...!

The second witness

Also, the same words were confirmed by Father Kyrollos El-Antony when he said (3) :

The third witness

Also, Father Mina Gad, a priest in the city of Esna, confirmed Arius’ denial of the divinity of Christ, and he said the following (4) :

The fourth witness

He is Dr. Priest Hanna Al-Khudari, and he also testified that Arius denied the divinity and eternity of Christ, and this is what he said (5) :

The fifth witness

And he is Father Fadil Sidarus when he said (6) :

(Arius does not doubt the humanity of Christ, but rather his divinity, asking: Is it reasonable that this human being who suffered and died could be a god? But there is a difference between Arius and those who doubted the divinity of Christ before him: in his view, acknowledging the divinity of Christ contradicts the oneness of God, and this is something that the Jews and Greeks (and Muslims as well) do not accept. Christ cannot be considered a god due to the intensity of Arius’ belief in the transcendence of God, his teachings, and his oneness. No human being can be God because God is one and very exalted....) A.H.

There is much, much evidence that proves that Arius believed in the oneness of God and considered Christ to be a creature just like us, and that God favored him over us with prophecy.

I really don’t know where Father Abdel-Masih got this talk from, or where he got the idea that Arius deified Christ and believed in his divinity, nor do I know where he got the idea that Arius believed that Christ was the creator, and all these lies and many others that the priest filled his books with…

What is the faith of Arius??

1- God is one and He is eternal and the Creator of everything.

2- Christ is a creature like all creatures.

3- Christ is not eternal and the word “Son of God” means the pious, not the divine.

4 - Christ has no superiority over creatures except through what God Almighty has given him.

5 - Denying the divinity of Christ and that the attributes of Christ do not indicate his divinity at all.

What happened to Arius?

The truth is that this man who claimed freedom of belief and said that Christ is not God and he disagreed with the opinion of the pagan Constantine, this pagan exiled him and also ordered his books to be burned and whoever followed him and hid would be killed. All of this was because this pagan Constantine believed in polytheism and refused to believe in monotheism after killing the believers and after killing the true followers of Christ who believed in the oneness of God. When they found a man with many others who still believed in the oneness of God, the pagans had to kill him and his followers.

What happened to Arius?

In fact, the pagan Constantine hated Arius very much because he was a monotheist, and he ordered the killing of his followers and the burning of his books and everything related to him. We will now cite the words of John Lorimer when he said (7) :

As if this pagan man had a campaign against anyone, against freedom of belief, against him, and against burning his books and killing anyone of his followers just because he said God is one..!

This is really intellectual terrorism.

Note:

All of Arius' books were burned.

All that is in our hands now is from the hands of the enemies of Arius. All the information that has reached us about Arius has not reached the true level that Arius was at, and even if some of the writings of Athanasius the Apostolic are about Arius, this is not evidence that condemns Arius at all.

Who is the one that Father Abdel-Masih talked about?

In fact, the priest spoke simply about a man who believed in the divinity of Christ, but a god less than God the Father and of a lower degree than Him, or a secondary god. This talk is not about Arius, but rather it applies to the fathers of the second and third centuries. As we know, many of the fathers believed that Christ was a god of a lower degree. We now see, for example, some examples of this, a man from the fathers of the early church, namely:

Justin Martyr (early 2nd century)

He believed that Christ was a god of a lower degree than God the Creator.

As Father Dr. Hanna Al-Khadri, Iman Yusitnos (8) reported:

Origen

(A hundred years after John the Evangelist, according to the Christians)

The scholar Origen believed that Jesus was a second-class god. Let us read (9) :

Tertullian (155 AD)

Also, his faith was conveyed by Father Dr. Hanna Al-Khudari, who believed that Christ is a partial God of the total God. This is the text of his words (10) :

As we find, the faith that calls for Christ to be a lesser god is not the faith of Arius, but rather the faith of Origen, Justin, and the faith of the fathers of the second and third centuries.

As we saw with our own eyes, Father Abdul-Masih Basit lied about the subject of Arius and other misleaders.

We summarize from the following topic:

1 - A response to Father Abdul-Masih and the misguided like him.

2- Clarifying the doctrine of Arius to those who want to distort and falsify historical facts.

3 - Revealing the faith of the first century fathers who called for Christ to be a secondary god.

4 - Arius had many followers who called for the worship of God and that Christ was created, but of course pagan evil ended many of them.

And our final supplication is that all praise is due to God, Lord of the Worlds.

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(1) The book The Divinity of Christ: A Gospel Truth or a Product of the Council of Nicaea? By Father Abdel-Masih Basit Abu El-Khair, page 43.

(2) The book The Nature of Christ, by Pope Shenouda III - page 9. Deposit No. 7005/1999 AD.

(3) The book The Age of Councils - by Father Kyrollos El-Antony - presented by Dr. Mikhail Maksy Iskandar, page 44.

(4) The book My Church: Doctrine and Faith - by Father Mina Gad Girgis, a priest in the city of Esna - page 76.. Deposit No. 7363/2002.

(5) The book The History of Christian Thought - by Father Dr. Hanna El-Khodary - page 619.

(6) The book Jesus Christ in the Tradition of the Church - by Father Fadel Sidarus. Page 48.

(7) The History of the Church - by John Lorimer - Part Three, page 50 - Deposit No. 8378/1988.

(8) The History of Christian Thought book - by Dr. Hanna Al-Khadri - page 453.

(9) The History of Christian Thought book - by Dr. Hanna Al-Khadri - page 560.

(10) The History of Christian Thought book - by Dr. Hanna Al-Khadri - page 529.