Anomoeanism

In 4th-century Christianity, the Anomoeans , also known as Heterousians , Aetians , or Eunomians , were a sect that held to an extreme form of Arianism, claiming that Jesus was neither of the same nature (homoousian) as God the Father nor even a similar nature to God the Father (homoiousian)—the latter being maintained by the semi-Arians.

Overview

The word anomoean comes from Greek (an-) 'not' and (homoios) 'similar', thus 'different; dissimilar'. In the 4th century, during the reign of Constantius II, this was the name by which the followers of Aëtius and Eunomius were described. The term heterousian derives from Greek , heterooúsios 'differing in substance' from , héteros 'another' and , ousía 'substance, being'.

The semi-Arians condemned the Anomoeans in the Council of Seleucia, and the Anomoeans condemned the semi-Arians in their turn in the Councils of Constantinople and Antioch; erasing the word (homoios) from the formula of Rimini and that of Constantinople and protesting that the Word had not only a different substance but also a will different from that of the Father. From that, they were to be called (anomoioi).

In the 5th century, the Anomoean presbyter Philostorgius wrote an Anomoean church history.

Notable Anomoeans

• Aëtius, who founded the Anomoean tradition, later bishop (361–?).
• Theodulus, bishop of Chaeretapa (?–c. 363) and Palestine (c. 363–c. 379).
• Eunomius, bishop of Cyzicus (360–361) and exiled bishop (361–c. 393).
• Paemenius, bishop of Constantinople, (c. 363, at the same time as Eudoxius of Antioch).
• Candidus (Bishop of Lydia), (c. 363–?).
• Arrianus, bishop of Ionia, (c. 363–?).
• Florentius, bishop of Constantinople, (c. 363–?, at the same time as Eudoxius of Antioch).
• Thallus, bishop of Lesbos, (c. 363–?, at the same time as Eudoxius of Antioch).
• Euphronius, bishop of Galatia, the Black Sea and Cappadocia, (c. 363–?).
• Julian, bishop of Cilicia, (c. 363–?).
• Serras, Stephen, and Heliodorus, bishops of Egypt, (c. 363–?).
• Philostorgius, historian.

Notable opponents of Anomoeanism

• Basil of Caesarea, bishop of Caesarea, and author of Against Eunomius.
• Gregory of Nazianzus, archbishop of Constantinople, prolific writer and orator. The First Theological Oration. A Preliminary Discourse Against the Eunomians.
• Gregory of Nyssa, bishop of the Cappadocian town of Nyssa and brother to Basil of Caesaria. Against Eunomius (12 books) and Answer to Eunomius' Second Book.

See also

• Archbishop Nectarius of Constantinople
• Homoeans, in contrast to the Anomoeans
• Arianism
• Arian controversy

Notes

References

• First edition Encyclopædia Britannica [issued 1768-1771]