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Origins
edit- Eunomius, a Cappadocian rhetor, met Aetius while studying in Alexandria and became an ardent supporter and disciple. Together, they propounded a doctrine that represented an extreme form of Arianism, diametrically opposed to the “homoousios.” If the term “homoousios” seemed to many to be dangerously close to Sabellianism, the “anomoios” now dramatized the dangers of a strict opposition to “homoousios,” an opposition which threatened to strip the Son of a substantial claim to divinity. The opposition to this anomean doctrine was led by Basil of Ancyra, who had succeeded the deposed Marcellus in 336. While still reluctant to embrace the Nicene “homoousios,” Basil nevertheless insisted that the Son’s likeness to the Father must pertain to essence (homoiousios). To deny a likeness of essence, argued Basil of Ancyra, is to “say in effect that the Son is not a Son, but only a creature, and the Father not a Father but only a Creator.” 22 In 358, Basil summoned a council in Ancyra which condemned “anomoian” doctrine and persuaded the emperor to banish both Aetius and Eunomius.
- The banishment of radical anomeans and the ascendancy of Basil of Ancyra, with his seemingly middle position between homoousian and anomean theology, seemed to Constantius to represent an opportunity for a final resolution.
from Athanasius: The Structure of His Thought by Khaled Anatolios
Seems to indicate the origination with Eunomius, which is pertinent to this article, and the political significance in the Empire. L Hamm 21:09, 25 January 2006 (UTC)
Text from old "Eunomians" article
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The Eunomians were an ultra-Arian sect, named after their leader Eunomius of Cyzicus, in the 4th century.
The movement came into being around 350 and thrived in the area of Constantinople.
Teachings of the Eunomians include the following:
- The only appropriate name for God is "Ungenerated", as all other beings were generated by him (except Jesus, who was adopted)
- Thus, Jesus is not equivalent with God, but a lesser being
- The existence of God is comprehesible through logic
After breaking away from the orthodox Church, and people like Didymus the Blind, Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, Apollinaris of Laodicea and Theodore of Mopsuestia arguing against them, the Eunomians were mostly dissolved by 381, and there seems to be no recorded mention of them after the middle of the 5th century.