www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Icons & Iconography Arius Icon

A dear friend asked if I had ever seen this icon. I hate to say I had never heard the history. The icon is very sad. It only takes a moment to listen to the history. Any thought, or other icon on the subject?
Arius the Heretic final day [m.youtube.com]

It is true that that was how Arius died. It was St Alexander of Constantinople who opposed the idea of allowing an unrepentant Arius back into the Church. All true!

This is not an "icon" in the sense that it is a depiction of someone who would be venerated but merely an iconographic depiction of Arius' end.

Interestingly enough, an Arian sympathizer and church scribe actually included Arius in the calendar of Saints under June 6th!

Instead of "Arius," he listed him as "Artotis" or a version of this.

It was the Bollandists who, in their researches, wanted to know who this "Artotis" was and discovered that it was none other than the arch-heretic himself - at which point he was expunged from the calendar.

"St Artotis" was in the calendar for centuries, so much so that Fr. Holweck in his Dictionary of Saints lists "Artotis" with an explanation as who his background.

Arian saints, however, fared much better and there are a number of them in the Calendar today.

Ulfilas, the Apostle to the Goths, who established the Gothic alphabet and who is referred to by St Dimitri of Rostov in his "Lives of the Saints" under the entry for St Nicetas (the day after Holy Cross Day) as a "wise and holy man."

In Bulgaria there is an ancient cathedral named for "St Lupus" who, as it turns out, is the very same Ulfilas (both names meaning "wolf" or "little wolf").

What is also interesting is that while modern groups like the Jehovah's Witnesses who deny Christ's Divinity like to point to Arius and the Arian movement as the "true branch of Christianity." In fact, the Arians, all three denominations of them, while they believed that Christ was "more than man but less than God" gave Christ Divine worship nevertheless.

No use pointing this out to the above-mentioned group as they won't believe you!

Alex

Wow, interesting. I guess I just thought he was gone, never gave much thought to his demise.

I love the way you are a walking encyclopedia! I know Allen will appreciate it.

Dear Pani,

No encyclopedia, just happened to know this about Arius (it came as a great surprise to me to find him in Fr. Holweck's "Dictionary of Saints!").

Alex

Does anyone know what liturgy or liurgies the Arians observed?I heard they were very big on antiphonal chant.

The Gothic liturgy hasn't been reconstructed, if memory serves me correctly.

But the Spanish Mozarabic liturgy has, I am informed, many elements from it.

Alex

Just a note to say that Dorotheus of Thrace was another Arian saint, bishop of Heraclea and then Arian bishop of Constantinople who reposed in 407.

His feast in the Gothic calendar was November 6. Although I don't know about his case, local Arian saints were often received into the Catholic/Orthodox calendars with no mention ever being made, of course, of their Arian pasts.

St Artemius the Dux Augustalis of Egypt is a case in point who was killed by pagans as he destroyed their temples in Alexandria and throughout Egypt. The fact that he ALSO destroyed Catholic churches as he went is not mentioned . . .

Likewise, the Gothic martyrs of Crimea, including Saint Alla, were, of course, Arian or Semi-Arian Christians, who learned their faith from the bible and teaching of Ulfilas.

Alex

By way of further comment here, very little definite information is known about Ulfilas and there are at least, as it turns out, five historical interpretations of his person and work, including three Catholic ones.

It appears he was much more interested in converting the Goths to Christ via his biblical translation work and, when the Emperor Theodosius invited him to Constantinople - ostensibly to attend a synod (which never occured) to achieve an orthodox consensus of faith, Ulfilas agreed to attend but died before anything happened in this regard.

The fact remains that his Gothic Christian community in what is today Swishtow in Bulgaria did build a cathedral in his honour as they venerated him as a saint and their particular enlightener. Somehow later his name and story got transformed into another hagiographical narrative associated with St Demetrius of Thessalonica.

Both Catholic and Orthodox Churches do refer to him as the "apostle to the Goths" and with good reason.

My own view is that his great life's work and zeal on behalf of the Gospel, even if deficient by orthodox standards, should give him an honourable standing - even in the calendar.

Alex

I prefer this icon showing Arius being stepped on by St. Athanasios:


[Linked Image]

Dear Amigo Griego,

Would you know of any icon depicting St Nicolas punching Arius in the face (as we know he did at the First Ecumenical Council)?

I can just see Sts Athanasius and Nicolas as a theological "tag-team" bashing the fellow . . .

Alex

Yes, there are icons!

Nicholas & Arius
St Paphnutius of Borovsk Monastery
Novodevichy Convent
Moscow, Russia
1665
The fresco shows Nicholas debating Arius, below Arius dishonoring himself by soiling his pants



Council of Nicaea
Fresco: Soumela Monastery, Turkey
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

Not sure where the following fresco is located:
[Linked Image]

Dear Griego,

Thanks for the blow-by-blow courtesy of our Saint Nicholas!!

The famous icon of St Nicholas on which the Lord Jesus is portrayed together with His Most Holy Mother on either side of him, holding a Gospel and the bishop's mantle, is actually an icon representing a miraculous apparition that occurred before the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.

After punching Arius, the Holy Fathers decided to punish Nicholas for "behaviour unbecoming a bishop" and took from him the insignia of his episcopal rank, namely, his Gospel book and his bishop's mantle.

At that moment, Our Lord and the Mother of God appeared on either side of Nicholas holding the Gospel and the Mantle. The Fathers understood this apparition to mean that St Nicholas' zeal in defence of the Divinity of Christ our God was acceptable before God - and so they returned to him his Gospel and mantle.

Thank you, Greigo, once again.

Alex