Did Athanasius and the Nicene Fathers draw the conclusion that Arius worshipped the Entity called ‘the Devil’?
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Since the Council of Nicaea excommunicated Arius & Co., they were 'delivering them to Satan' as Paul describes exclusion from the Church - I Timothy 1:20 and 1 Corinthians 5:5. One can draw the conclusion that they belong to Satan and they are delivered up to him out of the fold of the flock.
To bolster this, consider the words of Athanasius below, wherein he calls Arius & Co. ‘Christ opposers’, ‘followers of the devil’, ‘from the devil’ and that they have ‘their father the devil’. Even if the exact phrase, ‘they worship the devil’ is not to be found, those four anathemas add up to Arius & Co. being accused of adoring and following their spiritual father the devil instead of the only-begotten Son of the Father, Jesus Christ.
Chap XXV 17. …for it follows either that we too are proper to the Father's Essence, or He foreign to it, as we are foreign.' Thus they idly babble; but in this their perverseness I see nothing but unreasoning audacity and recklessness from the devil [2923] , since it is saying after his pattern, We will ascend to heaven, we will be like the Most High.' For what is given to man by grace, this they would make equal to the Godhead of the Giver. Thus hearing that men are called sons, they thought themselves equal to the True Son by nature such [2924] . And now again hearing from the Saviour, that they may be one as We are [2925] ,' they deceive themselves, and are arrogant enough to think that they may be such as the Son is in the Father and the Father in the Son; not considering the fall of their father the devil [2926] ,' which happened upon such an imagination.
[2923] diaboliken vid. S:8, n. 10., cf. Isa. xiv. 14.
[2926] ii. 73, n. 7.
Chapter XXX 8. ….since those who are devoted to gods falsely so called, revolt from the True God, therefore God, being good and careful for mankind, recalling the wanderers, says, I am Only God,' and I Am,' and Besides Me there is no God,' and the like; that He may condemn things which are not, and may convert all men to Himself. …that He may make men renounce falsely called gods, and that they may recognise Him the true God instead. Indeed when God said this, He said it through His own Word… but so hath He spoken, though they rave, these followers of the devil [2854] … but when men made insurrection against the truth and named for themselves gods such as they would [2856] , then it was that need arose of such words, for the denial of gods that were not. Nay I would add, that they were said even in anticipation of the folly of these Christ-opposers [2857] , that they might know, that whatsoever god they devise external to the Father's Essence, he is not True God, nor Image and Son of the Only and First.
[2854] diabolikoi. vid. supr. p. 187, and de Decr. 5, note 2. vid. also Orat. ii. 38, a. 73, a. 74 init. Ep. AEg. 4 and 6. In the passage before us there seems an allusion to false accusation or lying, which is the proper meaning of the word; diaballon occurs shortly before. And so in Apol. ad Const. when he calls Magnentius diabolos, it is as being a traitor, 7. and soon after he says that his accuser was ton diabolou propon analabon, where the word has no article, and diabeblemai and dieblethen have preceded. vid. also Hist. Ar. 52 fin. And so in Sent. D. his speaking of the Arians' father the devil,' 3, c. is explained 4, b. by tous pateras diaballonton and tes eis ton episkopon diaboles.
[2857] Who worship one whom they themselves call a creature, vid. supr. Or. i. 8, n. 8, ii. 14, n. 7, 21, n. 2, and below, S:16 notes.
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