Religious Diversity 511
indicative of the faith of all of his followers.43 Moreover, as a number of recent
studies have noted, ‘Arianism’ itself was not a single discrete religious phenom-
enon. Rather, it was an umbrella term applied by hostile orthodox polemicists
such as Athanasius and Ambrose to any position that conflicted with their
own Trinitarian theology.44 The pantheon of ‘Arians’, in the words of Ralph
Mathisen, is comprised of three groups: the Homoiousians who against the
Homoousians—the position that emerged as orthodox and which claimed that
Christ was the same substance (homoousios) as the Father—argued that Christ
was of a similar substance (homoiousios) to the Father; the Anomoeans who
contended that the Son was unlike (anomoios) the Father; and the Homoians
who rejected the usefulness of attempting to speak of the Godhead in terms of
ousios.45 ‘Arian’, then, was not an objective technical label; it was a polemical
term that emerged out of the 4th-century debate over the nature of the Trinity
that was not meant to describe but to delegitimize and exclude. When our
43 Ennodius, Panegyricus 42, ed. and trans. Rohr, p. 226 (hereafter Ennodius, Pan.), describes
Theoderic’s mother as “sancta mater” and she even exchanged letters with Gelasius. See
Gelasius, Epistulae Theodericianae Variae (hereafter ETV) ep. 5, ed. Mommsen; frag. 13,
ed. Thiel, p. 490. On her conversion, see Anon. Val., 58. “Mater, Ereriliva dicta Gothica,
Catholica quidem erat, quae in baptism Eusebia dicta.” If we can trust this account,
Ereleuva converted from paganism rather than non-Nicene Christianity given the vari-
ous prohibitions against re-baptism in canon law. However, Amory argues the conver-
sion was from Arianism, a possible but perhaps not demonstrable suggestion. See Amory,
People and Identity, pp. 268–9, especially n. 138. Contra Amory, see Moorhead, Theoderic,
pp. 89–90. The choice of the Greek name εὐσέβεια may well allude to Theoderic’s mother’s
piety, but not to her confession prior to her conversion. A mix of Catholic and non-Nicene
Christianity seems to have been relatively typical among barbarian ruling families. The
Lombard queen Theodelinda was Catholic and not unlike Ereleuva and Gelasius, she
exchanged letters with Gregory the Great. Many of the women of the Burgundian royal
family (and some men including of course Sigismund) also appear to have been Catholic.
On the Burgundians see Heil, Avitus von Vienne und die homöische Kirche der Burgunder,
pp. 48–57.
44 On the role of Athanasius in particular in developing the dichotomy of ‘orthodoxy’
and ‘Arianism’ see Lyman, “Typography”, pp. 56–8; Gwynn, “Archaeology and the ‘Arian
Controversy’ ”, pp. 231–3; Gwynn, “The Eusebians”, pp. 13–48. ‘Arianism’ as an umbrella
term (Sammelbegriff ) see Brennecke, “Framing the Historical and Theological Problems”,
p. 1.
45 For an overview of ‘Arianism’ and the problems associated with this term (and the
so-called ‘Arian Controversy’) see Hanson, Search for the Christian Doctrine, passim, but
especially pp. xvii–xi; Lienhard, “The Arian Controversy”, pp. 416–20; Ayres, Nicaea and
its Legacy, especially 105–31; Williams, Arius: Heresy and Tradition. Mathisen’s formula-
tion and a concise overview of the parties typically refered to as ‘Arian’ can be found in
Mathisen, “Barbarian ‘Arian’ Clergy”, pp. 144–7.