- When Abba Alexandros heard of the ravaging
activities of Arius, he decided to renew his efforts to win him
by persuasion, patience, and gentleness. He, therefore,
convoked a council in Alexandria wherein he gave full liberty
to Arius and his partisans to discuss their views and defend
them before the assembled bishops, and, in turn, listen to the
Church Doctrine expounded in all its integrity. The patient
Pope listened serenely while the whole problem was thrashed
out – assenting here, correcting there, and modulating the
whole tenor of the sessions. The desired result was not
achieved because Arius stubbornly refused to be convinced.
And so once again the gentleness on the part of the
Alexandrian Pope missed the mark. Arius grew even more
arrogant and delusive. This led Abba Alexandros to convoke
the Church Council for the second time. Urging all Egyptian
Bishops to attend, one hundred of them responded and
assembled at the meeting. After debating the matter at
length, the Council passed the verdict "to degrade Arius
from his priestly office, and to excommunicate him". This
verdict was signed by ninety-eight of the bishops present.
The only two who refrained from signing were the Libyan
bishops whom Arius had already influenced. This took place
in the year 321 A.D. - But even this verdict was insufficient to stop the evil
of Arius. For Alexandros and Arius were not merely the
heads of two contending factions, rather they are to be
considered the embodiment of two Principles, which had
from the beginning conflicted in the Church, but never
encountered each other on this same scale. On the one hand
there was the belief in the Divinity of Christ, the Saviour,
Who is the Only Begotten of the Father, so triumphantly
proven by the Church across the ages; and on the other
hand, the denial of this Divinity. The Fathers of Alexandria
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