Teaching of Alexander of Alexandria on Eternal Coexistence of the Son with the Father Criticized by Arius

The article introduces the most important theologians involved in controversy over Arius's teaching (Arius, Alexander, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Eusebius of Caesarea) and their positions in the theological debate. Then the article focuses on a short text extant from Arius's Letter to Eusebius, where Arius criticized teaching of Alexander of Alexandria, and on the basis of the analysis of this text it searches for Arius's arguments against the Alexanders teaching concerning eternal coexistence of the Son with the Father. On the one hand Arius emphasized that the Father who originated the being of the Son, precedes the Son, the Son has a beginning and before the Son was begotten or created or defined or established, he was not. Alexader on the other hand taught that the Son is from the Father himself and that the Son co-exists with the Father eternally. The article draws attention to the typical expressions used by Arius and Alexader in the discussion, but also to a misunderstanding. Arius, and Alexander probably too, developed their arguments not only from the statements of his opponent, but also from implications which - in view of the critic - result from the statements uttered by the opponent.

Keywords: Arius; Alexander of Alexadria; Arian controversy