al-Maqdis (Jerusalem). With them was a man whom the Patriarch of Constantinople, together with a coterie of his supporters, had secretly planted so that he might question the Patriarch of Alexandria. When this man returned to the emperor, he pretended to oppose Arius, although he in fact shared Arius’s view and propagated his teaching. The man—his name was Manius—rose and declared:
“Arius never said that the Messiah created all things; rather, he maintained that it was through Him that all things were created, because He is the ‘Word of God’ by which God created the heavens and the earth. God brought things into existence by His Word; His Word did not create things.
“As our Lord the Messiah says in the Holy Gospel:
‘All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be.’
“He also says:
‘In Him was life, and the life was the light of humankind.’
“And he says:
‘He was in the world, and the world came to be through Him.’
“Thus He informed us that things came into being through Him, not that they were made for Him.
“This, then, was Arius’s doctrine, yet the 318 bishops overstepped all bounds against him, wronged him, and excommunicated him out of sheer injustice and aggression.”
The Patriarch of Alexandria replied:
“Arius was neither misrepresented nor wronged by the 318 bishops, for what he actually said was:
‘The Son alone is the Creator of things, apart from the Father. And if things were created solely by the Son without the Father’s being their Creator, then what has been created must be something distinct from Him.’
“In that he contradicted the Messiah, who said: ‘The Father creates, and I create,’ and who also said: ‘If I do not perform the works of my Father…’”