Anomoean

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In 4th century Christianity, the Anomœans, also known as Anomeans or Heteroousians, were a sect of Arians who asserted that Jesus Christ (the Son) was of a different nature and in no way like to that of God (the Father). The term was originally a Greek word, composed of the privative α and όμοίος ("similar; resembling"); i.e. "different; dissimilar".

In the 4th century, this was the name by which the followers of Aëtius and Eunomius were distinguished; they not only denied the consubstantiality of Jesus but even asserted that he was of a nature different from that of God. This was in contradistinction to the semi-Arians, who indeed denied the consubstantiality of Jesus, but believed at the same time that he was like the Father.

The semi-Arians condemned the Anomœans in the Council of Seleucia, and the Anomœans condemned the semi-Arians in their turn, in the Councils of Constantinople and Antioch; erasing the word όμοίος out of the formula of Rimini, and that of Constantinople, and protesting that the word had not only a different substance, but also a will different from that of the Father. Whence they were to be called Ανομοίοι.

[edit] See also

• Archbishop Nectarius of Constantinople
• Homoeans, in contrast to the Anomoeans
• Arianism
• Arian Catholicism

[edit] References

• First edition Encyclopædia Britannica [issued 1768-1771]
• This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.