Note 293 — Chapter XII · THE ORDEAL

The principal difference between Arian and orthodox Christians arose out of the much discussed problem as to whether Jesus was of the same substance as God and co-eternal with Him. The Arians maintained that while Jesus was truly the Son of God, He must necessarily have been inferior to the Father, else there would be two gods. Arianism was formally condemned by the Council of Nicaea in 325, but it continued to be the prevalent belief in many parts of the Roman Empire; and when the Germans became Christians, it was Christianity of the Arian type (except in the case of the Franks) that they adopted—because it happened to be this creed that the missionaries carried to them. The Franks became orthodox Christians, which in part explains their close relations with the papacy in the earlier Middle Ages [see p. 50]. Of course Gregory of Tours, who relates the story of the Arian presbyter, as a Frank, was a hater of Arianism, and therefore we need not be surprised at the expressions of contempt which he employs in referring to "the heretic."