From the date of the return of Athanasius, men perceived that the Bishop Alexander became more open and explicit in his definitions of the Holy Trinity, more pointed in his opposition to the teachings of Arius, more eloquent in his praises of any pious emperor whom God might raise up to free the Christians of the East and identify his government with the Church. And Arius, having publicly taught that the unity of the Godhead consisted in the divine nature of Father, Spirit, and Son, and not in any blasphemous and impossible conception of the identity of them, or of their union in one person, just as the human family consisteth of father, mother, and son; and having gone so far as to write in a little metrical book of doctrine that "God was, when Christ was not"; that "God was not always Father"; and that the words "Father" and "Son," "begotten" and "conceived," necessarily implied the "priority" of him that begat, and of her that conceived--was by the Bishop Alexander ordered to suspend the exercises of his functions as presbyter of the Baucalis church. And, thereupon, the Libyan called his congregation together and said unto them: "Brethren, Alexander the bishop hath issued an order to suspend me from the performance of my duties as presbyter because I do not believe, and have refused to teach, his impossible, novel, Western, unscriptural philosophy concerning that which he calleth ’the Holy Trinity,’ a phrase not found in Scripture. Ye know that the title to the Baucalis church was placed by the martyr Theckla, who caused it to be erected, in certain trustees of the common Church, not in the bishop, for in those days the bishops owned nothing. Ye know that the original members of this community (many of whom still live) called me to be the presbyter, and that I have discharged the duties of that place as faithfully as I was able to do by the space of nearly thirty years. None but the trustees have authority or right to close the church against me or my community; and I am well advised by diligent searching of the Scriptures, and by the Christian practices of three centuries, that no bishop hath any authority to suspend a presbyter, and that the order made by Brother Alexander in that behalf is puerile and void. I purpose, therefore, to continue the usual ministrations of divine service, and all my pastoral work among you, until the Church shall bid me to abstain; and ye who may desire so to do, can continue to attend." The trustees of the Baucalis church promptly refused to close its doors upon Arius, and his entire congregation remained steadfastly devoted to him; and Bishop Alexander and those who followed him denounced the Libyan as a "heretic," and began to pray for the coming of Constantine; and wherever the influence of the Roman Empire was dominant, the "Arian heresy" was condemned; and the flame of controversy grew fiercer and fiercer, and spread throughout Christendom. CHAPTER VI.