Ten years after the Council of Nicea,
Constantine the Great, who was himself later baptized by the Arian bishop
Eusebius of Nicomedia in 337 AD,
[22][23] convened another gathering of church leaders at the regional
First Synod of Tyre in 335 (attended by 310 bishops), to address various charges mounted against
Athanasius by his detractors, such as "murder, illegal taxation, sorcery, and treason", following his refusal to readmit Arius into fellowship.
[7] Athanasius was exiled to
Trier (in modern
Germany) following his conviction at
Tyre of conspiracy, and Arius was, effectively, exonerated.
[24] Athanasius eventually returned to Alexandria in 346, after the deaths of both Arius and Constantine. Though Arianism had spread, Athanasius and other
Nicene Christian church leaders crusaded against Arian theology, and Arius was
anathemised and condemned as a heretic once more at the ecumenical
First Council of Constantinople of 381 (attended by 150 bishops).
[25][7] The Roman Emperors
Constantius II (337–361) and
Valens (364–378) were Arians or
Semi-Arians, as was the first
King of Italy,
Odoacer (433?–493), and the
Lombards were also Arians or Semi-Arians until the 7th century.
Visigothic Spain was Arian until 589. Many
Goths adopted Arian beliefs upon their conversion to Christianity. The
Vandals actively spread Arianism in North Africa.
