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In about 319, when Athanasius was a deacon, a presbyter named Arius came into a direct conflict with Alexander of Alexandria.
It appears that Arius reproached Alexander for what he felt were misguided or heretical teachings being taught by the bishop.
Arius ’ theological views appear to have been firmly rooted in Alexandrian Christianity, and his Christological views were certainly not radical at all.
He embraced a subordinationist Christology ( that God did not have a beginning, but the Logos did ), heavily influenced by Alexandrian thinkers like Origen, which was a common Christological view in Alexandria at the time.
Support for Arius from powerful bishops like Eusebius of Caesarea and Eusebius of Nicomedia, further illustrate how Arius ' subordinationist Christology was shared by other Christians in the Empire.
Arius was subsequently excommunicated by Alexander, and he would begin to elicit the support of many bishops who agreed with his position.
Athanasius may have accompanied Alexander to the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the council which produced the Nicene Creed and anathematized Arius and his followers.
On 9 May 328, Athanasius succeeded Alexander as bishop of Alexandria.
As a result of rises and falls in Arianism's influence after the First Council of Nicaea, Emperor Constantine I banished him from Alexandria to Trier in the Rhineland, but he was restored after the death of Constantine I by the emperor's son Constantine II.
In 339, he was banished once again.
This time he went to Rome, and spent seven years there before returning to Alexandria.
The years from 346 through 356 were a relatively peaceful period for Athanasius, and some of his most important writings were composed during this period.
Unfortunately, the emperor Constantius II seems to have been committed to having Athanasius deposed, and went so far as to send soldiers to arrest him.
Athanasius went into hiding in the desert with the Desert Fathers, and continued in his capacity as bishop from there until the death of Constantius II in 361.

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