Abstract

The return of the Pro-Nicenes, whose great exponent was Athanasius, occurred shortly after the death of Constantine I and provoked an immediate offensive on the part of the Eusebians against them. Thus began a new and complex phase in the political-religious course deriving from the Arian conflict, which spread to the West and was supported by the coetaneous Constantinian emperors. We analyze here the period from the end of Athanasius’ first exile and the convocation of the Sardican Synod, whose great milestone was the general council summoned by Pope Julius in Rome. The council was celebrated with the absence of the Eusebians, exculpated the condemned Easterners and was the prelude to the episcopal assembly, arranged in Sardica by means of the powerful imperial intervention.