Why was Arian Christianity popular among Germanic tribes? What exactly was the appeal of the doctrine to the Goths...

Germanics were simple, down to earth folks who obviously were not willing to participate in insane theological contortions like trinity.

1) Arian christian missionaries were among the first to try and preach to the goths

2) They were also among the first to succeed

3) The germans prob didnt know or give a fuck about doctrinal differences between arian and orthodox churches. They believed in some super strong dude named Jesus who was the son of some mighty strong god and that was good enough.

They didn't choose one over the other. That was the version of Christianity they came in contact with and they simply did stick to it for a while until eventually switching to catholicism because everybody else was.

A Roman emperor, I think Valens or someone, was an Arian and it was during his reign that a bunch of missionaries went beyond the frontiers to preach. Over subsequent decades Arian teachings got BTFO in the Empire itself but they remained untouched out in the Barbaricum. When the tribes began migrating south they inevitably brought their unaltered faith with them.

A Vandal magister with known Arian tendencies was holding a symposium in honour of Demophilus, a known schismatic.
"Before the toasts begin, you must get on your knees and worship God and accept that he was the most divine entity the ecumene has ever known, even greater than Christus whom he created!"

At this moment, a venerable Praepositus Limitis who had served on the frontiers for decades and understood the necessity of taming the Barbaricum and fully supported the creed promulgated by the great Constantinus rose from his couch and held up a crucifix.

"Who does this represent?"

The Rhenian cur smirked quite devilishly and smugly replied, "the created child of an indivisible God"

"You miss the point. Jesus Christ our Dominus is of the same substance as God and thus equal to Him."

The heretic was visibly shaken, and dropped his wine krater and copy of Eusebius' Onomastikon. He stormed out of the banquet hall crying those laetus crocodile tears. The same tears Donatists and Priscillians cry for the "poor" (who today are so holy that saints vie to kiss their feet) as they flee Roman territory to the outrage-committing Bacaudae in Armorica. There is no doubt that at this point the "learned" Vandal wished he had studied the work of the Holy Apostles and become more than a ludicrous teacher of rhetoric. He wished so much that he had a spatha to disembowel himself with due to the shame but he had sold all the city's arms for Gaiseric's ransom pay!

The partygoers politely clapped and all ceased their apostasy that day and accepted Jesus as the true Son of God. A divine light suddenly shone into the room and blazed upon the bust of Augustine and the statue wept miraculously. The Nicene Creed was recited, and Jesus Monogenes himself descended and banished the barbarians to the hellish wastes beyond the limes.

The magister lost his tongue and was castrated the following day. He was exiled to Troesmis, far from from God's Light.

Praise Jesus Consubstantialis.

They got it early and were removed from the political shitshow that was Christianity in the Empire, and so they were spared being forced to adopt crazy bullshit like Roman Christians were.

...

>Praepositus
i lol'd

It allowed them to participate in roman culture, which they were fascinated by, while also maintaining their identity.

It’s not like Arian Christianity is even dead. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses are very Arian.

Honestly Arianism makes a lot of sense to me but no one seems to agree with me. Furthermore, is it true, as far as things this old can be true, that jolly old st Nick punched out Arian?

I can't be certain about this but I think it was about not wanting to swear allegiance to the Vatican/Rome. The Germanics probably saw that Christian ethics made society more stable (no more blood feuds etc...) so they were willing to follow Jesus but they didn't like the idea of submitting to a top priest in Rome or saying prayers in Latin. They became Arian Christians because it allowed them to take advantage of Christian morality without having to submit to Rome or at least that's my take anyway.

Slapped but yes, as far as tradition goes that is true.

Arianism was far easier for Pagans to convert to. Jesus was a demi-god, born of an all-mighty God in the heavens. The Holy Spirit was just a force that acted on behalf of that big god. The Trinity was, and still is, a very fragile part of Christian Theology. Here is some more info, OP

Not particularly.

It's just that a Goth preached it to their own kin, in their own language and with a Gothic-translated bible. It's simply easier when it comes from one of your own people.

Plus, arrianism wasn't seen as outright heresy until after the Council of Nicea.

>Arian Christianity
keked and stoped reading here

what a shit opinion, Rome was built as pagans
it was developed and brought to prosperity as pagans, it flourished in strenght, culture, and philosophy as pagans.
I don't think Christianity ruined Rome necessarily, but it was absolutely a religion that crawled out of Judea and latched onto a pagan empire to become relevant.

>causes Romes downfall

Wut

Why

Not him but I think it's because the Arrians demeaned Christ but they still believed in one creator God.