Arius of Alexandria (~256–336 AD) taught that the Son of God is a created being — the first and greatest of God’s creatures, but not coeternal with the Father. His famous formulation: ‘There was a time when he was not’ (en pote hote ouk en). The Son is homoiousios (of similar substance) to the Father, not homoousios (of the same substance). Arianism spread rapidly through the Eastern church and became the dominant theology of many Germanic peoples converted through Arian missionaries (Visigoths, Vandals, Lombards). The Council of Nicaea (325 AD) condemned Arianism and affirmed the Nicene formula — but Arianism did not die immediately. Athanasius spent much of his career in exile under Arian emperors. ‘Athanasius contra mundum’ (Athanasius against the world) describes his lonely defense of Nicene orthodoxy. By the end of the 4th century, under Theodosius I, Nicene Christianity was established as the state religion and Arianism suppressed. Jehovah’s Witnesses hold a position structurally similar to Arianism.