AERIANS, AERIANS, in Antiquity, a Sect in Religion, denominated from Aerius; a Person alive in the Time of St. Epiphanius.
The Aerians had much the same Sentiments, in respect of the Trinity, as the Arians; besides which, they had some Dogmas of their own, and particularly this: That there is no difference between Priests and Bishops; but that the Priesthood and Episcopate are absolutely one and the same Order, or Dignity: An Opinion since strenuously asserted by many modern Divines. See BISHOP, PRIEST, PRESBYTER, etc.
Aerius built his Doctrine chiefly on some Passages in St. Paul; and, among others, that in the first Epistle to Timothy, Ch. IV. v. 14. where that Apostle exhorts him not to neglect the Gift he had received by the laying on of the Hands of the Presbytery. Here, observes Aerius, is no mention of Bishops; but Timothy evidently received his Ordination from the Presbyters or Priests. St. Epiphanius, Her, 75, stands up briskly for the Superiority of Bishops, against the Aerians—The Word Presbytery in St. Paul, he observes, includes both Bishops and Priests; the whole Senate, or Assembly of the Ecclesiastics of the Place: And in such an Assembly had Timothy been ordained. See PRESBYTERY.
