Hosius of Corduba

Hosius of Corduba (–359), also known as Hosius the Confessor, Osius or Ossius, was a bishop of Corduba (now Córdoba, Spain) and an important and prominent advocate for homoousion Christianity during the period when the Arian controversy divided early Christianity.

He probably presided at the First Council of Nicaea and also presided at the Council of Serdica.

After Lactantius, he was the closest Christian advisor to Emperor Constantine the Great and guided the content of public utterances, such as Constantine's Oration to the Saints, addressed to the assembled bishops.

He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church and Oriental churches, with the title of confessor of the faith, being commemorated with a feast day on 27 August.

Life He was born in Corduba in Hispania, a province of the Roman Empire. Elected to the see of Corduba about 295, he narrowly escaped martyrdom during the persecution of Maximian.

In 300 or 301 he attended the provincial Synod of Elvira (his name appearing second in the list of those present), and upheld its severe canons concerning such points of discipline as questions concerning clerical marriage, and the treatment of those who had abjured their faith during the recent persecutions. The Council appears to have had Novatianist tendencies and held a strict view that refused readmission to those baptized Christians who had denied their faith or performed the formalities of a ritual sacrifice to the pagan gods under pressures of persecution. After Constantine's death in 337, Eusebius of Nicomedia, an Arian and friend of the Imperial family, was named to the see of Constantinople. In his new role as patriarch, Eusebius and his supporters brought pressure to bear upon Constantius II to expel Athanasius of Alexandria, a staunch anti-Arian, for a second time from his diocese. Eusebius urged the emperor to have Hosius, a supporter of Athanasius, summoned to Milan, where the Bishop of Cordoba declined to condemn Athanasius. Hosius so impressed the emperor that he was authorized to return home.

Hosius had a prominent role to play at the Council of Serdica, which began in the summer, or, at latest, in the autumn of 343, proved by the fact that he was the first to sign the Acts of this council. which led to Hosius' exile in 355 to Sirmium, an imperial center in Pannonia (in modern Serbia). From his exile he wrote to Constantius II his only extant composition: "God gives you the empire; He entrusts ecclesiastical power to us". This letter has been "not unjustly characterized" by the French historian Louis-Sébastien Le Nain de Tillemont as displaying gravity, dignity, gentleness, wisdom, generosity and in fact all the qualities of a great soul and a great bishop. which involved communion with the homoeans (Acacians) but not the condemnation of Athanasius. He was then permitted to return to his Hispanic diocese, where he died in 359.

There is a letter from Pope Liberius to him from concerning the lapse of Vincentius of Capau at the Council of Arles.