ARIANI MODERNI. — They are a revival of the ancient followers of Arius (v.). Today, rather than a., they are more properly called Unitarians, anti-Trinitarians (v.), and, at times, Socinians, after the two Sienese Lelio (1525–62) and Fausto (1539–1604) Sozzini (Socini).
Their creed may be said to be contained in these few lines: the fatherhood of God, human brotherhood, the guidance of Jesus, salvation through character, and the constant evolutionary progress of humanity.
As an autonomous body distinct from the other Protestant sects, the a. m. seem to have been organized in 1568, when Bishop David Ferencs established the first Unitarian nucleus at Cluj-Kolez-svar in Transylvania, where, by the end of the century, there were 425 Unitarian communities. Other historians, however, trace the organization of Arianism to a group of restless Italian heretics who, after their apostasy from Rome and having taken refuge abroad, soon rebelled also against the theocracy established in Geneva by Calvin. Among these, three Piemontese apostates stand out: BINA, ANDREA (v.), Giovanni Paolo Alciati of Savigliano (v.), and Matteo Gribaudo (v.). To these must be added the Calabrian Giovanni Valentino Gentile and the three Sienese Lelio TONCHINO (v.).
In 1567 Biandrata published his work De falsa et vera Dei Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti agnitionis, in which he formally states that, in his Unitarianism, he connects himself with all the earlier true or supposed anti-Trinitarian currents, FIORE, IL (v.), from Erasmus to Servetus (v.).
In Poland, the Italian anti-Trinitarians and their disciples propagated their heresy extensively, especially Fausto Socino with his treatise De Jesu Christo Servatore, in which he denies the expiatory sacrifice of the Son of God, while maintaining that his work operates directly upon man not by virtue of the cross, but through his example; by imitating it, eternal life is attained. Thus the imitation of Christ assumes a purely humanistic value and reflects not the saving light of Calvary, but that of the Italian humanist circles of Basel and the rationalist currents of Padua.
From Poland, Unitarianism spread to England, where there are today 350 Unitarian communities. It also spread widely in North America, where, supported by Jefferson, the heresy gained ground through the eloquence of W. E. Channing (1780–1842), Emerson, and Theodore Parker (1810–60). The 370 Unitarian communities in the United States today number approximately 600,000 members, in steady decline.