In ancient Roman Christianity, the Anomœans, also known as Anomeans or Heteroousians, were an extreme sect of Arians who asserted that Jesus Christ (the Son) was of a different nature and in no way like to that of God (the Father). The term was originally a Greek word, composed of the privative α and όμοίος ("similar; resembling"); i.e. "different; dissimilar".

In the 4th century, this was the name by which the pure Arians were distinguished; in regard they not only denied the consubstantiality of Jesus, but even asserted that he was of a nature different from that of God. This was in contradistinction to the semi-Arians, who indeed denied

The semi-Arians condemned the Anomœans in the Council of Seleucia, and the Anomœans condemned the semi-Arians in their turn, in the Councils of Constantinople and Antioch; erasing the word όμοίος out of the formula of Rimini, and that of Constantinople, and protesting that the word had not only a different substance, but also a will different from that of the Father. Whence they were to be called Ανομοίοι.

See also

• Patriarch Nectarius of Constantinople
• Homoeans, in contrast to the Anomoeans

Reference

• First edition Encyclopedia Brittanica
• This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.