Saint Hosius of Corduba

Hosius of Corduba (c. 256–359), 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. 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. In 313 he appeared at the court of Constantine the Great, being mentioned by name in a constitution directed by the emperor to Caecilianus of Carthage in that year. Hosius is not listed among the attendees of the Synod of Arles of 314, but may have been in attendance upon the emperor, who was engaged in his first war with Licinius in Pannonia.