Some time after Christ, Arius, the Patriarch of Alexandria, founded a new sect. He was an orator, articulate of speech and a very audacious and powerful person who succeeded in bringing one and a half million people under his influence. He even secured the allegiance of the Emperor Constantine. But since he deviated from the Covenant of Christ, at the end he faded away and perished. This Covenant was based on words addressed to Peter, “Thou are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church”. [Matthew 16:18] And though these words attributed to Christ are based only on the report of some of His disciples, nevertheless Christian unity was preserved for eight hundred years though this implicit Covenant.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet, quoted in a Memorandum from the Research Department of the Baha’i World Center dated 9 July1996; Baha’i Library Online)
