HOSIUS, or Osιus, bishop of Cordova, the friend of Athanasius, and the favourite of Constantine, was born about 256 a.d., most probably at Cordova, although from a passage in Zosimus it has sometimes been conjectured that he was believed by that writer to be a native of Egypt. Elected to the see of Cordova before the end of the 3d century, he narrowly escaped martyrdom in the persecution of Maximian (303-305); in 305 or 306 he attended the council of Illiberis or Elvira, his name appearing second in the list of those present; and in 313 we find him already at the court of Constantine, he being expressly mentioned by name in a constitution directed by the emperor to Cøecilianus of Carthage in that year. In 323 he was the bearer and not impossibly the writer of Constantine’s letter to bishop Alexander of Alexandria and Arius his deacon, designed to promote the cause of peace; and, on the failure of the negotiations in Egypt, it was doubtless with the active concurrence of Hosius that the council of Nice was convened. He certainly took part in its proceedings; according to some Roman Catholic writers he presided, and did so as representing the bishop of Rome, but both these statements are made on totally inadequate grounds. Equally doubtful is the assertion that he was the principal author of the Nicene creed; but manifestly he powerfully influenced the judgment of the emperor in favour of the orthodox party. After a period of retirement in his diocese, Hosius presided in 347 at the fruitless synod of Sardica, which showed itself so hostile to Arianism; and afterwards he spoke and wrote in favour of Athanasius in such a way as to bring upon himself a sentence of banishment to Sirmium (355). From his exile he wrote to Constantius II. his only extant composition, a ...