There is more than evidence which shows that the real belief of the early followers of Jesus were Monotheistic or Unitarian and not Trinitarian.  For 31 years, the followers of Jesus refused to introduce innovated practices in their faith and many of them were debating with the Roman pagans about the validity and truthfulness of Jesus and the legitimacy of his message.  History refers to this effort as the Nazarene movement against the pagan mystery religion.

The followers of Barnabas were among the famous monotheists. Some scholars say that Barnabas was a disciple of Jesus. The Bible of Barnabas speaks about testifying No one is the Creator except God and mentions Prophet Muhammad. The followers of Barnabas continued to dispute with the Paulian figures of the Christian church and in certain occasions had to flee to the mountains to protect themselves from being slaughtered.

The two bishops of Antioch Paul of Samasata and Lucian exemplify the stance of resistance to the Paulian doctrine.  Lucian was assassinated in 312 while his student Arius (250-336) continued in his rejection to the innovated dogmas and was excommunicated by the opposing bishop of Alexandria in 320.

Most of the priests of the east followed Arius and the Roman emperor was wavering between the two faiths.  His main interest was to unify all the churches to keep the empire strong.  In 325, the emperor called all the denominations to Nicea.  The conference banished Arius from the realm and decided that the essential unity between the father and the son is the basic fundamental of the Christian empire.  The followers of Arius, on the other hand, declared that Jesus was a creation whom God created and brought to existence after inexistence, perfected him and made him a Prophet.  Fearful massacres followed, all non-authorized bibles were banned and about 270 versions were burnt.  The Christians debated which versions of the bibles to keep out of 70 versions. They accepted 3 books.  Later on, a fourth one was added to the list.  These bibles are not consistent among themselves.

However, in a dramatic move, the emperor reversed course and sympathized with the bishops of the east and Arius was called back. However, he died suddenly before he was able to resume his post in the Cathedral.  Nonetheless, the emperor formally accepted Arian teachings and followed an Arian bishop. The two conferences of Antioch in 341 and Sirmium 351 accepted Arianism as a valid doctrine for the Christians. Surprisingly, in 381 the conference of Constantinople rejected the Arian belief and supported the older decision of the Nicean conference, thus ending officially the Arian era.   In essence, after 200 years of the rise of Jesus to the heaven the majority of his followers dwindled and lost power.  Today’s Catholics consider Arianism as heresy.