He studied successively under the Arians, Athanasius, bishop of Anazarbus, and the presbyter Antonius of Tarsus.
In 350 he was ordained a deacon by Leontius of Antioch, but was shortly afterwards forced by the trinitarian party to leave that town.
At the first synod of Sirmium he won a dialectic victory over the homoiousian bishops, Basilius and Eustathius, who sought in consequence vainly to stir up against him the enmity of Constantius Gallus.
Julian recalled him from exile, bestowed upon him an estate in Lesbos, and retained him for a time at his court in Constantinople.
[5] In one of his treatises, Saint Basil the Great writes against the Anomoeans led by Aëtius, whom he describes an instrument in the hands of "the enemy of truth".