This synod, originally called in support of the Arianist heresy, was attended, by two papal legates, Bishop Vincentius of Capua and Bishop Marcellus of Campania. During their tenure over the synod, the legates were tempted into rejecting communion with St. Athanasius, the Archbishop of Alexandria, then the most prominent churchman in Christianity. While the synod refused to condemn Arius and his teachings, its canons remained disputed. The consent of the sitting bishops who attended was ultimately forced out of them by the Emperor Constantius, an Arian himself, who sought to place pressure on the Roman Papacy and the catholic faith.