Fragments of the Historical Work

1. The Cause of the Council of Sardica

The cause of the Council.—The Arian heretics have indeed dared many things and frequently against the servants of God who keep the right and catholic faith. For inserting their adulterous doctrine, they attempted to persecute the orthodox. But now they have risen up against the faith to such a degree that it did not escape the notice of the most clement emperors in their religious piety. Finally, with the help of God, even the most clement emperors themselves assembled from diverse provinces and cities this holy synod, and permitted it to be held in the city of the Sardicenses: so that all dissension might be cut away, and the wicked doctrine utterly expelled, and piety alone, which is in Christ, might be kept by all. For bishops came from the East, stirred by the exhortation of the most pious emperors, chiefly on account of what had frequently been a matter of murmuring, that is, concerning our most beloved brothers and fellow bishops, Athanasius bishop of Alexandria and Marcellus bishop of Ancyra in Galatia.

We believe moreover that their calumnies have reached even yourselves, and we did not doubt that they attempted to move your ears: so that you might believe what they say against the innocent, and they might cover the suspicion of their wicked heresy. But they have not been permitted to do this any longer. For the governor of the Churches is the Lord, who endured death for the Churches and for all of us, and on account of those Churches granted to all of us the ascent into heaven.

2. The Accusers Fear to Face the Council

The Eusebian party trembles to approach the Council.—Long ago indeed, when Eusebius, Maris, Theodore, Diognitius, Ursacius and Valens were writing to Julius, our fellow priest, bishop of the Roman Church, against our aforementioned fellow bishops (we mean Athanasius and Marcellus); as they wrote from other places as our bishops; those things which were done by Eusebius were nothing other than full of falsehood and lies. For even from the fact that, having been summoned by Julius the bishop our most dear brother, it became clear that they were unwilling to come, from the very letters by which their lies were detected (for they would have come, if they had had confidence in what they had done against our fellow bishops); yet even from those very things which they did in this holy and great council, they more manifestly betrayed the fabrications of their falsehood.

For they came even to the city of the Sardicenses, and seeing Athanasius and Marcellus, Asclepas and others, they feared to come to judgment: and being summoned not once nor twice, but frequently, they scorned the invitation of the synod of all of us bishops who had assembled, and especially of the venerable old man Ossius, who both on account of his age and his confession and his faith proved over so long a time, who at such an age sustained so great a labor for the benefit of the Church, is to be held most worthy of all reverence. While all were waiting and urging them to come to judgment, so that all things which they had said or written about our fellow priests they might be able to refute in person, they were summoned and did not come, as we said before: showing also from these things their falsehood, betraying not only their fabricated fraud or the studied cunning which they had employed through their excuse.

For those who have confidence to prove in absence what they say are ready to refute these things in person. But because they did not dare to come, we think that henceforth no one should be ignorant that, even if they wished again to exercise their malice, they are not sufficient to prove anything against our fellow priests, whom they accuse indeed in absence, but flee in person.

3. The Charges of Violence Against the Accusers

They flee; how many and how great are their crimes.—For they fled, most beloved Brethren, not only on account of those whom they had falsely attacked, but also on account of those who had gathered from various places to charge them with many crimes. For men returning from exile brought forth iron and chains. And again, relatives and kinsmen, friends and brothers, sent by those who are still held in exile, brought the complaints either of those who survive, or pursued the unworthy injury of those who died in those very exiles. And, what is of the greatest weight, bishops were present, one of whom displayed the iron and chains which he had carried on his own neck through their doing; others testified that death had been threatened against them at their instigation. For they burst forth into such a degree of desperation that they would even have killed bishops, had those not fled their bloodstained hands. For our fellow-bishop, the most blessed Theodulus, departed this life while fleeing their hostility.

For he was ordered to die at their instigation. Others showed the marks of swords, wounds, and scars. Others complained that they had been tormented by hunger at their hands. And these things were not testified by men of no account: but chosen representatives from all the churches, on whose behalf they had come hither, set forth what had been done—armed soldiers, crowds with clubs, threats of judges, the substitution of forged letters. For letters were read, forged by Theognitus against our fellow-bishops Athanasius and Marcellus, so that the emperor might also be stirred up against them. And these things were proved by those who were at that time deacons of Theognitus himself. Beyond these things: the stripping of virgins, the burning of churches, imprisonment of the ministers of God—and all these things on account of the wicked and accursed heresy of the Arianites. For those who renounced communion with them were compelled by necessity to endure these things.

4. Fear of Confronting Their Accusers at Sardica

Having entered Sardica, they dread the presence of their adversaries.—Considering these things, therefore, they perceived that they were hemmed in on every side. Ashamed indeed to confess what they had committed, because they could no longer conceal it any further, they came at last to the city of Sardica, so that by their presence they might seem to exclude, as it were, the suspicion of wrongdoing. For seeing those who had been crushed by false testimonies at their hands, and also those whom they had most violently attacked; and having on the other side accusers of their conscience, and even betrayers of their own crimes before their eyes, they were unwilling to come when summoned to judgment, being especially troubled by the conscience of our fellow-priests Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepius: who both implored judgment and challenged their accusers, so that they might not only be convicted of the false charges they had fabricated against them, but might also be instructed in the impious and wicked deeds they had committed against the Churches.

But those men were seized with such great terror that they took to flight; and by that flight they exposed and laid bare their own falsehood.

5. The Case Against Athanasius Disproved

The innocence of Athanasius is proved.—Although their malice and falsehood were shown not only from the former matters but also from these; yet so that they might not be able to find from that flight any occasion for some other evil device; we determined, according to truth and reason, that what had been done by them ought to be inquired into: and we found that they had been liars even in these matters, and had done nothing other than wage an assault against our fellow-priests. For the man whom they said had been killed by Athanasius, by name Arsenius, is found among the living. From this it was also clear that the rest of what was bandied about by them was full of falsehood and deceit. As for what they said about a chalice allegedly broken by Macarius, a presbyter of Athanasius; those who were present from Alexandria testified concerning that same place that nothing of the sort had been done.

Moreover, bishops writing from Egypt to Julius our fellow-priest abundantly affirmed that not even a suspicion of such a thing had existed there. They say moreover that they also have acts against him: but those acts which they have were clearly drawn up in the absence of the other party. Yet at the same time, in those very acts, a pagan and a catechumen when questioned said that he had been inside when Macarius made his sudden entry; when questioned he said that the most notorious Scyrus, being ill, was lying in the church: so that from this it appears that the mystery had not been celebrated at all, because catechumens were inside and the sick were lying there. For even Scyrus himself, the contriver of all this wickedness, said that Athanasius had burned some book of the divine Scriptures. Convicted of this, he began to confess that he had been ill when Macarius was present; so that from this too it appeared that he was a false witness.

Finally, as the reward of his falsehood, they gave to this same Scyrus the name of the episcopate—a man who was not even a presbyter. For two presbyters coming now to the council (who at that time had been with Meletius, and were afterwards received by Alexander, bishop of Alexandria of blessed memory, and now are with Athanasius), testified that this man had nowhere at all been a presbyter of Meletius, and that Meletius had not at all had him in that same place, at Mareotis, as a church or minister: yet they now brought him along as though he were a bishop, who was not even a presbyter before—so that under the name of the episcopate they might seem to cover their falsehood before those who hear.

6. Marcellus and Asclepas Cleared of Charges

Marcellus and Asclepas are found blameless.—The book which our brother and fellow-bishop Marcellus had written was also read: and the studied malice of Eusebius and those who had been with him was discovered. For what Marcellus had set down as proposing for discussion, they pretended he had put forward as already proving. The passages that followed were therefore read, and those that had been placed before the question were also read; and his faith was found to be correct. For he did not give the beginning of God the Word from the holy Virgin Mary, as they fabricated; nor did he write that his kingdom has an end, but that his kingdom is without beginning and without end. But our fellow-bishop Asclepius produced the acts which were drawn up at Antioch in the presence of the adversaries and of Eusebius from Caesarea, and showed by the judgments rendered that the bishop had been found blameless.

7. The Leaders and Tactics of the Opposing Bishops

The crimes, names, and devices of the Eusebian party.—Rightly therefore, though summoned repeatedly, they did not dare to come: rightly had they fled, driven headlong by their own conscience. For by their flight they confirmed their falsehoods, and caused credence to be given to what their accusers, who were present, said and showed. What then? Beyond all these things, they not only received those who had long since been deposed and expelled from the Church on account of the heresy of Arius, but even advanced them to a higher rank—deacons indeed into the presbyterate, and from the presbyterate into the episcopate—for no other reason than that they might be able to spread and disseminate the impious doctrine and corruptly undermine the faith. Now the leaders of these men after Eusebius are two: Theodore from Heraclia, Narcissus from Neronias of Cilicia, Stephanus from Antioch, Georgius from Laodicea (though fearing he was not present from the East), Acacius from Caesarea of Palestine, Menophantus from Ephesus of Asia, Ursacius from Singidunum of Moesia, Valens from Mursa of Pannonia.

For the aforementioned did not permit even those who had come with them from the East to enter the holy Council, nor to approach the holy Church of God at all. For coming to Sardica they held synods among themselves in each place, and made agreements with threats, so that those coming to Sardica should by no means approach the judgment, nor assemble together with the holy and great synod: and they came for this sole purpose—that with their presence they who immediately fled. For we were able to learn these things from our fellow-priests, namely Arius from Palestine and Stephanus from Arabia: who came with them indeed, but withdrew from their treachery. For coming into the holy synod, they complained of the violence they had suffered; and asserted that nothing was being done rightly by them: asserting also this, that there were many there of right faith, who were being prevented by them from coming to us by threats set before them.

For this reason they took care that all should remain in one place, and they permitted them neither any little time nor free liberty.

8. The Synod's Verdict and Sentence

The sentence of the Synod.—Because therefore it was not fitting to be silent, nor to hold unavenged the falsehoods, chains, murders, fights, forged letters, beatings, strippings of virgins, exiles, overthrowings of churches, burnings, translations from a church to higher positions, and above all the doctrines of the Arian heresy rising up against the right faith: for this reason we declare our most dear brothers and fellow-bishops Athanasius of Alexandria, and Marcellus of Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepius of Gaza, and those who were with them ministering to God, to be innocent and pure, writing to each of their provinces, so that the congregations of the individual churches might know the integrity of their priest, and that they have their own bishop; but that those who have thrust themselves into their churches after the manner of wolves—that is, Gregory in Alexandria, Basil in Ancyra, and Quintianus in Gaza—have neither the name of bishop, nor any share at all in communion with them, nor should anyone receive letters from them, nor write to them.

And those, that is, Theodore, Narcissus, Acacius, Stephanus, Ursacius and Valens, Menophantus, and Georgius (even though, as has been said, he was not present out of fear, yet because he was once deposed by Alexander, bishop of Alexandria of blessed memory), and because both he and the rest who have been found guilty are of Arian fury, and on account of the crimes charged against them—all these the holy synod has deposed from the rank of the episcopate with equal sentence: and we have judged that they are not only not bishops, but do not even have communion with the faithful. For those who separate the Son and alienate the Word from the Father must be separated from the Catholic Church and be strangers to the name of Christian. Let them therefore be anathema to you, because they have dared to adulterate the word of truth. For it is the precept of the Apostle: If anyone shall preach to you other than what you have received, let him be anathema.

Declare to all that no one should communicate with these men: for there is no fellowship of light with darkness. Keep all these far away: for there is no participation of Christ with Belial. Take heed, Dearest, that you neither write to them nor receive their letters. Take care also, most beloved Brethren and fellow-priests, as though you were present in spirit and had taken part in this synod, to confirm by your letters all that has been established by us, so that it may be manifest from the agreement of letters that all bishops think the same and that the will of all is one. We wish you, Brethren, to fare well in the Lord. Here ends.

9. Julius's Absence and the Authority of Peter's See

Why Julius was not present at the synod. The prerogative of the see of Peter.—What we have always believed, we now also perceive: for experience proves and confirms what each person has heard by report. For it is true what the most blessed teacher of the Gentiles, the Apostle Paul, said of himself: Do you seek proof of him who speaks in me, Christ? Although indeed, because the Lord Christ dwelt in him, it cannot be doubted that the Holy Spirit spoke through his soul and sounded through the instrument of his body. And you therefore, most beloved brother, though separated in body, were present in harmony of mind and will: and your excuse for absence was honorable and necessary, lest either the schismatic wolves should steal and snatch away by treachery, or the heretical dogs, roused in rabid fury, should bark madly, or certainly the serpent the devil should pour out the venom of blasphemies.

For this will seem to be the best and most fitting course: that the priests of the Lord from each and every province should report to the head, that is, to the see of the Apostle Peter.

10. Julius's Legates and the Eastern Bishops' Contempt

The legates of Julius.—Since therefore all that has been done, transacted, and decreed, both the documents contain and the living voices of our most dear brothers and fellow-presbyters Archydamus and Philoxenus, and of our most dear son the deacon Leo, will be able to set forth most truly and faithfully; it seems almost superfluous to insert the same things in this letter.

It was clear to all who had assembled from the regions of the East, that those who call themselves bishops (although there are among them certain leaders whose sacrilegious minds the Arian heresy has tainted with its pestilential poison) had long been evading and were unwilling to come to judgment out of distrust, and had censured your communion and ours, which had no fault: because not only did we believe the testimony of eighty bishops concerning the innocence of Athanasius (in the Council of Alexandria); but also, when summoned through your presbyters and by letter, they were unwilling to come to the synod that was to be held in the city of Rome: and it was sufficiently unjust, while they showed contempt and so many priests bore witness, to deny fellowship to Marcellus and Athanasius.

11. Three Matters Before the Synod

Three matters to be treated in the synod.—There were three things which needed to be treated. For the most devout emperors themselves permitted that all matters be discussed and debated anew from the beginning, and first of all concerning the holy faith and the integrity of truth, which they had violated. The second concerned the persons whom they said had been deposed; concerning the unjust judgment, or whether, if they could prove it, a just confirmation might be made. The third question, however, which is truly to be called a question, was that they had inflicted grave and bitter injuries, even intolerable and wicked outrages, upon the churches, when they seized bishops, presbyters, deacons, and all clerics and sent them into exile, transported them to desert places, and killed them with hunger, thirst, nakedness, and every kind of want; others they wore down shut up in prison with filth and stench; some they bound with iron chains in such a way that their necks were throttled by the tightest rings.

Finally, some of them, bound, perished under that same unjust punishment: and it cannot be doubted that their death was glorious through martyrdom. Even now they dare to detain certain persons: and there was no cause for a charge, except that they resisted and cried out that they execrated the Arian and Eusebian heresy, and refused to hold communion with such men, while to those who preferred to think as they did, they gave advantage. And those who had previously been deposed were not only received back, but even promoted to clerical dignity, and received the reward of falsehood.

12. Ursacius and Valens Blamed for Viator's Death

The perversity of Ursacius and Valens.—But what was decreed concerning the impious and ignorant young men Ursacius and Valens, hear, most blessed brother. Because it was manifest that these men did not cease to scatter the deadly seeds of adulterous doctrine, and that Valens, having abandoned his church, had wished to invade another church, and that at the time when he stirred up the sedition, one of our brothers who could not flee, Viator, was trampled and crushed and died on the third day in that same city of the Aquileians: the cause of death was certainly Valens, who caused the disturbance, who provoked it. But when you read what we have communicated to the most blessed Augusti, you will easily perceive that we have omitted nothing, as far as reason permitted. And lest a long account be burdensome, we indicated who had done these things and what they had committed.

13. Announcing the Decrees to Sicily, Sardinia, and Italy

The decrees of the synod to be made known to Sicily, Sardinia, and Italy through Julius.—Your excellent prudence ought to arrange that through your letters our brothers who are in Sicily, in Sardinia, in Italy may learn what has been done and what has been defined; and lest in ignorance they receive letters of communion, that is epistolia, from those whom a just sentence has degraded, let Marcellus and Athanasius and Asclepius persevere in our communion: because the unjust judgment could not harm them, nor the flight and evasion of those who refused to come to the judgment of all the bishops who assembled. The rest, as we mentioned above, the full account of the brothers whom your sincere charity sent will teach your unanimity. Moreover, we have taken care to append the names of those who have been deposed for their crimes: so that your eminent Gravity might know who have been deprived of communion.

As we said beforehand, deign to admonish all our brothers and fellow bishops by your letters, lest they receive epistolia, that is, letters of communion, from them.

14. The Deposed Eastern Bishops Named

Ursacius from Singidunum, Valens from Mursa, Narcissus from Hieropolis, Stephanus from Antioch, Acacius from Caesarea, Menophantus from Ephesus, Georgius from Laodicea.

15. Roster of the Sixty-One Council Bishops

Ossius from Spain, of Cordova, Annianus from Spain, of Castulo, Florentinus from Spain, of Emerita, Dominianus from Spain, of Asturica, Castus from Spain, of Caesaraugusta, Prætextatus from Spain, of Barcilona, Maximus from Tuscany, of Luca, Bassus from Macedonia, of Diocletianopolis, Porphyrius from Macedonia, of Philippi, Marcellus from Macedonia, of Ancyra of Galatia, Euterius from Procia, of Caindus, Asclepius from Palestine, of Gaza, Moyses from Thessaly, of Thebes, Vincentius from Campania, of Capua, Januarius from Campania, of Beneventum, Protogenes from Dacia, of Serdica, Dioscorus from Thrace, Hymemius from Thessaly, of Pearata, Lucius from Thrace, of Caynopolis, Lucius from Italy, of Verona, Evagrius from Macedonia, of Heraclianeum, Dionysius from Achaia, of Lignedon, Julius from Achaia, of Thebes of the seven gates. Athenodorus from Achaia, of Blatea. Diodorus from Asia, of Tenedos, Alexander from Thessaly, of Larissa, Acthius from Macedonia, of Thessalonica, Vitalis from Dacia ripensis, of Aquae, Paragorius from Dardania, of Scupi, Trifon from Achaia, of Marciarce, Athanasius from Alexandria, Gaudentius from Achaia, of Naissus, Jonas from Macedonia, of Particopolis (Parthenopolis, or Parœcopolis), Alypius from Achaia, of Megara.

Macedonius from Ardania, of Ulpiana, Calvus from Achaia ripensis, of Castra Martis, Fortunatianus from Italy, of Aquileia, Plotarcus from Achaia, of Patras, Eliodorus from Nicopolis, Eutarius from Pannonia, Arius from Palestine, Asturus from Arabia, Cocras from Achaia, of Asapofebia. Stercorius from Apulia, of Canusium. Calepodius from Campania, Lerenius from Achaia, of Secorus, Martyrius from Achaia, of Neapolis, Dionysius from Arcadia, of Elis, Severus from Italy, of Ravenna, Ursacius from Italy, of Brixia. Portasius from Italy, of Mediolanum, Marcus from Asia, of Fissia, Verissimus from Gaul, of Lugdunum, Valens from Achaia ripensis, of Scius, Palladius from Macedonia, of Dium, Gerontius from Macedonia, of Brevis, Alexander from Achaia, of Morena, Eutithius from Achaia, Titius from Asia, of Montonus. Bishops in all, sixty-one.

16. The Presbyter's Role in the Disputed Sacrifice

The innocence of Athanasius made manifest. The work of sacrifice belongs to the presbyter alone.—"The matter, as I judge (says Hilarius), does not need the interpretation of another's speech. For all things have been so stated and expressed that they have been brought into the light of knowledge: witnesses assembled from Egypt, Athanasius himself present, the nocturnal and shameful flight of the false judges through guilty conscience, the grave and exposed-to-all-eyes infamy of such great crimes. Add the origin of the case, from which the occasion for a sentence against Athanasius was sought. He is accused, on account of his presbyter's assault, of having disturbed an altar in the very time of the sacrifices, where the presbyter Scyrus was present. Scyrus is denied to be a presbyter, and the falsehood of the charge is condemned along with its author. Moreover, the work of sacrifice could not exist without a presbyter. When the inquiry concerns the man, there is no place for so grave a deed; at Mareotis there is no church.

Did the religion of the very soil perhaps fail there? Or did the place of the violated sacrifice sink down, as sometimes happens, through some chasm? Scyrus is asserted to have been ordained bishop from being a deacon; so that the authority of the lying bishop might be greater regarding the outrage suffered in the person of the presbyter. But the place of the church if it existed, exists: if it does not exist, neither did it exist. And what is doubtful is this, whether those who first indicated the deed asserted that something had been done which could have been left undone; or whether those who indicated it afterward were not established, which if it was, cannot not have been?

17. Weighing the Evidence Against Athanasius

The charges against Athanasius are not established.—"If there is anyone trained by human institutions to the use of common understanding, if there is anyone who stands on the precepts of prudence in the way of pursuing truth; let him direct his mind, and weigh what he wishes to hold as the judgment of his own will in matters of this kind: let reason meanwhile arise from the authors of the evidence. These two things have been indicated: one which affirms the crime, does not occupy the place of the crime, and designates the man by the injury suffered; the other, however, which denies the crime, the place, and the man. I ask, to which opinion will it seem right for you to yield? Certainly, I think, anyone consulted by both parties, and placed in the middle between the two opinions, will speak thus: If there is a crime, it must be shown; if there is a place, it must be pointed out; if there is a man, he must be seen.

But truly, since neither the credibility of the deed, nor the sanctity of the place, nor any man of the injury exists; it will be judged madness to judge as a judge when the facts do not exist.

18. No Grounds for Condemning Athanasius

No cause for condemning Athanasius.—"Look up to heaven and the stars, you priests; and fix your gaze upon him who made them from nothing, with the freedom of the faith and hope which you have received, remembering that such a form of future judgment upon you has been set before you, that by whatever judgment you have judged, it shall be judged concerning you. Answer me as I ask this: By what judgment did you condemn Athanasius? You will say, no doubt, by that of bishops: and this will be the pardon of your confession. We followed, it says, the holy reverence of judgments under episcopal communion. But you will not deny that you knew that communion had been restored to Athanasius, whose condemnation Valens, Ursacius, and Saturninus demand of you, by Ossius, Maximinus, and Julius? I make no comparison: I ask, what was your judgment concerning the crime of Athanasius?

His presbyter Macharius is said to have burst into the church of Mareotis, to have disturbed the presbyter Scyrus, and to have cast down the sacraments of our salvation: for proof of this matter, a catechumen and a pagan were questioned as witnesses. But afterward do you not know that it was judged by the holy ones assembled at Sardica that there was no church at Mareotis; and that Scyrus was not in fact a presbyter? What is it that you followed? You give authority to false bishops, and deny it to others? Things which are as if they were not, you decree: but you judge those things which are not? But that you believed this submission, I believe a prison compelled it, a guard stood over you, a torturer pressed upon you, a sword hung over you, fire burned you. In judging matters that did not exist, wickedness obtained episcopal authority among you: in obtaining the truth, holiness lost its faith? O true disciples of Christ! O worthy successors of Peter and Paul! O pious fathers of the Church!

O ambitious legates between God and the people, that you sold the truth of Christ to the falsehood of men! We have therefore satisfied the first proposition, by which we pledged that Athanasius could be held guilty of none of those crimes which you allege. It remains that I say in very few words what was done concerning Marcellus and Photinus.

19. Photinus Condemned as Ursacius and Valens Seek Pardon

The condemnation of Photinus, and the penance of Ursacius and Valens.—"Photinus was bishop of Sirmium, imbued by Marcellus: for he was also a deacon under him for some time. This man, having corrupted the morals and disciplines of innocence, persisted in disturbing evangelical truth with new teachings. And this is so often the case, that when the growth of vices has caused losses in the love of God, the mad zeal of depraved knowledge increases. Therefore, to remove Photinus from the episcopate—who had already been condemned as a heretic two years before in the synod of Milan—priests are gathered from many provinces, all the more anxious and troubled because it had already long since been necessary to cut off from the Church many bishops guilty either of false judgments against Athanasius or of communion with the Arian heresy. Having seized upon this opportunity, Ursacius and Valens approach the bishop of the Roman people, beg to be received back into the Church, and ask to be admitted into communion through pardon.

Julius by counsel grants the pardon they sought: so that with gain for the Catholic Church, he might also drain strength from the Arians, by admitting into Catholic communion through the pardon of reconciled peace those who had previously disturbed unity, now penitent of that counsel and audacity.

20. Ursacius and Valens Confess Before Readmission

"And because there is confession only of truth, penance only of vice, and pardon only of what has been admitted; Valens and Ursacius, to be admitted as they prayed into communion, first profess in such letters concerning the innocence of Athanasius, the falsity of the judgment, and the wickedness of the Arian heresy."

Since it is established that we have previously communicated many grave matters concerning the name of Bishop Athanasius in our letters, and being called to account by the letters of your Holiness, we have not rendered an explanation of the matter which we signified: we declare before your Holiness, in the presence of all our fellow-presbyters, that all things which have previously reached your ears concerning the name of the aforesaid were falsely communicated by us and are entirely without foundation; and that therefore we most willingly embrace communion with the aforesaid Athanasius; especially since your Holiness, by reason of the benevolence innate in you, has deigned to grant pardon to our error. We also declare that if at any time the Orientals should wish, or the same Athanasius himself, to summon us in ill will to a hearing, we shall not appear without your knowledge.

Moreover, that we have anathematized, and do now and always anathematize, the heretic Arius, and likewise his followers, who say "There was a time when the Son was not," and who say the Son is from nothing, and who deny that the Son of God existed before the ages—as we declared through our earlier document which we presented at Milan—we profess with this our hand with which we have written; and we say again that we have condemned for ever the Arian heresy, as we said above, and its authors. And in the hand of Ursacius: I, Ursacius, Bishop, have subscribed to this our declaration.

"This letter," says Hilarius, "was sent two years after the heresy of Photinus was condemned by the Romans." Likewise the text of another letter (written in the year 349) of Valens and Ursacius, which some time after they sent from Aquileia, after they had issued the above letter at Rome, to Athanasius and the bishops. To the Lord Brother Athanasius, Ursacius and Valens. The occasion has presented itself of our brother and fellow-presbyter Moyses, coming to your charity, dearest brother, through whom we send you most abundant greetings from the city of the Aquileians, and we pray that you may in good health read our letter. You will give us confidence if you also repay us in kind by writing back. Know by this letter that we have fellowship and ecclesiastical communion with you. May divine piety keep you safe, Brother.

"By the foregoing letters therefore, once given, pardon is granted to those who petition, and return to the catholic faith together with communion is bestowed; especially since the letters of those petitioning for pardon contained the truth of the Sardican synod.

21. Athanasius Withdraws Communion from Marcellus

Athanasius separates Marcellus from his communion.—"But in the midst of these events a council is convened at Sirmium. Photinus the heretic, long since arraigned, pronounced guilty, and already cut off from the communion of unity, could not even then be removed through the faction of the people. But Athanasius himself, when he perceived that Marcellus—who after the recitation of the book which he had published had been restored to his episcopate by the judgment of the Sardican synod—was mixing in certain other novelties, and through ambiguous pronouncements was seeking the path of that doctrine into which Photinus had broken out; separated him from his own communion at an earlier time than Photinus was arraigned, showing that the design of a corrupted will had been forestalled by judgment, and not condemning him on the basis of the publication of the book.

But because it is easy for evil to be made out of good, he furnished authority not for those things which had previously been done against Marcellus, but for those things which were to be done against Photinus.

22. Eastern Bishops Try to Void the Sardican Verdict

How the Orientals endeavour to render the acts of Sardica void for the sake of Athanasius.—"But this ought to be known to all: that no synod was ever subsequently convened against Marcellus, other than that which was dissolved by the decrees of Sardica; nor, when the decree concerning Photinus was made by the Westerners and reported to the Orientals, was any judgment expressly pronounced against him; but men shrewd of mind, subtle of wit, persistent in malice, sought an occasion for overturning that which had been dissolved by the acquittal of Athanasius given at Sardica; and writing back concerning Photinus, they added mention of Marcellus as the teacher of such doctrines: so that the question concerning Athanasius himself, already dead in time and buried together with the verdict of truth, might be stirred up into public recollection by the novelty of the case, and the name of Marcellus might be introduced by stealth through the condemnation of Photinus.

Moreover, it is shown in the body of the earlier letter that Marcellus was condemned by the Arians on the occasion of the book which he had published concerning the subjection of the Lord Christ, together with Athanasius. It is also shown that upon the recitation of the same book he was found innocent. The faithfulness of the book, which still exists, also refutes the falsity of the Arian judgment (in the synod of Constantinople, in the year 336). Concerning Photinus, however, letters were sent to the Orientals only as much as custom required—not to extort assent by injustice, as is now being done, but in accordance with the custom of informing the knowledge of all.

23. Defending Athanasius's Shifting Stance Toward Marcellus

"But why is Athanasius written back as guilty of having denied communion to Marcellus (by the Sirmian synod of the Orientals)? Was Marcellus withheld on account of the fault of the book? They themselves are witnesses that Photinus took the beginnings of this perversity from his teachings. For when communion was denied him by Athanasius, Marcellus abstained from entering the church. Thus communion with him in that faith concerning the subjection and handing over of the kingdom teaches one thing; denied again, it shows the perversity of another doctrine. And so each judgment of this man is free from blame: since in the communion given he followed the assent of the synod of Sardica; but in the communion denied, Marcellus himself withdrawing of his own accord alone, without any authority of a synod. But all this question belongs to another matter and another grievance. And although their long-conceived hatreds against Athanasius are thereby satisfied, yet so great a machination advances to a graver degree of wickedness.

24. Exposing the Fraud Within the Sirmian Creed

The Sirmian rescript, which presents itself as right faith, is full of fraud and poison.—"For a third point presents itself to me, to demonstrate that the faith which they established at the beginning of the letter is fraudulent, heretical, and suffused with inner poison beneath blandishing words. For we profess thus: that there is one unbegotten God the Father, and one his only Son, God from God, light from light, firstborn of all creation, and adding a third, the Holy Spirit the Paraclete: so that when the security of readers, or the simplicity of the unlearned, has been caught by such gentle opening principles, by one and the same assent of the subscription thus elicited, one passes over into the censure of Photinus, into the guilt of Athanasius, into the condemnation of the catholic faith.

And I hope that the Sardican synod has contributed no small part to this knowledge (namely, of Athanasius's innocence), where it is shown that all the charges against Athanasius were fabricated by the persecution of the Arians, and that force was applied to the people of God, that they might pass over into a pestilential connivance with a deadly doctrine. Yet, since the cause demands it, I shall state the matter briefly.

25. Apostolic Defense of the Trinity Provokes Hatred

Apostolic men always laboured to defend the faith of the Trinity. Hence they stirred up against themselves the hatred of the enemies of the Church.—"It was always the care and concern of apostolic men, by a steadfast and public proclamation of the perfect faith, to suppress all the efforts of barking heresy, and by setting forth the truth of the Gospels to extinguish the perversity of erring doctrine; lest the contagion of an adhering vice, contaminating the minds of hearers with a kind of stain, should inflict harm. And so, diligently in various letters, they frequently and copiously set forth what opinion concerning God the Father, what knowledge concerning the Son of God, what sanctification in the Holy Spirit ought to be held; so that the Son God might be known from God the Father, and in God the Son God the Father might be, and in God the Father the Son God.

And so, according to his own definition when he says: "I and the Father are one", and again: "As, Father, thou art in me, and I in thee", our faith is contained in the names and persons of Father and Son as one God. For neither the envy of the Jews, nor the hatred of the gentiles, nor the fury of heretics was stirred up against us for any other reasons than because we confess the power of eternity, the name of the Son, in the Father. But the perversity of heretics has always arisen from impious faith. For while, occupied with vices and turned away from the works of innocence, they entangle themselves in the difficulties of useless questions; rendered unacceptable in life, will, and judgment, they seek to please by novelty of doctrine, after they have lost the knowledge of truth.

26. Origins of the Nicene Council and Arian Teaching

The occasion of the Nicene council. The doctrine of the Arians. "When therefore it had become known to our fathers that two Ariuses had arisen as preachers of a most profane faith, and the judgment of this corruption had spread further, no longer merely as an opinion; from all parts of the world they flew together into one place and converged upon Nicaea: so that, with the faith set forth for the peoples and the path of divine knowledge directed into the light of understanding, the seeds of the emerging evil might be destroyed within its very authors.

Now the Arians were teaching the following: that God the Father, for the purpose of establishing the world, had begotten a son, and, by his own power, had made out of nothing a new and different God into a new and different substance; profane toward the Father, in supposing that something similar to him could be generated from nothing; blasphemous toward Christ, stripping him of the dignity of paternal infinity: so that, having learned from the person of the Father, "There is no God other than me"; and from the Son, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me"; and "I and the Father are one", they severed the bond of holy unity in both, giving to the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ, of a substance not previously existing, a beginning from time, an origin from nothing, not from another.

27. The Nicene Creed Set Forth

"And so, for the purpose of suppressing this evil, three hundred or more bishops assembled at Nicaea: against all the Arians, by the assent of all, a heretical condemnation was decreed, and with the evangelical and apostolic doctrines unfolded, the perfect light of catholic unity was brought forth. What therefore was expressed, the faith itself, as it was set forth, commends." We believe in one God the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, born not made, of one substance with the Father, which the Greeks call ὁμοούσιον, through whom all things were made, whether those in heaven or those on earth, who for us men and for our salvation descended, was incarnate, was made man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, and is to come to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit.

But those who say, "There was a time when he was not," and "Before he was born he was not," and "Because he was made from things not existing," which the Greeks call ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων, or of another substance or essence, saying that the Son of God is mutable and changeable—these the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

28. Comparing the Nicene Faith with Its Counterfeit

By comparison with the sincere faith, the falsity of the counterfeit is evident.—"Faith compared with faith exposes the falsity of the deception. For that which was established at Nicaea is full and perfect, and with all the entrances by which heretics are wont to creep in blocked on every side, is joined together with the inviolable solidity of the eternal unity between Father and Son: but this one flatters by its simplicity, first asserting that we believe thus—which God forbid from anyone. For the rest, the faith of the Westerners, established by evangelical teachings, confesses the Father in the Son, the Son in the Father; the Father unbegotten, the Son eternal by the substance of eternity—that is, as the Father is always, so also the Son is always in the Father, and being born of God is God, not conceived, that is, and in him always from whom he is, to be.

29. How the Sirmian Language Diminishes the Son

"But this perfidy (of the Orientals writing back from Sirmium), which is not faith, saying God from God, and commending the firstborn, and establishing the name of the Trinity, conceals its poison beneath the modesty of religious restraint, saying God from God, light from light: so that by the occasion of that confession, God and light, having come forth from God and light, might have been made by God, not begotten of God—that is, might not have subsisted from the substance of the paternal eternity; and so the Son too might be cheapened to the dishonour of the Father, if God arose from nothing: and in the confession of the firstborn they might assign a certain order from his birth to the things of the world being created: so that, since the world is from time, yet, although Christ is prior to the world, he might be from time; and in him there might be not eternity before time, but an order in time of something created:

and thereby something which is before him might be left, who began to be from time; and all that is God in Christ might be dissolved, since in him the birth from the not-yet-existing Mary is from time.

30. Christ as Firstborn of All Creation

In what sense Christ is the firstborn of all creation.—"Indeed even men empty of all good hope stretch the apostolic authority to the occasion of so great a danger, because it was said of him: firstborn of all creation. But suppressing the preceding and following sentence, they fit it to their own doctrines and under the name of the Apostle build up falsehood. For the order of the words is this: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation: because in him all things were established in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones, or Dominions, or Principalities, or Powers, all things were founded through him and in him, and he is before all. Is the image of the invisible God then an order from nothing, and did it begin in time? Or because he is the firstborn of all creation, is an order indeed expressed in him of a connected and unknown creation, but does it not follow that he is the firstborn of all creation?

Because in him all things were established in heaven and on earth, that is, in him the matter of all visible and invisible elements was founded and established; and therefore all things through him and in him: therefore firstborn of all creation, because in him, already from the beginning, all the beginnings of the generations of all things he was to bring about were established. And thus he is not first in number in the order of creatures which have been established in order: but he himself, the image of the invisible God, abiding always in himself through the power of effecting, has held himself to be the firstborn of those things which through him in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, were to be created into existence.

31. A Discordant Trinity in the Sirmian Formula

How a discordant Trinity is introduced.—"Indeed their weaving of falsehood is not unlike this in the naming of the Trinity. For where they have severed the Son from the Father by different substances with impious and accursed mouth, and authority stands in two separated persons, a third is counted in the Spirit: and although the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, and the Holy Spirit receives from both; in that the Spirit is expressed, the unity of this holy inviolable thing, the heretical party in its travail pronounces the Trinity a discord.

32. The Precision of the Nicene Treatise

How careful the Nicene treatise is.—"But the diligent and perfect discourse of the Nicene treatise, by the most strict prescription of truth, has shut in all the devices of the heretics, setting forth thus: We believe in one God the Father, and in his one Son Jesus Christ. Both are one, and each is one, and in the personal name of the Father. And in the one Son, because he is one from both, and in the personal name of the Son. It teaches God true from God true, and declares power and name equally common to both in equal truth; nor is one thing to be supposed in the other, since God from God and true from true, both are one.

But since in both there is one name and power, born however not made refers to the property of birth and origin: because to be made lies under coming from nothing; but to be born is proper from a father; nor is there for those who are born any other form or power than that of their own origin. But what is made comes into existence from a work so as to be made. And so in him there began no making from nothing; but there is a nativity from a parent. Of one substance moreover with the Father, which the Greeks call ὁμοούσιον. Thus eternity alone is like to itself, and what always is, is in God. Lest therefore any stain of heretical depravity should fall upon the Lord Jesus Christ, for that reason the truth of essence is unfolded in him.

For essence is named from that which always is: which, because it has never needed external help to sustain itself, is also called substance; because within itself it subsists in that which always is, and in the power of its own eternity. And so what he says: I and the Father are one; and, He who has seen me has seen the Father also; and again: I am in the Father, and the Father is in me; and that, I came forth from the Father: equal in both, that is, in God who is unbegotten, and in God who is begotten, one and the same in both under both, and each is one. And in the one Father, because he is one by the personal name of Father. And in the one Son, because he is one from one by the personal name of Son. And in one God, because he is one from both. The substance of eternity is fulfilled.

But that he descended, was incarnate, was made man, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, about to come to judge the living and the dead; the sacraments of our salvation are contained in these things. But for this reason the Son of God is immutable and inconvertible, that in the assumption of man he brought glory rather to corruption than blemish to eternity. The anathema moreover against those who say he was made from nothing, which the Greeks call ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων, and who say: There was a time when he was not, and before he was born he was not, designates under a curse the condemnation in Christ of violated eternity, that is, of paternal deity.

33. Athanasius, Nicene Champion, and His Vindication at Sardica

"Of this faith therefore, to be made known to all, Athanasius had been a vigorous champion at the council of Nicaea as a deacon, and afterwards as bishop of Alexandria, and holding fast to the truth he had overcome the Arian pestilence throughout all Egypt: and on that account a conspiracy against him fabricated a falsehood of charges. The matter was afterwards adjudicated by the judgments of faithful judges. But it will profit much toward understanding, if what was the address of the council of Sardica to the Emperor Constantius after the acquittal of Athanasius be made known."

To Gregory bishop of Alexandria, to the bishop of Nicomedia, to the bishop of Carthage, to the bishop of Campania, to the bishop of Naples of Campania, to the bishop of Ariminum of Campania, to the bishop of Salona of Dalmatia, to Amphion, Donatus, Desiderius, Fortunatus, Eutychius, Maximus, Simferontus, and to all our fellow-priests throughout the world, to the presbyters and deacons, and to all who are under heaven in the holy catholic Church, the bishops who from the various provinces of the Orientals, that is, the province of the Thebaid, and the province of Palestine, Arabia, Phoenicia, Syria (Coele-Syria), Mesopotamia, Cilicia, Isauria, Cappadocia, Galatia, Pontus, Bithynia, Pamphylia, Paphlagonia, Caria, Phrygia, Pisidia, and from the islands of the Cyclades, Lydia, Asia, Europe, Hellespont, Thrace, Haemimontus, assembled in the city of Serdica and celebrated a council, eternal salvation in the Lord.

1. A Plea for Unity and Preserved Tradition

A feigned love of unity and of preserving traditions.—It is indeed the unceasing prayer of us all, most beloved Brethren, first that the holy and catholic Church of the Lord, free from all dissensions and schisms, may everywhere preserve the unity of spirit and the bond of charity through right faith. But also to hold, embrace, keep, and preserve an unblemished life is just for all who call upon the Lord, and especially for bishops who preside over the most holy churches.

Second, that the rule of the Church and the holy tradition of the fathers and their judgments may remain firm and solid in perpetuity, and that we may not always be disturbed by gentile peoples, sects, and perverse traditions, especially in the appointing of bishops or in the setting forth of them, so that it may not fail to hold the evangelical and holy precepts, and those things which were commanded to the holy and most blessed Apostles and to our forebears, and which have been preserved by us ourselves down to the present day, and are preserved.

2. The Errors of Marcellus of Galatia

The doctrine of Marcellus.—For there arose in our times a certain Marcellus of Galatia, a pestilence more execrable than all heretics, who with sacrilegious mind and profane mouth and a ruinous argument wishes to define the kingdom of Christ the Lord as perpetual, eternal, and without time, saying that the Lord received the beginning of his reign four hundred years ago, and that an end will come to it together with the passing away of the world. He also endeavors with the rashness of one who has begun to assert this, that in the conception of the body he was then made the image of the invisible God, and that he then also became bread, and door, and life.

These same things he confirms not only by words and the assertion of loquacity; but all that had been conceived in his sacrilegious mind and uttered by his blasphemous mouth, striving with desire, inserting it in a book full of blasphemies and execrations, and also many other things far worse, making a calumny against the divine Scriptures themselves with his own interpretation and criminal mind, which things he applied against them from his own pestiferous sense, from which matters it was openly and manifestly established that he is a heretic. And mixing his assertions with certain squalors, now openly mingling them with the falsehoods of Sabellius, now with the malice of Paul of Samosata, now with the blasphemies of Montanus the leader of all heretics, and making one confusion out of the aforesaid, like a foolish Galatian he turned aside to another gospel, which is not another, according to which the blessed Paul condemning such persons says: Even if an angel from heaven should announce to you otherwise than what you have received, let him be anathema.

3. The First Condemnation of Marcellus at Constantinople

His first condemnation. The censure of his doctrine is preserved in the archive of the Church.—Great moreover was the concern of our fathers and forebears regarding the aforesaid sacrilegious preaching. For a council of bishops was convened in the city of Constantinople in the presence of Constantine the emperor of blessed memory, who came from many provinces of the Orientals, that they might reform with wholesome counsel the man imbued with evil things, and that he, corrected by most holy admonition, might depart from his sacrilegious preaching: and those who rebuked him and reproached him, and moreover entreated him with the affection of charity for a long time, profited nothing.

For after one and a second and many rebukes, when they had been able to profit nothing (for he persisted and contradicted the right faith, and with malignant contention resisted the catholic Church); thereupon all began to abhor and shun him: and seeing that he was subverted by sin and was condemned by himself, they condemned him by ecclesiastical acts, lest he should further defile the sheep of Christ with his pestiferous contacts. For then also some of his most depraved opinions against the right faith and the most holy Church, for the sake of the memory of posterity and as a safeguard, they deposited in their most holy writings in the archive of the Church. But these things indeed were the first according to the impiety of the heretic Marcellus: worse things followed thereafter. For who among the faithful would believe or endure those things which were wickedly done and written by him, and which were worthily anathematized? For together with this same Marcellus by our fathers in the city of Constantinople.

For there exists a book of sentences written against him by the bishops: in which book also those who are now with this same Marcellus and favor him, that is, Protogenes bishop of the city of Serdica and the Syracusan, wrote with their own hand in that very sentence: whose valid hands testify that the most holy faith is in no way to be changed, nor is the holy Church to be subverted by false preaching; lest in this way the pestilence and plague of souls, most grievous to all, be brought in, as Paul says: Whether we or an angel from heaven should announce to you otherwise than what you have received, let him be anathema.

4. Marcellus Received Back into Communion Elsewhere

Marcellus, condemned, is received into communion by several bishops.—We have marveled greatly that he who dares to preach the Gospel otherwise than it truly is, certain persons who wish to be considered ecclesiastical men receive easily into communion; neither inquiring into his blasphemies which are recorded in his own book, nor willing to give assent to those who carefully investigated everything and, finding it so, justly condemned him. For indeed Marcellus, when he was held to be a heretic among his own people, sought the resources of wandering abroad: namely so that he might also deceive those who knew neither him nor his pestiferous writings.

But whatever he does among them, he conceals his impious writings and profane opinions, putting forward false things in place of true, and made profit for himself from the simple and innocent, and under the pretext of ecclesiastical rule led astray many pastors of the Church: and drawing them back into his own power, introducing the sect of the heretic Sabellius, he deceived them with cunning fraud, restoring both the arts and the deceits of Paul of Samosata. For the foreign tradition of Marcellus is mixed with the sects of all heretics, as was mentioned above. Wherefore all those set over the holy Church came together, mindful of the words of Christ the Lord saying: Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly are ravening wolves; by their fruits you shall know them, to shun and abhor such persons, and not to communicate with them easily, to recognize them by their deeds, and to condemn them beforehand from their sacrilegious writings.

But now we greatly fear lest in our times there be fulfilled what is written: While men sleep, the enemy comes and scatters tares among the wheat. For when those whom it behooves to keep watch over the Church do not keep watch, false words that imitate it overturn utterly what is right.

5. Communion Must Be Denied to Marcellus

Communion is to be denied to Marcellus.—Therefore we, who have fully learned his sect and crimes from the book of Marcellus, have written to you, most beloved Brethren, that you should admit neither Marcellus nor those who are joined to him into the communion of the holy Church; and that you should also be mindful of the prophet David saying: I said to them that work iniquity, work not iniquity; and to the transgressors, lift not up the horn. Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God. And believe Solomon when he says: Remove not the ancient landmarks, which thy fathers have set. Since these things are so, do not follow the most depraved errors of the aforesaid Marcellus, and condemn in advance those things which have been devised and handed down by him through unjust preaching against the Lord Christ; lest you yourselves also become partakers in his blasphemies and crimes. But for the sake of brevity, thus much concerning Marcellus.

6. The Charges Brought Against Athanasius

Fabricated charges against Athanasius.—But hear now what was done concerning Athanasius, formerly bishop of Alexandria. He was gravely accused of being sacrilegious toward God, and profane toward the mysteries of the holy Church, and of having broken with his own hands a cup consecrated to God and Christ, and of having shattered the venerable altar, and of having overturned the priestly seat himself, and of having demolished the very basilica, the house of God, the Church of Christ, down to the ground. Moreover, the very presbyter himself, a grave and just man by the name of Narchen (Ischyras), he handed over to military custody. He was further accused of injuries, violence, slaughter, and even the killing of bishops.

And raging in the manner of a tyrant on the most sacred days of Easter, joined with Dukes and Counts: some on his account he shut up in custody, others he harassed with blows and scourges, and the rest he drove by various torments to his sacrilegious communion (nor had the acts committed ever been done by innocent men); hoping in this way to make his own followers and his own faction prevail, so that through Dukes and Judges and through prisons themselves, blows and various torments he might compel the unwilling to his communion, drive those who refused, and terrify in tyrannical fashion those who resisted and opposed him. These were indeed grave and bitter charges brought by the accusers.

7. The Council of Tyre Condemns Athanasius

Proceedings against Athanasius at Tyre.—For on account of these things a council at Caesarea of Palestine appears to have been first convened of necessity: and since he and his satellites by no means appeared at the aforesaid council, after another year a council is again necessarily held at Tyre on account of his crimes. Bishops came from Macedonia and from Pannonia, Bithynia, and all parts of the East, constrained by the emperor's command: and these, examining the misdeeds and crimes of Athanasius through the acts, do not believe the accusers rashly or carelessly, but choose distinguished and praiseworthy bishops from their council, and send them to the very place where the deeds had been done about which Athanasius was accused: and these, beholding all things with their own eyes and learning the truth, return to the council, and confirm by their testimony that the crimes charged against him by the accusers were true. Whereupon they pronounce against the present Athanasius a sentence worthy of his crimes. On account of which, fleeing from Tyre, he appeals to the emperor.

The emperor also hears him: and having conducted an inquiry and recognizing all his misdeeds, by his own sentence deported him into exile (to Trier). These things having thus fallen out, while Athanasius, duly condemned, was being kept in exile on account of the merit of his crimes—sacrilegious toward God, profane toward the sacred mysteries, violent in the demolition of the basilica, a dreadful persecutor in the destruction of bishops and innocent brethren—the authority of the law, the canon of the Church, and the holy tradition of the apostles are maintained by all bishops in rejecting evildoers.

8. Athanasius's Disorderly Return from Exile

The return of Athanasius from exile.—But while Athanasius after his condemnation was arranging his return from exile, he came from Gaul to Alexandria after a very long time: and treating the past as nothing, he prevailed more fiercely in wickedness. For in comparison with what followed, the things first committed by him are light. For indeed throughout the entire way of his return he was subverting the Church, restoring some condemned bishops, promising others hope of return to the episcopate, appointing some from among the unfaithful as bishops, while the lawful and intact priests remained in place, through battles and slaughters of pagans, heeding no laws, attributing everything to desperation. Hence by force, by slaughter, by war, he plundered the basilicas of the Alexandrians. When a holy and blameless priest had already been installed in his place by the judgment of the council (namely the Antiochene council of an. 341), like a barbarian enemy and like a sacrilegious pestilence, having brought in crowds of pagans, he set fire to the temple of God, shattered the altar, and secretly left the city and fled in hiding.

9. Crimes of Other Bishops Returning from Exile

Crimes attributed to other bishops on their return from exile. The consecrated Body of the Lord. The sacrifice performed.—But concerning Paul, formerly bishop of the city of Constantinople, after his return from exile, whoever shall hear will shudder. For there were also in Ancyra of the province of Galatia, after the return of the heretic Marcellus, burnings of houses and various kinds of warfare. Presbyters were dragged naked by him into the forum, and—what must be said with tears and mourning—the consecrated Body of the Lord, hung about the necks of priests, he profaned openly and publicly; and most holy virgins consecrated to God and Christ he publicly stripped in the forum, in the middle of the city, with crowds running together, tearing away their garments, and exposed them in horrible shamelessness. But in the city of Gaza in the province of Palestine, after his return, Asclepas shattered the altar and caused many seditions.

Furthermore at Hadrianopolis, Lucius after his return was ordering the sacrifice performed by holy and blameless priests to be thrown—if it is lawful to say so—to the dogs. Since these things are so, shall we still entrust the sheep of Christ to such great wolves as these, and shall we make the members of Christ members of a harlot? God forbid.

10. Julius and the Italian Bishops Receive Athanasius

The crimes of Athanasius. He is taken up by Julius and the bishops of Italy.—For afterwards Athanasius, travelling through various parts of the world, namely seducing some through his deceit and pestilential flattery, deceiving innocent bishops who were ignorant of his crimes, or certain Egyptians ignorant of his deeds, by begging written testimonials from individuals, was disturbing peaceful churches, or was himself forging new ones according to his own will. Yet none of this could avail anything against the judgment long since consecrated by most holy and distinguished bishops. For the commendation of those who were neither judges in the council, nor ever held the judgment of the council, nor are known to have been present when the aforesaid Athanasius was heard, could neither avail nor profit him. Finally, when he recognized that these things had come to nothing for him, he went to Julius at Rome, and also to certain bishops of Italy of his own party: and seducing these through the falsity of letters, he was very easily received by them into communion.

Then they began to labor not so much for him as for their own actions: because they had communicated with him most rashly by believing him. For even if those letters were from some persons, they were not from those who had either been judges or had sat in the council. Which letters, even if they were from some persons, they ought never to have trusted, speaking in his favor. But they also refused to believe the judges who had sentenced him.

11. The Condemned Seek to Overturn Their Sentences

Those deposed by the Arians who defend themselves.—Therefore because certain others also were detected in the praetorium for their crimes, they are now joined with Marcellus and Athanasius; moreover Asclepas was stripped of the honor of the episcopate ten and seventeen years ago; then Paul and Lucius, and as many as are joined to such men: travelling together through foreign regions, they were persuading judges that those who had duly pronounced sentence against them were not to be believed; so that by this kind of dealing they might procure for themselves some return to the episcopate. Neither in the very places where they had sinned, nor in neighboring places, nor where they had accusers, did they defend themselves; but before strangers, and those placed far from their own regions and ignorant of the truth of what had been done, they were attempting to break down the just sentence, referring their deeds to those who knew nothing of them in any respect. They do this cunningly.

For knowing that among the judges, the accusers, and the witnesses many had died, after so many and such great sentences, they thought to restore another trial, wishing to plead their cause before us, who had neither acquitted them nor judged them. For those who judged them have already gone to the Lord.

12. A Charge of Subjecting Easterners to Westerners

They are charged with wishing to subject the Easterners to the Westerners.—But they also wished to come before the Eastern bishops as defenders instead of judges, as defendants instead of defenders, at a time when their defense was of no avail: especially since they could by no means be defended at that time when their accusers were arguing against them face to face. They thought to introduce a new law, that Eastern bishops should be judged by Western bishops. And they wished the judgment of the Church to be able to stand through those who did not so much take pity on them, having joined themselves inconsiderately in communion with Athanasius, as those who spoke in their own behalf, saying they were not worthy of trust. Finally the Italians are blamed for having refused to believe those who condemned Athanasius. Than by their own deeds. Since therefore ecclesiastical discipline has never admitted this wickedness, we beseech you, most beloved Brethren, that you also together with us condemn the criminal destruction and the deadly attempts of the lost.

13. Former Rivals United in Mutual Pardon

As though agreeing with those whom they had condemned.—For while Athanasius was still a bishop, he himself condemned Asclepas, who had been deposed, by his own sentence. But also Marcellus similarly never communicated with him. Paul moreover was present at the deposition of Athanasius, and writing the sentence with his own hand, together with the others he himself also condemned him. And as long as each of them was a bishop, he confirmed his own judgments. But when each of them in turn was duly expelled from the Church at different times and for different reasons according to their deserts, they formed a greater concord by a single conspiracy; each forgiving the other the offenses which, when they were bishops, they had condemned by divine authority.

14. The Opening of the Council of Sardica

The beginnings of the Council of Sardica.—For since Athanasius, going to Italy and Gaul, had procured a trial for himself; after the death of some of the accusers, witnesses, and judges, he believed that he could be heard again in time, because the passage of time would obscure his misdeeds. Julius, bishop of the city of Rome, Maximus (Maximianus of Trier) and Ossius, and very many others of their party, lending him their assent improperly, obtained from the emperor's benevolence that a council be held at Sardica. We came to Sardica, summoned by the emperor's letters. When we had arrived there, we learned that in the midst of the church Athanasius, Marcellus, all the criminals expelled by the sentence of the council, and each one duly pre-condemned for his own crimes, were sitting together with Ossius and Protogenes and disputing, and what is worse, celebrating the divine mysteries.

Nor was Protogenes, bishop of Sardica, ashamed to communicate with Marcellus the heretic, whose sect and reprobate opinion he himself had condemned with his own voice, subscribing four times with the sentences of bishops in council. Whence it is manifest that he condemned himself by his own sentence, when by communicating with him he made himself a partaker of him.

15. Demanding the Condemned Be Excluded from Sardica

The effort of the Easterners to expel Athanasius and others from the synod.—But we, holding the discipline of the ecclesiastical rule, and wishing the wretched to live for a little while, sent word to those who were with Protogenes and Ossius, that they should exclude the condemned from their assembly, and should not communicate with sinners: and then hear together with us those things which had been judged against them in the past by our fathers: and that they should not believe false suggestions, since not one of them conceals his most depraved mind on account of the position of the episcopate. But they resisted these things: for what reason, we know not. Nor did they wish to separate themselves from communion with those men, confirming the sect of the heretic Marcellus: and they were placing the crimes of Athanasius and the wickedness of the others before the faith of the Church and its peace.

16. Eighty Bishops Refuse Communion with the Condemned

These things therefore having been recognized, we eighty bishops, who had come to Sardica from diverse and distant provinces with great expense and labor for the purpose of confirming the peace of the Church, seeing these things bore them not without tears. For it was no light matter that they utterly refused to dismiss from themselves those whom our fathers had previously and deservedly condemned for their crimes. Therefore we judged it wicked to communicate with these men, nor did we wish to mingle the holy sacraments of the Lord with the profane, preserving and holding the rule of ecclesiastical discipline. For the reason that they would not dismiss the aforesaid Ossius and Protogenes from themselves was perhaps an evil conscience, which each one of them owed to have exposed in some degree, rather than greatly feared to have brought into the open: nor did any of them dare to pronounce sentence against them, lest he also condemn himself, for having communicated with them contrary to prohibition, with those with whom he ought by no means to have communicated.

17. Renewed Pleas and Threats at Sardica

But we again and again entreated them not to shake what is firm and solid, not to subvert the law, not to disturb the divine ordinances, not to confound all things, and not to frustrate the tradition of the Church even of a small measure of peace: and not to introduce a new sect, nor to set those coming from the West above the Eastern bishops and their most holy councils in any respect. But they, on the contrary, despising these things, threatened us, and promised that they would avenge Athanasius and the rest of the criminals. As though those who had received all the wicked and the lost into their fellowship could do or say anything else. Besides this, they put forward this enormous arrogance, possessed by audacity and rashness rather than by lawful reason.

For seeing that those who receive the condemned incur offense and guilt as violators of the heavenly laws, they endeavored to establish a judgment by such authority that they wished to call themselves judges of judges, and, if it be lawful to say so, to reopen the sentence of those who are now with God. We, however, entreated them for very many days to cast away those condemned by themselves, and to join themselves to the holy Church, and to give their assent to the fathers speaking the truth. But they utterly refused to do this.

18. A Proposal to Send Delegates to Mareotis

They propose that delegates from each side be sent to Mareota.—While we were thus disputing, five bishops from our side emerged, who remained as survivors from the sixth number of those who had been sent to Mareota, and they put forward to them the following option: that certain bishops should be sent from each council to the places where Athanasius committed his crimes and misdeeds, so that they might faithfully record everything under the testimony of God; and if what we reported to the council should be found false, let us ourselves be condemned, and let us make no complaint to the emperors, nor to the council, nor to any bishop; but if what we said before should prove true, let us set forth, from your number, those whom you have chosen, that is, those who communicated with Athanasius after his condemnation, as well as those who are supporters and defenders of Athanasius and Marcellus, and let none of you make complaint to the emperors, nor to the council, nor to any bishop.

Ossius and Protogenes and all their associates were afraid to accept this option put forward by our side.

19. Slander Against Those Assembled at Sardica

They defame those assembled at Sardica.—Moreover, an immense multitude of all the wicked and the lost had flowed together to Sardica, arriving from Constantinople, from Alexandria: men guilty of murders, guilty of bloodshed, guilty of slaughter, guilty of robberies, guilty of plunderings, guilty of spoliations, and guilty of all unspeakable sacrileges and crimes; who broke altars, burned churches, and pillaged the houses of private persons; profaners of the mysteries of God, and betrayers of the sacraments of Christ; who, asserting the impious and criminal doctrine of heretics against the faith of the Church, cruelly slaughtered the most wise presbyters of God, deacons, and priests: and all these, gathered together with them, Ossius and Protogenes held in their conventicle; and honoring these men, they despised all of us, deacons and priests of God, because we ourselves were unwilling ever to join with such persons: and these men reported to the common people and to all the nations what had passed among us, mixing falsehoods with truths out of piety; and they described the discord that had arisen among us not as springing from the cause of God, but from human presumption.

Mingling divine things with human, and joining private matters to ecclesiastical affairs, they stirred up against us the uproar and sedition of the city, saying that we had brought a grievous injury upon the city by schism, unless we communicated with them in what was unlawful: and these things they cried out repeatedly. For we utterly refused to communicate with them, unless they cast away those whom we had condemned, and paid due honor to the Council of the East.

20. Complaints over Communion Granted to the Condemned

They complain that those whom they declare criminal have been granted communion.—What they themselves did, and what kind of council they held, you will be able to learn from the following. For Protogenes, as we said above, having anathematized Marcellus and Paul in the official records, afterwards received them into communion. Moreover, Dionysius from Elis of the province of Achaia, whom they themselves had expelled, they had in their council. Together with them, both those who expel and those who are expelled, judges and defendants, handle the divine mysteries in communion. Furthermore, Bassus from the city of Diocletiana, detected in misdeeds and crimes and deservedly deported from Syria, they ordained as bishop: and he who, living among them, was detected as a criminal and condemned by them, is today seen to be joined with them.

And because Io of Thessalonica frequently cast many reproaches and charges against Protogenes, saying that he had had and still had concubines, he had never been willing to communicate with him; but now, received into friendship, as though purified by association with worse men, he is held among them as a just man. Asclepas, moreover, when he had come to the city of Constantinople on account of Paul, after the enormity and atrocity of the deeds committed in the midst of the church of Constantinople, after the thousand murders which stained the very altars with human blood, after the slayings of brethren and the killings of pagans, does not cease to this day to communicate with Paul, on whose account these things were done: but also those who through Asclepas communicate with Paul, receiving writings from him and sending them to him. From this coagulation, therefore, and from this gathering of the lost, what kind of council could have been celebrated, in which they were not so much punishing their misdeeds as acknowledging them?

21. No Church Custom to Pardon Sins Against God

They refuse to be mixed with these.—For it is not according to our custom, we who preside over the most holy churches and are rulers of the peoples, granting and remitting what can never be remitted or granted by them: who also pardoned Marcellus and Athanasius and the rest of the criminals for misdeeds and blasphemies which it was unlawful to remit: since it is written, If a man sin against a man, they shall pray for him to the Lord; but if a man sin against God, who shall pray for him? But we have no such custom, nor the Church of God. But neither do we permit anyone to teach these things, nor to introduce new traditions: lest we be called, which is unlawful, betrayers of the faith and traitors of the divine Scriptures, lest we be condemned by the Lord and by men.

22. Blaming the Western Bishops for the Schism

They cast the odium of the schism back upon the Westerns.—But the aforesaid men also contrived these things against us. And since they knew that we could not communicate with them through the favor of the criminals, they thought to terrify us by the writings of the Emperors, so as to drag us unwillingly into their communion: and they looked on while the deep and eternal peace of the Church throughout the whole world was being divided on account of Athanasius and Marcellus, on whose account the name of the Lord is blasphemed among the nations, who ought, if they had any fear of God in themselves, lest the storm which arose through them should continue, to have departed, even if late, from their most perverse presumption, so that the Church might not be rent asunder on their account: or if there were fear of God in those who fight on their behalf, even if nothing worthy of condemnation were found in them, yet they ought to execrate and abhor them both because the unity of the Church is rent asunder on their account, and because the deep peace is subverted on account of their insane rage and lust for honors.

23. Denying Restoration of Athanasius and Marcellus

They deny that the Church has power to restore those once deposed.—When we saw matters proceeding in this way, each one of us resolved to return to his own homeland: and it pleased us to write from Sardica and to report what had been done, and to declare our judgment. For we cannot receive again into the honor of the episcopate Athanasius and Marcellus, who lived as criminals impiously blaspheming against the Lord, once expelled and condemned: who, crucifying the true Son of God and publicly exposing him again, pierced him with bitter blows. For one of them, by blaspheming against the Son of God and against his kingdom, died once an eternal death. The other, sinning atrociously against the body of the Lord and his mysteries in a profane manner, and committing other misdeeds most savagely, was cast out and condemned by the sentence of bishops.

Wherefore, since we cannot depart from the tradition of our fathers, because the Church has not assumed such authority, nor received such power from God, we ourselves do not receive the aforesaid into the honor and dignity of the Church, and we rightly condemn those who do receive them. But neither do we receive into the Church others who have been deservedly condemned either formerly or afterwards, adhering to the laws of God and the paternal traditions and ecclesiastical disciplines, believing the prophet who says: Remove not the ancient landmarks which thy fathers have set. Wherefore we never shake what is firm and solid: but rather we preserve those things which have been established by our fathers.

24. Naming Those Denied Communion

Those with whom they judge communion must be denied.—After many things therefore, most beloved brethren, we openly charge you with these things, that none of you, deceived by anyone, should ever communicate with the following, that is, Ossius, Protogenes, Athanasius, Marcellus, Asclepas, Paul, Julius; nor with any of the condemned who have been rejected from the holy Church, nor with their associates who communicate with them either in person or through writings. Wherefore neither should you ever write to them, nor receive writings from them. As for the rest, we pray you, most beloved Brethren, to take thought for the unity of the Church and for perpetual peace; to choose holy bishops in whom both the faith is whole and the life is holy; abhorring those who, on account of their crimes, have been stripped of the honor of the episcopate and wish to recover again the place which they deservedly lost on account of their misdeeds: and abhor all the more those whom you see committing worse things after their crime.

They do not hear the Lord saying: Thou hast sinned, be at rest. They know not how to restrain themselves, and they grow stronger from their crimes: and the more they plunge into the whirlpool of vices, the more they overturn the world. Devoting themselves to seditions, they inflict the most bitter wars and persecutions upon the holy Churches, and in tyrannical fashion strive to take captive the peoples of the Lord under their own dominion.

25. The Hardships Caused by the Council

They contend that so great a synod was wrongly convened.—For from these matters recognize their most wicked endeavors, when they brought such a storm of tempest upon the world as to disturb nearly all the East and the West; so that each of us, leaving behind his ecclesiastical cares, deserting the peoples of God, and setting aside the very teaching of the Gospel, should come from afar, old men heavy with age, weak in body, infirm with sickness (and we were dragged through various places, and abandoned our sick on the roads) on account of a very few criminals long since deservedly condemned, who unlawfully seek the primacies of the Church: and that the imperial government should take care of us, and that the religious emperors, tribunes, and commanders should be occupied with the life and condition of bishops in a most troubled state. But neither do the peoples keep silence.

For all the brotherhood in all the provinces, suspended and anxious, awaits the outcome of this storm of evils: and the public post itself, worn out, is reduced to nothing. And what more? The rising and the setting of the world is utterly overturned on account of one or two and a few criminals who think impiously and live shamefully, and is troubled by a harsh and savage tempest, in whom no seeds of religion have taken root: which if they had possessed, they would imitate the prophet saying: Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you (Jonae 1, 12). But they do not imitate this, because they do not follow the just: but thus the leaders of all the wicked seek the primacy of the Church, as though it were some kingdom of tyranny.

26. Synod Decrees Are Not to Be Reopened

The judgments of synods are not to be reopened.—Nor do they seek this even for the sake of good and justice. For those who strive to dissolve the laws and divine ordinances and the decrees of others do not take thought for the Churches. For this reason they were endeavoring to introduce this novelty, which the ancient custom of the Church abhors, namely that whatever the Eastern bishops might perhaps have decreed in council should be reopened by the Western bishops; and likewise whatever the bishops of the Western parts decreed should be dissolved by the Eastern. But they were treating of this from that most perverse mind of theirs. Yet the records of our forebears confirm that the decrees of all councils justly and lawfully conducted are to be ratified. For the council held in the city of Rome against the heretics Novatian and Sabellius and Valentinus was confirmed by the Easterners: and again in the East what was decreed against Paul of Samosata was ratified by all.

For which reason we exhort you, most beloved Brethren, considering the order of ecclesiastical discipline, and taking thought for the peace of the whole world, to rebuke those who communicate with criminals, and to cut out the wicked from the churches root and branch: so that, with the tempest subsiding on their account, Christ the Lord, floating above, may command all the winds and the storms of the sea to depart, and may grant to the holy Church perpetual and quiet peace.

27. Condemnation of Julius, Ossius, and Other Western Bishops

They condemn the chief men among the Westerns: why.—We do injury to no one, but we observe the precepts of the law. For we have been gravely wronged and ill-treated by those who wished to disturb the rule of the Catholic Church by their perversity.

But keeping the fear of God before our eyes, and considering the judgment of Christ to be true and just, we accepted the person of no one, nor did we spare anyone, so as to preserve ecclesiastical discipline. Wherefore the whole council condemned Julius of the city of Rome, Ossius, and Protogenes, and Gaudentius, and Maximinus from Trier, according to the most ancient law, as authors of communion with Marcellus and Athanasius and the rest of the wicked, and as those who also communicated in the murders of Paul of Constantinople and in his bloody deeds. For Protogenes was anathematized together with Marcellus, by frequently subscribing to the sentence pronounced against him or against his book; and those who also gave sentence against Paul of Constantinople, and afterwards communicated with him. Gaudentius, moreover, as one unmindful of his predecessor Cyriacus who subscribed to the sentences justly pronounced against the wicked, and as one mixed up in the crimes of Paul, whom he also defended shamelessly.

Julius indeed of the city of Rome, as the chief and leader of evils, who first opened the door of communion to the wicked and condemned, and made a way for the rest to dissolve the laws of God: and he defended Athanasius presumptuously and boldly, a man whose witnesses he had not known, nor his accusers. But Ossius on account of the aforesaid cause, and on account of Mark of most blessed memory, upon whom he always inflicted grave injuries: but also because he defended with all his strength all the wicked who had been justly condemned for their crimes, and because he had lived in the East with the wicked and the abandoned. For he was shamefully an inseparable friend of Paulinus, once bishop of Dacia, a man who was first accused of evil deeds and driven from the Church, and who to this very day, persisting in apostasy, fornicates publicly with concubines and harlots, whose books of evil deeds the bishop and confessor Macedonius burned at Mopsus.

But also he clung most wickedly to Eustasias and Quimatius and was dear to them, of the shameful infamy of whose life nothing need be said: for their end declared them to all. Ossius therefore, joined from the beginning to such men as these, always favoring the wicked, came against the Church, and always bore aid to the enemies of God. Maximinus from Trier, moreover, because he refused to receive our fellow bishops whom we had sent to the Gauls, and because he himself was the first to communicate with Paul of Constantinople, a wicked and abandoned man, and because he himself was the cause of so great a disaster, that Paul was recalled to the city of Constantinople, on account of which many murders were committed. He himself therefore was the cause of so many murders, who recalled Paul, long since condemned, to Constantinople.

28. Stripping Julius and Ossius of Office

For these reasons therefore the council judged it right to strip and condemn Julius of the city of Rome, and Ossius, and the rest mentioned above. Since these things are so, you must guard yourselves from them and abstain from them, most beloved Brethren, and never admit them to your communion: but neither receive their letters, nor give dominical letters to them. And because those who were with Ossius wished to break the catholic and apostolic faith, introducing a new sect of the Marcellan mixed with Sabellian and Pauline origin, and thence the art; we have of necessity set forth the faith of the catholic Church, which the aforesaid who are with Ossius denied, and which the heretics with Marcellus introduced. It follows that, upon receiving our letters, each of you giving assent to this sentence should seal our decrees with your own subscription. Our faith is as follows.

29. The Eastern Council's Statement of Faith at Serdica

We believe in one God the Father almighty, founder and creator of all things, from whom every creature in heaven and on earth is named. And in his only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, who before all ages was begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, through whom all things were made that are in the heavens and that are on earth, visible and invisible, the Word who is, and wisdom, and power, and life, and the true light, who in the last times for our sake was incarnate, and was born of the holy Virgin Mary, and was crucified, and died, and was buried: on the third day he rose from the dead, and was taken up into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, about to come at the end of the world to judge the living and the dead, and to render to each according to his works; whose kingdom remains unceasing unto eternal ages.

For he sits at the right hand of the Father, not only in this age, but also in the age to come. We believe in the Holy Spirit, that is, in the Paraclete, whom promising to the Apostles after his assumption into heaven, he sent, teaching and instructing them in all things, through whom the souls of those who faithfully believe in him are sanctified. We believe also in the holy Church, in the remission of sins, in the resurrection of the flesh, in life eternal. But those who say that the Son of God is from that which did not exist, or from another substance, and not from God; or who say that there was at some time or age when the Son did not exist, the holy and catholic Church condemns as heretics.

Likewise also those who say there are three gods; or that Christ is not God; or that one Christ did not exist before the ages, nor the Son of God; or that he himself is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; or that the Son was not born; or that God the Father did not beget the Son by counsel and will: all these the holy and catholic Church anathematizes and execrates. I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Stephen bishop of Antioch of the province of Coele Syria: I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Olympius bishop of Doliche I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Gerontius bishop of Lamphania. Menophantus bishop from Ephesus I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Paul bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eulalius bishop from Amantias I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Macedonius bishop from Mopsuestia I pray that you fare well in the Lord.

Thelaphius bishop from Chalcedon I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Acacius bishop from Caesarea I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Theodore bishop from Heraclea I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Quintianus bishop from Taxe I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Marcus bishop from Arethusa I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Cyrotus bishop from Roeo I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eugeus bishop from Lisicia I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Antonius bishop from Zeuma I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Antonius bishop from Docimum I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Dion bishop from Caesarea I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Vitalis bishop from Tyre I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eudoxius bishop from Germanicia I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Dionysius bishop from Alexandria of the province I pray that you fare well in the Lord.

Macedonius bishop from Berytus I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eusebius bishop from Dorlani I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Basil bishop from Ancyra I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Proheresius bishop from Sinope I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eustatius bishop from Epiphania I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Pancratius bishop from Pernasus I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eusebius bishop from Pergamum I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Sabinianus bishop from Cathimera I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Bitinicus bishop from Zelon I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Dominius bishop from Palladianus I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Pison bishop from Troas I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Cartherius bishop from Aspona I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Filetus bishop from Juliopolis I pray that you fare well in the Lord.

Quirius bishop from Marcota I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Filetus bishop from Cratia I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Thimasarcus bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eusebius bishop from Mignenia I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Quirius bishop from Philadelphia I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Pison bishop from Vanis I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Timothy bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Euthemon bishop from Thaneos I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Callenicus bishop from Pelusium I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Leucadas bishop from Ilium I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Noconius bishop from Troas I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Adamantius bishop from Cius I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eddesius bishop from Cos I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Theodolus bishop from Neocaesarea I pray that you fare well in the Lord.

Sion bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Theogenes bishop from Lycia I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Florentius bishop from Ancyra I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Isaac bishop from Luetum I pray that you fare well in the Lord. I subscribed on behalf of Eudemon bishop, I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Agapius bishop from Theriacum I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Bassus bishop from Car I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Narcissus bishop from Anapolis I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Embracius bishop from Miletus I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Lucius bishop from Babtinum I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Nonnius bishop from Laodicea I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Pantagatus bishop from the Gauls I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Flaccus bishop from Hieropolis I pray that you fare well in the Lord.

Sysimius bishop from Perge I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Diogenes bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Cresconius bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Nestorius bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Emmonius bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eugenius bishop I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Antonius bishop from Gusia I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Demophilus bishop from Beroea I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Eutychius bishop from Philippopolis I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Severus bishop from Cabula I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Timothy bishop from Anchialus I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Valens bishop from Mursa, I pray that you fare well in the Lord. Here ends the decree of the synod of the Eastern bishops at Serdica from the Arian party, which they sent to Africa.

To our most beloved brothers and fellow bishops, all those established throughout the East, Liberius bishop of the city of Rome, eternal greeting.

1. Liberius Denies Communion to Athanasius

Liberius extends his communion to the Easterners, denies it to Athanasius.—Devoted to the peace and concord of the Churches, after I received the letters of Your Charity concerning the name of Athanasius and the rest, addressed to Julius of blessed memory bishop, following the tradition of our forebears, I directed the presbyters of the city of Rome, Lucius, Paul, and Helianus, from my side to Alexandria to the aforesaid Athanasius, that he should come to the city of Rome: so that in his presence that which ecclesiastical discipline required might be decreed against him. I also gave letters to the same man through the aforesaid presbyters, in which it was stated that if he did not come, he should know himself to be estranged from the communion of the Roman Church. The presbyters therefore returned and reported that he had been unwilling to come.

Following then the letters of Your Charity, which you gave to us concerning the name of the aforesaid Athanasius, know by these letters, which I gave to our unanimity, that I have peace with all of you and with all the bishops of the catholic Church: but that the aforesaid Athanasius is estranged from my communion and from that of the Roman Church, and from the fellowship of ecclesiastical letters.

2. Objections to Liberius's Letter

This letter was fabricated in vain. Why.—"What is there in this letter that is not of holiness, what is there that does not proceed from the fear of God? But Potamius and Epictetus, while they rejoiced in condemning the bishop of the city of Rome, as is contained in the synod of Ariminum, were unwilling to hear these things. Indeed, even bishop Fortunatianus, sending the same letter again to various bishops, accomplished nothing. But in order that, in the denial of communion to Athanasius, they might rather be burdensome to themselves, and make the whole matter a danger to themselves, provided they took nothing away from the Sardican Synod, by which Athanasius had been absolved and the Arians condemned; letters sent from all Egypt and from Alexandria gave warning: because just as letters had formerly been written to Julius concerning the restoration of communion to the exiled Athanasius, so now, as will be understood from the subjects below, letters were given to Liberius concerning its defense."

1. Liberius Pleads with Constantius for a Council

Liberius demands a council. He is torn apart by insulting words spread among the people by Constantius.—I beseech you, most tranquil emperor, that your clemency grant me gracious ears, so that the purpose of my mind may be made apparent to your gentleness. For from a Christian emperor and son of Constantine of holy memory, I deserve to obtain this very thing without hesitation. But I understand that I labor in this, that by repeated satisfaction I am unable to recall your mind, placable even toward the guilty, to favor toward me. For the word of your piety, sent long since to the people, does indeed greatly wound me, who must bear all things patiently: but that your mind, which is always free for gentleness, which never, as it is written, keeps anger until the going down of the sun, should retain indignation toward me, is to me a matter of wonder.

For I, most religious emperor, seek with you a true peace, which is not composed in words with an inward disposition of deceit, but reasonably confirmed by the precepts of the Gospels. Not only the affair of Athanasius, but many other matters have come forward, on account of which I had besought your gentleness that a council be held: so that above all, what the sincere devotion of your mind toward God especially desires, once the cause of faith, in which our first hope toward God resides, had been diligently treated, the matters of those who ought to admire our observance toward God might be able to be settled. And it would have been worthy of a worshipper of God, worthy of your empire which is governed and increased by the piety of Christ, especially for this very reason, out of reverence for the holy religion to which you wisely attend, that your clemency should grant us this in obtaining these things.

2. Liberius Denies Suppressing the Eastern Letters

He is falsely accused of having suppressed the letters of the Orientals. Why he did not give credence to them.—But many hasten to tear apart the members of the Church, who have fabricated that I suppressed letters, lest the crimes of him whom they said they had condemned should be made known to all. What letters are these? Those of the Eastern and Egyptian bishops, in all of which the same charges against Athanasius were contained? But it is sufficiently clear to all, and no one denies, that we made known the letters of the Orientals, read them to the Church, read them to the council, and also replied to the Orientals on these matters; we did not lend our faith and judgment, because at the same time the judgment of eighty Egyptian bishops concerning Athanasius stood in opposition, which we likewise read aloud and made known to the Italian bishops. Wherefore it seemed contrary to divine law also, when the number of bishops in favor of Athanasius was greater, to lend assent to one party.

These documents, if Eusebius who had been sent owes faith to God, he left with us as he hastened to Africa: all of which documents, however, Vincentius, who had been sent with the others, afterward brought to Arles, lest they should perhaps be lacking for obtaining a council.

3. Liberius Defends His Conduct as Bishop

He clears himself of the charges fabricated against him by Constantius.—Your prudence therefore sees that nothing has entered into my mind which it would not have been worthy for those serving God to think. But God is my witness, and the whole Church with its members is my witness, that I have trodden and have always trodden all worldly things underfoot with faith and fear toward my God, as the evangelical and apostolic rule prescribes. Not by rash fury, but living by established and observed divine law, and in the high ministry of the Church, I have fulfilled nothing out of boastfulness, nothing out of desire for glory, in what pertained to the law: and to this office, my God is my witness, I came unwillingly; in which I do indeed desire to remain without offense to God, as long as I shall be in this world. And I have always carried out not my own statutes, but the apostolic ones, so that they might always be firm and kept.

Following the custom and order of our forebears, I have suffered nothing to be added to the episcopate of the city of Rome, nothing to be taken away: and keeping that faith which has run through the succession of so many bishops, among whom many martyrs have stood out, I always desire it to be kept inviolate.

4. Liberius Explains His Refusal to Join the Orientals

Why he cannot communicate with the Orientals.—Finally, ecclesiastical solicitude and devotion itself now persuade me to lay open the cause to your piety. The Orientals signify that they wish to be joined to our peace. What peace is there, most clement emperor, when there are from those very parties four bishops, Demophilus, Macedonius, Eudoxius, Martyrius, who eight years ago, when they were unwilling to condemn the heretical opinion of Arius at Milan, departed from the council in angry spirits? Whether it is right to lend assent to their judgments, and what danger it holds, your equity and clemency will be able to assess. It is not a new thing that is now subtly attempted under the pretext of the name of Athanasius.

The letters of bishop Alexander, once sent to Sylvester of holy memory, remain, in which he signified that before the ordination of Athanasius, eleven persons, both presbyters and deacons, because they followed the heresy of Arius, had been cast out by him from the church; of whom certain ones, now said to be placed outside the catholic Church, are said to have found conventicles for themselves, with which Georgius also is asserted to communicate in Alexandria by letters. What peace therefore can there be, most tranquil emperor, if bishops, when summoned, are compelled to obey the judgments of such men, as has now been done throughout Italy?

5. The Legates' Conditions Rejected by the Orientals

Hear another matter, since your tranquility admits it patiently. The letters of the legates who had been sent to your clemency remain, which recently arrived: in which they signify that, on account of the disturbance of all the churches, they had indeed been willing to yield beforehand to the judgments of the Orientals, but had proposed a condition, that if those same men had condemned the heresy of Arius, they would in this manner, having yielded, obey their judgments. The agreement, as they themselves signify, is confirmed by written testimony, they proceed to a council: they receive answers after deliberation, that they cannot condemn the doctrine of Arius, and that Athanasius, which alone they demanded, must be deprived of communion. Hence let your clemency also consider this, whether, with the right of the catholic religion rightly preserved, the case of a man ought to be carefully and thoroughly treated.

6. Liberius's Final Plea for a Council

He earnestly entreats for a council.—Wherefore again and again we beseech your gentleness and your mind devoted to God, through his power, who showed how great he is to all mortals in your defense (against Magnentius, destroyed in the year 353), that having before your eyes the benefits of him who governs your empire in all things, you cause these matters to be carefully treated with all deliberation in an assembly of bishops: so that, with times made peaceful through you by God's favor, with your tranquility consenting, all things may be discussed in such a way that what shall have been confirmed by the judgment of the priests of God, once it is established that all have agreed in the exposition of the faith which was confirmed among so many bishops at Nicaea in the presence of your father of holy memory, may be kept for the future as a precedent: so that the Savior himself, who from above looks upon the purpose of your mind, may rejoice that in so great an expedition of affairs, you have not undeservedly placed the cause of faith and peace before even the necessities of the state.

Therefore, to entreat your gentleness that you deign to hear our representations with a benevolent mind, it has been decided that my brother and fellow bishop, the holy man Lucifer, should set out together with Pancratius the presbyter and Hilarius the deacon. Whom we believe, through your clemency, to be able without great difficulty to obtain a council for the peace of all the catholic churches. May the clemency of almighty God keep you for us, most clement and most religious Augustus. End.

1. Liberius Praises the Exiled Bishops

Liberius congratulates the exiles.—Although under the image of peace, the enemy of the human race seems to have raged more violently against the members of the Church; yet you, most acceptable priests in the Lord, your outstanding and singular faith has both shown you praiseworthy to God here, and has already designated you as martyrs for future glory. With what proclamation of praise, with what exultation of voice I may set forth the merits of your virtue, placed as I am between the grief of your absence and the joy of your glory, I am utterly unable to find: except that I know that I shall exhibit more worthy consolations to you in this, if you believe that I have been thrust into exile together with you. Finally, I am sufficiently saddened that I, still hanging in that very expectation, am meanwhile separated from your fellowship by a harsher necessity. For I had desired, most devoted brethren, to be spent first for all of you, so that your love might rather follow the example of glory through me.

But let this have been the palm of your merits, that you came first to the illustrious glory of confession through perseverance in faith. I beseech therefore your charity, that you believe me to be present with you, and feel by that affection that I am not absent, and understand that I grieve sufficiently that I am meanwhile separated from your fellowship. How great a glory you shall have obtained, you can know more from this, that if any who were crowned in persecution could feel only the bloody swords of the persecutor alone: on the contrary you, devoted soldiers of God in all things, having experienced even false brethren as enemies, have carried off victory over the faithless: whose violence, by however much it was able to increase in this world, is found to confer so much greater rewards of praise upon holy priests. Be therefore secure in the heavenly promise.

2. Liberius Asks for Prayers and News from Milan

He asks them to pray for him. He wishes to learn from them what was done at Milan.—And because you have been made nearer to God, lift me up, your fellow priest, a servant of God, to the Lord by your prayers: so that the oncoming assaults, which as they are announced from day to day inflict graver wounds, I may be able to bear tolerably; so that with faith inviolate, with the state of the catholic Church safe, the Lord may deign to make me equal to you. And because I desire to know more faithfully what was done in that very encounter; I beseech your holiness that you deign to make all things known faithfully by letter: so that a greater addition, whether my mind itself, which is tormented by various rumors, or the strength of my body itself, which is now weakened, may be able to feel from your encouragement: and by another hand, God keep you safe, brethren in the Lord.

3. Liberius Grieves the Fall of Vincentius

He grieves over the fall of Vincentius.—I do not wish the deed of Vincentius to call you back from the intention of good work, dearest brother. And concerning Ossius he speaks thus about the ruin of Vincentius: Among these things, because I ought to pass over nothing in your conscience, many bishops from Italy assembled, who had besought with me the most religious Emperor Constantius that he would order, as he himself had long since been pleased, a council to be gathered at Aquileia. I make known to your Holiness that Vincentius of Capua, together with Marcellus, likewise a bishop from Campania, undertook our legation: of whom I had great hope, because he both knew the cause excellently, and had frequently sat as judge in the same cause with your Holiness; I had believed that the intact Gospel of God could be preserved by his legation. He not only obtained nothing, but was himself also led into that dissimulation.

After his deed, afflicted with twofold grief, I resolved rather to die for God; lest I should seem the last betrayer, or to lend assent to judgments contrary to the Gospel.

4. Liberius Writes to the Eastern Bishops from Exile

Liberius condemns Athanasius.—After all these things which Liberius had either done or promised, sent into exile he reduced everything to nothing, writing to the prevaricating heretical Arians, who passed an unjust sentence against the holy orthodox bishop Athanasius.

To the most beloved brethren, the presbyters and fellow bishops of the East, Liberius (around the end of the year 357).

5. Liberius Declares Peace with the Eastern Bishops

Your holy faith is known to God and to men of good will on account of divine fear. As the law speaks, Judge justly, ye sons of men, I do not defend Athanasius: but because Julius the bishop my predecessor of good memory had received him, I feared lest perhaps I might be judged a prevaricator by someone. But when I learned, when it pleased God, that you had justly condemned him, I straightway lent my assent to your judgments, and gave letters concerning his name (that is, concerning his condemnation), to be carried to the emperor Constantius through our brother Fortunatianus. And so, with Athanasius removed from the communion of all of us, whose letters are not to be received by me, I declare that I have peace and unanimity with all of you and with all the bishops of the East and throughout all the provinces.

6. Liberius Subscribes to the Sirmian Creed

He subscribes to the Sirmian faith.—For, that you may know more truly that I speak true faith through this letter, my lord and common brother Demophilus, who deigned in his benevolence to set forth your faith and the catholic faith, which was treated, set forth, and received at Sirmium by a great number of our brothers and fellow-bishops (This is the Arian perfidy; this I noted, not as an apostate.): by all who were present; this I received with a willing mind (Anathema be said to you by me, Liberius, and to your associates), I contradicted nothing, I gave my consent, I follow this, this is held by me (Again anathema to you, and a third time, O transgressor Liberius). I have indeed thought it right to petition your holiness, since you now see in all things that I am in agreement with you, that you deign by common counsel and effort to labor, so that I may now be released from exile and return to the see which has been divinely entrusted to me.

7. The Authors of the Sirmian Creed

Who were the authors of his faith.—"The perfidy described at Sirmium, which Liberius calls catholic, set forth to him by Demophilus, was written by these: Narcissus, Theodorus, Basilius, Eudoxius, Demophilus, Cecropius, Silvanus, Ursacius, Valens, Evagrius, Hyrenius, Exuperantius, Terentianus, Bassus, Gaudentius, Macedonius, Marthus, Acticus, Julius, Surinus, Simplicius and Junior, all heretics."

Likewise Liberius from exile, to Ursacius, Valens, and Germinius.

8. Liberius Explains His Separation from Athanasius

Liberius separated from communion with Athanasius.—Because I know that you are sons of peace, and that you also love the concord and unity of the catholic Church; therefore, not compelled by any necessity—God is my witness—but for the good of peace and concord, which is set before martyrdom, I address you by this letter, most dear lord brothers. Let your prudence therefore know that Athanasius, who was bishop of the Alexandrian church, was condemned by me before I sent the letters of the Eastern bishops to the court of the holy emperor, and was separated from the communion of the Roman church, as the entire presbyterate of the Roman church bears witness. This was the sole reason why I seemed to be slower in sending letters concerning him to our brothers and fellow-bishops in the East: so that my legates whom I had sent from the city of Rome to the court, or the bishops who had been deported, might themselves together with them, if it could be done, be recalled from exile.

9. Liberius Asks Constantius to Restore Him

He earnestly begs to be sent back to Rome.—And this also I wish you to know, that I asked brother Fortunatianus to go with my letters to the most clement emperor Constantius Augustus, to ask that, for the good of peace and concord in which his piety always rejoices, he command me to return to the church divinely entrusted to me: so that in his times the Roman church may suffer no tribulation. Moreover, that I have peace with all of you bishops of the catholic Church, you ought to know from these my letters with an equitable and sincere mind, most dear brothers. For you will acquire great consolation for yourselves on the day of recompense, if through you peace is restored to the Roman church. Moreover, through you I wish our brothers and fellow-bishops Epictetus and Auxentius also to know that I have peace and ecclesiastical communion with them: whom I believe will receive these things with gratitude.

But whoever shall dissent from our peace and concord, which has been established throughout the whole world by the will of God, let him know that he is separated from our communion. Anathema pronounced by me upon the transgressor together with the Arians.

Likewise from exile, Liberius to Vincentius.

10. Liberius Laments the Loss of Urbicus

He grieves that Urbicus has been taken from him.—I do not teach, but I admonish your holy mind, most dear brother, because evil communications corrupt good manners. The snares of evil men are well known to you, whence I have come to this toil: and pray that the Lord may grant endurance. My most beloved son Urbicus the deacon, whom I seemed to have as a consolation, has been taken from me by Venerius the agent in affairs.

11. Liberius's Final Terms for Ending His Exile

On what grounds he entreats return from exile.—I thought it right to make known to your holiness that I have withdrawn from that controversy over the name of Athanasius, and have sent letters to our brothers and fellow-bishops in the East concerning his name. Wherefore, since by God's will peace is everywhere among you, you will deign to convene all the bishops of Campania, and to make these things known to them, and from their number together with your letter, concerning our unanimity and peace, to write to the most clement emperor, so that I too may be freed from great sorrow. And in his own hand: May God keep you safe, brother. Likewise in his own hand written on the page: We have peace with all the Eastern bishops, and I with you. I have cleared myself before God; you shall see to it: if you shall wish me to fail in exile, God will be judge between me and you.

Here begins the copy of the letter of the emperor constantius to the italian bishops who had assembled at the council of ariminum (given on the 27th of May, in the year 359).

Victor Constantius, greatest triumphator, ever Augustus, to the bishops.

1. Instructions Restricting the Council to Matters of Faith

That only faith is to be treated in the Council.—Prior ordinances, Venerable ones, contain that the sanctity of the law rests upon ecclesiastical matters. We have perceived sufficiently and more than sufficiently from the letters given to our prudence that it is fitting to devote effort to the same things: since indeed this also befits the office of bishops, and the salvation of all peoples far and wide is strengthened by this foundation. But the matter has admonished us that the ordinances should be renewed. For no one will judge it superfluous that defined things be repeated, since frequent admonition is accustomed to increase the sum of diligence. These things being so, let your sincerity know that faith and unity ought to be treated, and take care that a fitting order be provided for ecclesiastical matters. For the prosperity of all peoples will run its course everywhere, and faithful concord will be preserved when, with these questions entirely cut off, none shall be moved by pursuing such matters.

2. Prohibiting Council Action Against the Eastern Bishops

Not concerning the affairs of the Easterners.—This matter ought not to extend the attention of the mind further in this way: for reason does not permit anything to be defined in your council concerning the Eastern bishops. Therefore you ought to treat only those things which your gravity recognizes as pertaining to you: and when all things have been quickly completed, to send ten by common consent to my court, as we made known to your prudence in prior letters (which are not extant). For the aforesaid were able to respond to all things which the Easterners shall have proposed to them, or to treat of faith; so that by a fitting outcome every question may be terminated, and ambiguity put to rest. Since these things are so, you ought not to decree anything against the Easterners: or if you shall wish to define anything against them in the absence of the aforesaid; that which shall have been presumed will vanish without effect.

For that definition cannot have force to which our ordinances testify that strength and abundance are now denied. Since these things are so, you ought with the moderation befitting venerable bishops of religion to accomplish venerable things; so that what religion demands may be explained, and what it forbids to be heard, no one may presume. May the Divinity preserve you for many years, Parents K. Given on the sixth day before the kalends of June, in the consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius.

Here begins the catholic definition, held by all the catholic bishops, before they were terrified by earthly power and joined to the fellowship of heretics, at the council of Ariminum.

3. Nothing is to be added to or taken from the Nicene Faith

—Thus we believe it can be pleasing to all catholics, that we ought not to depart from the symbol received, which we have recognized as intact in the conference before all; nor that we shall depart from the faith which we have received through the prophets, taught by God the Father through Christ our Lord by the Holy Spirit, both in the gospels and in all the apostles, so that through the tradition of the fathers according to the succession of the apostles it has remained until now as set down in the treatise held at Nicaea against the heresy which had arisen at that time. To all of which we believe nothing is to be added, nor is it possible for anything to be diminished, as is manifest. It is therefore pleasing that nothing new be done: and that the name and reality of substance, instilled into our minds by many holy Scriptures, ought to retain its firmness. Which reality together with its name the catholic Church has always been accustomed to confess and profess with divine teaching.

All the catholics conspiring as one subscribed to this definition.

4. Ariminum Reaffirms Its Condemnation of the Four

At the same council, after it had been decreed that nothing of the paternal tradition ought to be diminished, those also who came against this were condemned by the spiritual voice of all conspiring as one. The copy of this proceeding is as follows.

When a synod of bishops had been assembled at the place of Ariminum, and the faith had been treated, and it had been settled in mind what ought to be done; Grecianus, bishop from Callum, said: As much as was fitting, most dear brothers, the catholic synod has had patience, and has shown the pious Church so many times in accordance with Ursacius and Valens, Germinius, Gaius; who by so many times changing what they had believed, have disturbed all the churches, and now attempt to insert their heretical mind into the minds of Christians. For they wish to subvert the treatise held at Nicaea, which was set down against the Arian heresy and the rest. They have moreover brought to us a faith written by themselves, which it was not lawful for us to receive. They have indeed already been pronounced heretics before us, and it has been established over many days: whom we have also not admitted to our communion, condemning them present by our voice.

Now again, say again what pleases you, so that it may be confirmed by the subscription of each individual. All the bishops said: It is pleasing that the heretics be condemned, so that the Church, with faith unshaken, which is truly catholic, may remain in perpetual peace.

The blasphemies of Arius, although they had been condemned before, nevertheless lay hidden in secret; because it was not known that he had blasphemed. But by God's favor it was brought about that, when we were assembled at Ariminum, his pestilential heresy was brought up again. And therefore together with his blasphemies we also condemn all the heresies which had previously arisen against the catholic and apostolic tradition, just as they were long since condemned in past councils and in various places, and we also condemn them: and we anathematize those who say that the Son of God is from nothing existing, and from another substance, and not born of God the Father, true God from true God. And if anyone shall say that the Father and the Son are two gods, that is, two unbegotten principles, and shall not profess one deity of the Father and the Son, let him be anathema. If anyone shall say that the Son of God is a creature or a made thing, let him be anathema.

If anyone shall say that God the Father himself was born of the Virgin Mary, and shall say that the Father and the Son are the same, let him be anathema. If anyone shall say that the Son of God took his beginning from Mary, or that there was a time when the Son was not, let him be anathema. If anyone shall say that the Son of God was not truly and ineffably born of God the Father, but is an adopted son, let him be anathema. If anyone shall profess that the Son of God is either temporal, or merely a man, and not born of God the Father before all ages, let him be anathema. If anyone shall say that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one person or three divided substances, and shall not profess one deity of the perfect Trinity, let him be anathema.

If anyone shall say that the Son of God exists before all ages indeed but not before all time absolutely, so as to assign time to him, let him be anathema. If anyone shall say that all created things were made not through the Word, but without him or before him, let him be anathema. And if any other blasphemies of Arius or of anyone else shall be found, we likewise anathematize them.

To the most blessed and most glorious Augustus Constantius, the synod of Ariminum.

1. Ariminum Decrees No Change to the Nicene Faith

The synod of Ariminum decrees that nothing is to be changed.—We believe it was ordained by God at the command of your piety, that we bishops of the Western provinces should come from diverse provinces to the place of Ariminum, so that the faith might be made clear to all the catholic Churches, and heretics might be known. For while all of us who think rightly were deliberating, it was indeed pleasing that we hold the faith persevering from antiquity, which through the prophets, the gospels and the apostles, through God himself and our Lord Jesus Christ the savior of your empire and the giver of your salvation, we have always held. For we deemed it impious to mutilate anything of the saints, and of those who had sat together in the Nicene treatise together with Constantine of glorious memory, the father of your piety.

Which treatise was made manifest and instilled into the minds of the peoples, and is found to have been set down against the Arian heresy at that time, so that heresies might be driven out from it: from which, if anything shall be taken away, an entrance is opened to the poisons of heretics.

2. Ursacius and Valens Accused of Repeated Innovation

He condemns those eager for innovation.—For this reason Ursacius and Valens at one time came under suspicion of that same Arian heresy, and were suspended from communion: and they sought pardon, as their own writings attest, which they duly obtained at that time from the council of Milan, with the legates of the Roman church also present. Since this was drawn up with great deliberation in the presence of Constantine, who, holding to his baptism, passed to the rest of God, we consider it sacrilege to mutilate anything from it, and in any way to set aside so many holy men and confessors and successors of martyrs who were the authors of that very document; since they themselves also preserved all the traditions of the earlier catholics according to the scriptures, and these have endured to these times, in which your piety has received from God the Father, through God and our Lord Jesus Christ, the power of governing the world. Even then they were attempting to overturn what had been established by reason.

For when the letters of your piety commanded that faith be treated of, there was offered to us by the aforementioned disturbers of the Churches, with Germinius and Gaius associated with them, some new thing I know not what for our consideration, which contained much of perverse doctrine; and indeed when what they were offering seemed openly displeasing in the council, they thought it ought to be written differently. It is manifest that they have changed this frequently in a short time. And lest the Churches be disturbed more frequently, it was resolved that the old reasonable institutions be preserved. For the instruction of your clemency, therefore, we give them this one charge alone, that they should carry the embassy on no other terms than that the old decrees remain most firm: so that your wisdom might also know that peace could not be fulfilled by the removal of what the aforesaid Valens and Ursacius, Germinius and Gaius, had promised. For a greater disturbance has been introduced into all regions and into the Roman church.

3. A Plea to Constantius to Dismiss the Bishops

He asks Constantius to receive their decrees. To dismiss the bishops at Ariminum.—For this reason we ask your clemency to look upon and hear all our legates with gracious ears and a serene countenance; and let not your clemency permit anything of the old order to be overturned by injury; but let those things remain which we have received from our forebears, whom we trust were prudent and did not act without the Holy Spirit of God: because by this novelty not only have the faithful peoples been disturbed, but even the unfaithful are prevented from approaching belief. We also pray that you command so many bishops who are detained at Ariminum, among whom are very many who are worn out by age and poverty, to return to their own province: lest the peoples of the churches, deprived of their bishops, suffer hardship. This also we ask most earnestly, that nothing be innovated, nothing diminished; but that those things remain uncorrupted which endured in the times of your father Constantine of holy piety and in your own religious ages.

And let not your holy prudence now permit us to be wearied or driven from our seats: but let the bishops, at rest with their peoples, be ever free for the supplications which they ever offer both for your salvation, and for your kingdom, and for the peace which the divinity may grant you, deep and perpetual, in accordance with your merits. Our legates moreover will bring both the subscriptions and the names of the bishops or legates, as the same other document instructs your holy and religious prudence.

4. The Legates Yield Under Imperial Pressure

The acts of the legates.—"With this letter the subscribing catholic bishops of the whole faith sent ten legates to the emperor. Likewise also the party of the heretics sent ten legates from their own body. When they came to the emperor, they were received; in such a way that the legates of the catholics were not received, and being wearied by long delay, and terrified by the threats of the emperor, they condemned the whole faith which they had previously defended, and received the perfidy which they had previously condemned. That this is so, you will find from what is appended below."

(In the year 359, on the 10th of October.) (In the consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius, the sixth day before the Ides of October.)

5. Restitutus Recalls the Earlier Sentence of Separation

The decrees of Ariminum are annulled.—When the bishops had taken their seats at the lodging of Nicaea, which was formerly called Ustodizo, in the province of Thrace, namely Restitutus, Gregorius, Honoratus, Athenius, Iginus, Justinus, Priscus, Primus, Taurinus, Lucius, Mustacius, Urbanus, Honoratus, Solutor; Restitutus bishop of Carthage said: "Your prudence knows, most holy fellow-priests, that when a discussion concerning the faith was being held at Ariminum, contention had so created division that, the devil instigating it, discord arose among the priests of God; and from this it came about that against our brethren I, Restitutus, and the part of the bishops who were following Ursacius, Valens, Germinius and Gaius as though they were the authors of an evil understanding, we pronounced sentence, that is, that they be separated from our communion.

6. The Ariminum Decrees Annulled and Communion Restored

But since, being brought face to face, we have treated of all things and discussed all things, and have found what ought to displease no one, that is, the catholic faith in these matters according to their own profession, to which we all also subscribed, and that they were never heretics: and therefore, since the harmony of peace is the greatest thing before God, it was resolved that by our common consent all things which were treated of at Ariminum be brought to nothing, and that their communion, God favouring, be fully restored, and that no one remain in the dissension which could or ought to stain them. And therefore, as I have said, since we are present, each one ought to say whether what I have set forth was said, and to subscribe with his own hand. By all the bishops it was said: It is agreed, and they subscribed.

7. Introducing Valens' Confession Brought to Ariminum

"What, however, is the confession of faith to which they afterwards subscribed, which Valens also brought with him to Ariminum, you will recognize from what is written below. Here ends."

To the lord most deservedly most glorious, most victorious Augustus Constantius, the synod of Ariminum consenting with the Orientals (that is Migdonius, Megasius, Valens, Epitectus, and the rest who consented to the heresy).

1. Rejecting the Names Ousia and Homoousios

They reject the name of substance.—Enlightened by the writings of your piety, we have given and give the greatest thanks to God, because you have blessed us, making known to us those things which, with the deliberation of your piety, we ought to do, so that no one should ever name the words ousia or homoousios, unknown to the Church of God, which is wont to cause scandal among the brethren; we have rejoiced greatly, because we have recognized what we were holding. O how blessed are we, upon whom so great a happiness has fallen, that by the knowledge of your piety those others, who are accustomed to assume these names on behalf of God and the Son of God, have received a check, being refuted! We therefore, rendering obedience to your clemency, because the state of truth has shone forth in your presence: which, knowing not how to be overcome, has also obtained the victory; so that a name unworthy of God, which is written nowhere in the holy laws, may henceforth be spoken by no one.

2. A Request to Be Dismissed From Ariminum

They ask to be dismissed from Ariminum.—Wherefore we pray your piety, since we are still detained in that place where the synod was held, from which we gave a response through our legates, to command that we, who maintain the whole doctrine among the Orientals, be now dismissed to our own flocks: so that from this it may appear who are the lovers of truth, who do not change the name of God; and that we who hold the catholic truth be no longer detained with those who are infected with perverse doctrine.

Wherefore we earnestly pray, lord, your piety before God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ God and Son of God, that you cause us, who have subscribed to sound doctrine, departing from the name of ousia, at your command, and order us to be dismissed to our own flocks; so that the Church may rejoice, which does not at all admit the changing of the names of God and of His Son, by the command of your power and glory: upon whom the divinity has conferred so much, as is apparent from devotion, that the sacrilegious names of ousia and homoousios may now depart, which are not found written in the divine Scriptures concerning God and the Son of God.

3. Final Appeal to the Emperor and List of Legates

Come to the aid, pious emperor, of the worshippers of God most high: come to the aid of those who through Christ the Son of God pray to God the Father almighty: come to the aid of those who offer devoted ears to your judgment, who know not how to worship save God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ the Son of His glory. And especially, lord emperor, command by letters to the most distinguished prefect of the praetorium Taurus that we return to our own flocks: because we also, in the proclamation of the name of God, have rendered full obedience to the Orientals and to your disposition. In this matter, in which we have always held firm, we ought now to return to our own flocks. Concerning this matter moreover we have written letters to our Eastern bishops, so that they may know that we have always held firm, and that we remain in the catholic faith together with them.

May the divine piety make you most glorious always and everywhere in all things as avenger, lord most pious emperor. Here ends.

To the most beloved brethren Ursacius, Valens, Magdonius, Megasius, Gaius, Justinus, Optatus, Martialis and the rest of the legates of the synod of Ariminum, Sylvanus, Sophronius, Neo, Herodianus, Patricius, Helpidius, Theophilus, Theodorus, Eumacius, Didimion, Eccidius, Arsenius, Passinicus, Valentinus, Eucarpius, Leontius, Eortasius, and Macarius, greeting in the Lord.

1. Seleucia's Legates Warn Against Aetius' Followers

The legates of the synod of Seleucia instruct the Ariminenses how to conduct themselves toward the supporters of Aetius.—Striving for unity and true peace, and resisting heresy by the mandate of the synod, we have thought it right to make known to you those things which are being done concerning the Church; lest ignorance should make you partners in so great an impiety.

And although we do not think that you have ceased, not without the legates of the whole synod, that is of a number of bishops of nearly much more than a hundred, to abstain even now from entering this church: on account of which we wish you also to be informed, lest the heresy which is now prevailing within the Church should grow strong, which has dared to deny that our Lord Jesus Christ is truly the only-begotten Son of God, God from God, like to the Father: so that you might have knowledge of what blasphemies concerning the only-begotten God are both held by these men and proclaimed. For we have also proved this very thing to the most pious emperor Constantius, and he, moved, most religiously wished all these things to be anathematized. But a trick is now being prepared, so that Aetius himself, the author of this heresy, rather than these impious words, may be condemned; and the sentence may appear to have been passed against the man rather than against the doctrine.

We therefore warn you, Brethren, to reconsider these things diligently; and to take care that the catholic faith may remain. For the rest, your Charity does not doubt that all things, as they are being done, must be reported to the Western churches. We wish you, Brethren, to fare well in the Lord.

2. The Ariminum Legates Accused of Perfidy

He who receives these letters is ill spoken of among his own. The legates of Ariminum are guilty of perfidy.—When these letters therefore were received, to which the blasphemies mentioned above were also appended, a calumny is directed against him who received them: and so great a fury came upon that hypocrite at the detection of his fraud, that they were compelled to write of the danger of deposition.

What a pain of convicted conscience it is, that anyone should be deterred from the acknowledgment of truth! If this book of Valens and Ursacius is not of your faith, why do you not acquiesce in its condemnation? Is it not by the universal consent of mankind agreed among all that poison is an evil thing, and that the slaying of an innocent person is a crime, and that impiety toward one's lord is a horror? But whoever does not condemn these things when brought before him must of necessity profess himself a partner in their pursuit: because there is no one who does not both refute what he hates, and approve what he does not refute. For after the synod of Seleucia, when you came to Constantinople, what is it that you immediately join yourselves to the condemned heretics? You do not defer for any time the moment of approaching them, nor do you allow yourselves any delay for inquiry from the counsel of prudent reason.

Then the Eastern legates of the synod approach you, not communicating with the bishops, they inform you of all the acts, they also demonstrate that the heresy has been condemned: ought you not at least even now to have stood apart, and to have reserved the tenor of all the disputations for judgment? But by some consciousness of your own will you did not receive the judgment of right. For you immediately attach yourselves to your own party, and enter into the communion of your blasphemies: nor do you take even this counsel, lest, if shame had deceived some, the synod of Ariminum might be esteemed. For you immediately betrayed your deceit in not anathematizing your own people.

3. Exposing the Evasions on Creature and Likeness

Those who have betrayed the faith. Those who are unwilling that the Son be like other created things. Those who wish him to be from God. Those who call him eternal; why like according to the Scriptures.—For in the assembly of many who were accusing you, when asked why you did not also call the Son of God a creature; you answered that at holy Ariminum Christ was not denied to be a creature, but was denied to be dissimilar to other creatures: because in the statement that he was not created like other created things, it was not that creation is absent, but that he is excepted from the rest—so that, although he may not be dissimilar to the rest, yet he himself is not something other. As if indeed any creature were similar to others, as an angel to a man, a man to a bird, a bird to a beast. If I lie in this, those who heard are witnesses.

But if they too shall be silent, your most impious book, which was defended by you, speaks with me—in which, as glass is to a hyacinth, so the Son is alien to the Father, and Christ to God. Then, in the matter by which you deceived your hearers, that he should be not from nothing but from God—was the pretense not made plain even by this, that you said it? Since, according to your profession, the reason he is not from nothing but from God is that the will of that same one was the beginning for what subsists. Do I lie?—if you did not, in assemblies, by the agreement of your document, condemn among the Orientals those who said that what was born had its being not from the substance but from the will. You also profess that he is eternal with the Father.

You would indeed have spoken truly, had it not been objected to me why you had proclaimed that the true only-begotten God was born before eternal ages from the true Father God—so that his eternity with the Father is not that of angels and human souls who came before, but of those who are to come.

You also said he is like according to the Scriptures—as if God and man were not like according to the Scriptures, and the kingdom of heaven a grain of mustard seed and leaven and a net. But it is idle to run through the lies of your hypocrisy: for the works of your impiety cry out against you.

4. Their Betrayal Illustrated by Vivid Comparisons

What their crime is.—A slave—I will not say a good one, but at least a tolerable one—hears an insult against his master unwillingly, and if he is able, avenges it; a soldier of his king repels danger even by the interposing of his own body and the contempt of his life; dogs themselves, kept to guard the house, barking with a certain natural instinct, and when some breath of those approaching has touched them, are roused to full leaping at that very suspicion. You have heard that Christ is the true Son of God and the only-begotten God: you are reckoned to deny it, and you are at rest. Why do I say at rest? You resist those who protest, and you join those who clamor against them. That is too little. Arms are even taken from your library for the proclamation of impiety, and war against God is entered upon with your resources. Where then is your profession at Nicaea of Thrace, by which you said that all heresies had been condemned?

And your falsehood has been dragged into the light: the Sun of justice has betrayed to his preachers the night of your profession. For you approve these things, and condemn them, and pass over to the heretics. Thus what you previously concealed as a fraud upon men, you have now openly professed as the very hatred against God and Christ which you had been harboring.

To all the most beloved and most blessed fellow-priests, the bishops of the East, dwelling in Christ throughout the various provinces, the Gallic bishops send greeting.

1. Learning of the Fraud Dividing East and West

The deceit of the heretics.—With every sense of our life and faith we give thanks to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, that he has placed us in the light of the knowledge of his confession, by prophetic and apostolic teachings; lest, held fast in the darkness of worldly ignorance, we should be held by the judgment of the world: since the one most full hope unto salvation is to confess God the Father almighty through his only-begotten Son the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. But plainly no lesser cause of our daily rejoicing is heaped up, in that, freeing us from the error of the world, he now also does not suffer us to be mingled in the inexpiable fellowship of heretics.

For from your letters, which you directed to our beloved brother and fellow-priest Hilarius, we have learned of the fraud of the devil and the minds of the heretics conspiring against the Church of the Lord, so that, divided in the parts of East and West, we might be deceived by mutually differing opinions. For the greater number of those who were present either at Ariminum or at Nicaea of Thrace were compelled to silence concerning ousia under the authority of your name—a word which was once devised by you against the heresy of the Ariomaniacs, and has always been received by us in a holy and faithful manner.

2. Explaining the Synod's Acceptance of Homoousios

In what sense the synod embraces homousion. It does not reject homousion.—For we have embraced the word homousion for the true and legitimate birth of the only-begotten God from God the Father, detesting, in accordance with the blasphemies of Sabellius, that very union, and understanding the Son to be not some part of the Father; but from the whole and perfect unbegotten God, the whole and perfect only-begotten God is born, confessed by us therefore to be of one ousia or substance with God the Father, lest he should seem rather to be a creature, or an adoption, or a mere name.

And because he is from him, as a son from a father, as God from God, as power from power, as spirit from spirit, as light from light; we also hear not unwillingly of his likeness to God the Father (since he is the image of the invisible God), but we understand that likeness to the Father alone to be worthy which belongs to true God with respect to true God: so that not a union of divinity is understood, but a unity; because union is singular, whereas unity, according to the truth of birth, is the fullness of the one born: especially since the Lord Jesus Christ himself declared to his disciples, saying: I and the Father are one; by which he signifies not only the love which is toward the Father, but also the divinity which is God from God; according to that: He who has seen me has seen the Father also; and, If you will not believe me, believe at least my works, because the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

3. The Son's Eternity and the Form of a Servant

The Son before time. Less than the Father in the form of a servant.—Holding therefore this faith always, and we shall hold it, detesting also those who say, He was not before he was born: not that we proclaim the only-begotten God as unbegotten, but because it is most impious to set any time before God of times; since that very phrase, before he was born he was not, belongs to time. But we do not deny that the Son is also obedient to the Father even unto the death of the cross, according to the weakness of the man he assumed: since he himself, speaking of his ascent to the heavens, said: If you loved me, you would rejoice because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. Through the reception of this flesh he deigned to call us his brothers, since, remaining in the form of God, he willed to be in the form of a servant.

4. The Gallic Bishops Retract and Condemn the Authors of Error

The lapsed retract what they have done. They condemn the authors of the error. Therefore, most dear ones, since from your letters our simplicity recognizes that it has suffered fraud in the silence concerning ousia; and since our brother Hilarius, a faithful preacher of the Lord's name, has reported that those who returned from Ariminum to Constantinople, when assembled, as the content of your letter attests, could not be compelled to the condemnation of such great blasphemies: we too withdraw from all those things which were wrongly done through ignorance.

We hold Auxentius and Ursacius and Valens, Gaius, Megasius, and Justinus excommunicated according to your letters; and certainly, as we have said, in accordance with the profession of our brother Hilarius, who declared that he would not have peace with those who followed the errors of these men; we also condemn all the blasphemies which you appended to your letters, and especially rejecting those apostate priests who have been substituted in the places of brothers most unworthily in exile, through the ignorance or impiety of certain persons: promising this before God and also confessing it, that whoever within the Gauls shall think fit to resist what we have decreed, shall be removed from communion and from the seat of the priesthood. For neither, as on other occasions, either permitting an occasion of preaching by not condemning, or striving otherwise than we think concerning the meaning of homousion against God and the majesty of Christ the only-begotten God, will he be worthy to be proclaimed in the holiness of the name of the priesthood.

To be proclaimed: from which let Your Charity know also that Saturninus, who most impiously contradicts the salutary decrees, has been excommunicated by all the Gallic bishops according to the two letters already sent by our brothers—whom both his old crimes long concealed (though for a long time now) and the irreligiosity of new rashness published in his letters have made unworthy of the name of bishop. "Here ends the Catholic faith set forth at the city of Paris by the Gallic bishops to the Eastern bishops."

To the most holy lord and brother Gregory the bishop, Eusebius sends greeting in the Lord.

5. Eusebius Commends Gregory of Spain's Steadfastness

I have received the letter of your sincerity, from which I have learned that you, as befits a bishop and priest of God, resisted the transgressor Osius, and that when many fell at Ariminum into communion with Valens and Ursacius and the rest—whom they themselves, once the crime of blasphemy was recognized, had previously condemned—you denied your assent, keeping, of course, the faith which the Nicene fathers wrote. We congratulate you in this, we congratulate ourselves also, because one of such purpose and strong in this faith has deigned to be mindful of us. But to you who persevere in the same confession and retain no fellowship with hypocrites, promise our communion. With whatever treatises you are able, with whatever labor you prevail, rebuke the transgressors, reprove the faithless, fearing nothing from the secular kingdom, as you have done: because greater is he who is in us than he who is in this world.

But we your fellow-priests, laboring in a third exile, say this which we have thought fit to make known: that all the hope of the Ariomaniacs rests not in their own consent, but in the protection of the secular kingdom—not knowing the scriptures, that cursed are those who place their hope in man. But our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. We desire to persevere in sufferings, so that, according to what has been said, we may be glorified in the kingdom. Deign to write to us what progress you have made in correcting the wicked, or how many brothers you have found standing firm, or have yourself corrected by admonition. All who are with me greet you, especially the Deacon; and they likewise ask that you deign to greet with our respects all who faithfully cleave to your side. Here ends the letter of Eusebius to Gregory, bishop of Spain.

1. Liberius Argues for Pardoning the Lapsed

Some are unwilling to pardon those who lapsed at Ariminum. Liberius thinks otherwise.—Repentance blots out the fault of ignorance. This is to be observed from the holy Scriptures. We read that piety is profitable for all things, to which bodily exercise yields, though it too retains the fruits of its usefulness—piety which the reason of the present time also demands that we pursue. For if some who perhaps harbor this zeal should impudently think fit, with a harsher censure, to destroy what has been provided by reason and to innovate upon what is already fortified by apostolic authority concerning piety—since it has been said that those who acted in ignorance at Ariminum, for whom not to know what it was unlawful to be ignorant of was to fall into error, are not to be spared—truth is not therefore to be abandoned.

But to me, to whom it is fitting to weigh all things moderately, especially since both all the Egyptians and the Achaeans who were accused received the verdict of many, those of whom we have treated above are indeed to be spared, but the authors are to be condemned, who with crooked and malicious subtlety and darkness offended the senses of the innocent, through which they drew a veil over the truth, selling darkness as light and light as darkness.

2. The Terms of Pardon for the Repentant

In what manner he pardons. Therefore if anyone, caught in ignorance and repenting, through the very brief advocacy of our word has experienced that pestilential and deceitful and dark poison of the Arian dogma which had been in him, let him, restored, drain it out; let him condemn it, and rage more vehemently against its authors, whom he has experienced as violent against himself, and let him commit himself wholly afresh to the apostolic and catholic faith up to the council of the Nicene synod. Through which profession, even if it seems light and lenient to some, let him recover what he had lost through cunning rectitude. But if anyone of so hardened a mind—which I do not believe—shall be found, who not only is unwilling to be converted by receiving the antidote of health, but shall think fit to vindicate for himself the noxious poison and venom: he will both be overcome by reason, and, utterly reckoned to the author of perfidy, will be punished by the spiritual vigor of the Catholic Church.

To the most beloved brothers throughout Illyricum who retain the paternal faith, the bishops of Italy send eternal greeting in the Lord.

3. Italy Rescinds Ariminum and Returns to Nicaea

The Italians at Ariminum, with the decrees rescinded, return to the Nicene faith.—By the grace of the divine gift, that according to the Apostle we all began to think one thing, all to confess one thing. And as far as Italy is concerned, since it has returned to the paternal faith, that is, to the faith written at Nicaea, recognizing the fraud it suffered at Ariminum: we also rejoice that God has looked upon Illyricum with a merciful nod; and we give thanks that, having cast off the fellowship of unfaithfulness by which it was burdened, it has begun to approve those things which belong to right judgment. Receive therefore, most beloved Brethren, our one and the same firm judgment by subscription. We preserve the decrees of the Nicene council against Arius and Sabellius, by whose partial inheritance Photinus is condemned.

The statutes of the council of Ariminum, corrupted by the evasion of certain persons, we rightfully rescind by the consent of all the provinces; copies of which we have also decided must be transmitted, so that there might appear to be no dissension either in retaining the faith or in refuting the council of Ariminum. Whoever therefore desires to have fellowship in our unanimity, whoever desires to have undivided peace with us, let him hasten to approve what belongs to our judgment, and send to us without ambiguity both subscription to the faith we have mentioned and rescission of the council of Ariminum. We ask indeed what we ourselves offer by the consent of very many of these provinces. Moreover, it is manifest that the authors of the Arian or Aetian heresy, Valens and Ursacius, and the rest of their associates, were condemned not now when they began to be made manifest in Illyricum, but long ago (that is, they were condemned there). Explicit.

I Germinius, bishop, believe and profess that there is one true God the Father, eternal, almighty: and Christ his only Son and our Lord God, true Son of God from God the true Father, begotten before all things, like to the Father in all things in divinity, charity, majesty, power, glory, life, wisdom, and knowledge, as one perfect begotten of perfect: we also receive the assumption of man from the Virgin Mary, as the prophets foretold it would come to pass, and as the voices of the Gospel and the Apostles teach it to have been fulfilled. His sufferings also and death and resurrection and ascension into heaven we receive, believe, and profess: and that at the end of the world he is to descend from heaven to judge the living and the dead, and to render to each one according to his works. And in the Holy Spirit, that is the Paraclete, who has been given to us by God the Father through the Son. Explicit.

To the lord most religious brother Germinius, Valens, Ursacius, Gaius, and Paulus send greeting.

1. Germinius Questioned on the Homoousion

Germinius is accused of defending the homousion.—When solicitude presses upon one concerning hope and salvation, those who are solicitous ought rather to be praised than to suffer any reproach. But salvation and hope consist principally in the catholic faith. And therefore, although by a meeting convened by our lords the brothers and fellow-bishops Valens and Paulus, he was unwilling, when admonished, to respond to what rumor broadcasts about you, most religious lord: yet because you have testified in your letters that you persevere in the same charity, and that you are prepared to show inviolate affection toward us; for this reason, assembled together at Singidunum, we again make known to your holiness by these letters, that, with every occasion of ambiguity excluded, you deign to write back to us again.

Whether you have not departed from the catholic faith, which was set forth and confirmed at Ariminum by the holy council, to which also all the bishops of the East consented, as you have already professed you would not depart, is what is more openly asked that you signify. Now this is, as it is provided therein: We say the Son is like to the Father according to the Scriptures, not according to substance, or in all things, but absolutely. For if this exposition shall have been altered, the perfidious assertion of a certain Basil of old, on account of which the synod was held, by which it was also deservedly condemned, will be restored.

2. A Demand for Germinius to Retract

A retraction of that is demanded.—Deign therefore to declare clearly in your letters what is asked: that you have not said, do not say, and will not say, that the Son is like to the Father in all things except ingenerateness: lest what the bearers of the letters, Jovianus the deacon and Martyrius the subdeacon, were asserting by word of their entreaty before the aforementioned lords my brothers and fellow-bishops Valens and Paulus, they had done more harm by credulity.

So that it might appear credible that you profess the Son to be like to the Father in all things. For if you shall have made manifest by your writings that you think as we have hoped; the complaint made on account of an injury by certain of your clergy, Palladius and Gaius our brothers and fellow-bishops, though you were unwilling, as you were admonished at the first meeting, to inquire into it, pertains to your judgment, those men of course rendering account for their rashness. These things we have transmitted through Secundianus the presbyter, Pullentius the reader, and Candidianus the exorcist, to your Charity, on the fifteenth day before the kalends of January, in the consulship of the most noble Gratianus P. And Dagalaifus, retaining a copy with ourselves.

To the lords most religious brothers Rufianus, Palladius, Severinus, Nichaeus, Heliodorus, Romulus, Mucianus, and Stercorius, Germinius sends greeting in the Lord.

1. Scriptural Proofs That the Son Is Like the Father

That the Son is like to the Father in all things is taught both by tradition and by the Scriptures.—By the report of Vitalis serving in the office of the sublime Prefecture, we have learned that your Holiness desires that it be signified to you openly what it is that displeases Valens, Ursacius, Gaius, and Paulus concerning our faith. I have judged it necessary to make known to your Holiness by these letters, and to say that which I am confident has been in you yourselves from the beginning.

We hold what we have received handed down from the fathers, and what we have once learned from the divine Scriptures, and what we teach daily: that Christ the Son of God our Lord is like to the Father in all things except ingenerateness, God from God, light from light, power from power, whole from whole, perfect from perfect, begotten before the ages and before all things that can be understood or spoken, whose birth no one knows but the Father alone, the Son himself asserting: Because no one knows the Son but the Father, nor does anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son shall will to reveal him: through whom all things were made, without whom nothing was made, according to the divine words of our Saviour the Son himself saying: My Father works until now, and I work; and again, For whatsoever things the Father does, these also the Son does likewise; and again, I and the Father are one; and again, He who has seen me has seen the Father also; and again, As the Father has life in himself, so also he has given to the Son to have life in himself; and again, As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will; and again, You believe in God, believe also in me; and again, For neither does the Father judge anyone, but all judgment he has given to the Son, that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father; and again, to whom the Father said, Let us make man to our image and likeness, and he did not say, to your image, or, to my image, lest he should show any unlikeness in the divinity of his Son: but for this reason he joined together, to our image and likeness, that he might manifest his Son as God like to himself in all things.

Again the Evangelist, We have seen his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. And the Apostle to the Corinthians, In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not shine upon them. And again the same Apostle: And has translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his charity, in whom we have redemption and remission of sins, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. And again the same Apostle: For let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men.

Who does not understand that, just as according to the form of a servant our true flesh was in Christ, so also in the form of God the true divinity of the Father is in the Son? And again: Beware lest any man cheat you by philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ; because in him dwells all the fullness of divinity bodily. If therefore all the fullness of divinity dwells in Christ, then he is no longer partly like and partly unlike, as those now assert who, going backward on account of the contention of their own desire, have turned themselves away from us.

2. Explaining Scriptural Titles Used Against Them

How what is brought forward in opposition is to be explained.—For as to what they think they bring forward as something great from the divine Scriptures, so as to say that Christ is a creature and a creation: on the contrary we according to the Scriptures call him the way, and the door, and the stone of stumbling, and the rock of scandal, and the foundation, and the arm, and the hand, and wisdom, and the word, and the lamb, and the sheep, and the shepherd, and the priest, and the vine, and the day, and others. But all these things we understand and say in such a way that we understand them as the powers and operations of the Son of God, not so as to compare his divine birth from the Father with names of this kind; because all things were made through the Son from nothing, but the Son was not begotten from nothing, but from God the Father.

3. Valens' Inconsistency and the Creed of Mark of Arethusa

The inconstancy of Valens, and the occasion of the faith published by Mark of Arethusa.—I marvel that the aforesaid Valens has either forgotten, or certainly dissembles craftily, what was done and defined in the past. For under the Emperor Constantius of blessed memory, when dissension concerning the faith had begun to arise among certain persons, in the sight of that same emperor, with George bishop of the Church of the Alexandrians present, Pancratius of the Pelusians, Basil then bishop of Ancyra, with Valens and Ursacius also present, and my humble self, after a disputation on the faith held until nightfall and brought to a definite rule, Mark was chosen by all of us to dictate the faith, in which faith it was written thus: The Son like to the Father in all things, as the holy Scriptures say and teach: to the full profession of which we all consented and subscribed with our own hand. But if now the spirit of this world suggests something, we cannot yet know openly.

For as we have professed from the Scriptures that the Son is like to the Father in all things except ingenerateness; let them also set forth from the Scriptures in what respect he is partly like and partly unlike.

4. Closing the Letter Amid Illness

And therefore, most beloved Brethren, this profession has been sent intrepidly and without delay to the conscience of your charity, through Cyriacus the official, whose opportunity was the first found after Carinius the deacon whom I sent to you: so that through your most watchful devotion it may be made known before God to the universal brotherhood, lest anyone in ignorance be entangled in the snares of the deceitful devil. It is now for your unanimity to write back to me what the Holy Spirit suggests to you. I do indeed inform your Charity that I was unable to subscribe to this letter because my hand was in pain: but I gave orders that it should be subscribed by our brothers and fellow-presbyters Innocentius, Octavius, and Catulus.