Letters, Sayings, and Acts of Pope Liberius

Because I ought to pass over nothing without your knowledge: many bishops from Italy have assembled, who had joined with me in entreating the most devout emperor Constantius that he should order, as he himself had long since been pleased to do, a council to be gathered at Aquileia. I inform your holiness that Vincent of Capua, together with Marcellus, likewise a bishop from Campania, undertook our legation. Concerning him, since I had hoped much, 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 obtained not only nothing, but was himself led into that dissimulation. After his deed, consumed by a twofold grief, I resolved that I must rather die for God, lest I should seem the last of informers, or to have given my assent to sentences contrary to the Gospel.

I do not wish the deed of Vincent to call you back, dearest brother, from the intention of good work.

Bishop Liberius to his most beloved brother Eusebius. I. Your unconquered faith, dearest brother, raises me to consolation in this present life, by which, following the precepts of the Gospels, you have in no way departed from fellowship with the apostolic see: which I believe you have fulfilled not without the impulse of God, who keeps those worthy of himself in the priesthood, with goodwill.

When therefore, after the legation, Vincent was led into that dissimulation, and the remaining bishops throughout Italy had been compelled by public assembly to obey the sentences of the Orientals; by God's providence, our brother and fellow bishop Lucifer arrived from Sardinia, who, having come to know the hidden recesses of the inner cause, and having arrived at the understanding that the heretics wished to attempt these things under the pretext of the name of Athanasius; out of devotion to his faith he was willing to undertake a just labour, and to go to the court of the devout prince: that at last, with the full account of the whole cause set forth, he might obtain that all things which have come into the open might be treated in an assembly of the priests of God.

II. And so, because I know that the holy warmth of your faith accords with his spirit, I ask your prudence, that if by God's providence he should have you present, you strive through whomsoever you can to watch carefully, so that you may be able to make known to the most clement emperor all things which the catholic faith requires: that at last, with the indignation of his spirit laid aside, he may do what is both conducive to our peace and may be able to accord with his salvation in all things. Moreover I thought it superfluous to set forth in a letter to your honour the arrangement of the whole cause, since the aforementioned brother of mine or his companions can in person relate everything by their own account. May God keep you safe, lord and dearest brother.

To the most glorious Constantius Augustus, Bishop Liberius.

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 even by repeated satisfaction I cannot recall your mind, placable even toward the guilty, to favor toward me. For the word of your piety, sent long since to the people, greatly wounds me, who must bear all things patiently; but that your mind, which is always free for mildness, which never, as it is written, keeps anger until the going down of the sun, should retain indignation toward me is a wonder to me. 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 lies, had been diligently treated, those who ought to admire our observance toward God might not be able to bring it to an end. And it had 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 prudently attend, that your clemency should grant us this in obtaining these things.

But many hasten to tear the members of the Church, who have fabricated that I suppressed letters, lest the crimes of him whom they said had been condemned should be manifest to all. What letters are those? The letters 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: to whom we did not lend our faith and judgment, because at the same time the judgment of eighty Egyptian bishops concerning Athanasius was in opposition, which we likewise recited and made known to the Italian bishops. Wherefore it seemed contrary to divine law also, since the number of bishops on behalf of Athanasius was greater, to lend assent in any part.

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

Your prudence therefore sees that nothing entered into my mind which those serving God would have been unworthy to think.

But God is my witness, the whole Church with its members is my witness, that I have trodden and have trodden down all worldly things in faith and fear of my God, just as the evangelical and apostolic rule has commanded. Not by rash fury, but by established and observed divine law, and living in another ecclesiastical ministry, I fulfilled nothing through boastfulness, nothing through desire of glory, that pertained to the law: and to this office, God is my witness, I came unwillingly; in which I desire indeed to remain without offense to God, as long as I shall be in the world. And I never carried out 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 forth, I always desire it to be kept inviolate.

Finally, ecclesiastical solicitude and devotion itself now persuade me to disclose 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 at Milan they refused to condemn the heretical opinion of Arius, departed from the council with angry minds? Your equity and clemency will be able to estimate what it is, or what danger it holds, to lend assent to their judgments, if it is lawful. It is not new, what is now subtly attempted under the pretext of the name of Athanasius.

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

Hear another matter, since your tranquility admits it patiently. The letters of the legates (Vincentius and Marcellus), 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 wished to yield beforehand to the judgments of the Orientals, yet had proposed a condition, that if those same persons had condemned the heresy of Arius, being inclined in this manner they would obey their judgments. The agreement, as they themselves signify, is confirmed by written testimony; they go into council; they receive answers after deliberation, that they cannot condemn the doctrine of Arius; 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 cause of a man ought to be diligently and carefully treated.

Wherefore again and again we ask your gentleness and your mind devoted to God, by the power of him who has shown how great he is in your defense to all mortals, that, having before your eyes the benefits of him who governs your empire in all things, you cause these matters to be diligently treated with all consideration 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 with 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 commonwealth.

To entreat your gentleness therefore, 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.

Bishop Liberius to his most beloved brother Eusebius. With my son Callepius returning to his homeland, I thought it best to greet your holiness through this letter, dearest brother in the Lord, praying the clemency of God that you may receive my letters safe and in good cheer. Indeed, because I know that your unconquered mind faithfully does what God has commanded, I commend to you our brother and fellow-bishop Lucifer, and also my dearest sons Pancratius the presbyter and Hilarius the deacon, who for the state of the Church with manly spirit and divine virtue, at a timely moment, have set out against the enemies of the Church, whom God will destroy with the breath of his mouth.

For I know that the fervent spirit of God is in you, so that you may set out against them together with these same men: so that the faith which has been handed down from the Apostles to the catholic Church may in no way be broken into (certainly you deign to maintain this, if the public laws do not condemn the absent): so that your faith may join itself to their fellowship, and your holiness, being like-minded, may be present wherever it shall be, that in one conversation, one counsel, you may do what is pleasing to God and his angels, and is expedient for the catholic Church. For this labor may Christ our Lord repay you with a heavenly reward, an unfading crown, an inheritance of the heavenly kingdom. We greet all who faithfully serve God with you. Greet all the clergy ... May God keep you safe, dearest brother in the Lord.

I knew, dearest brother in the Lord, that you, fervent in the Spirit of God in the cause of faith, which can commend us to the Lord, would deign to show faithful consolation to our brother and fellow-bishop Lucifer, and to our fellow-presbyter Pancratius, who had set out together with my son Hilarius the deacon, and that you could not deny yourself to those whom you knew had undertaken so great a labor of the journey out of devotion to their faith. My mind therefore received great relief from the reading of your letters: indeed I now confidently trust that the cause itself can advance for the better, by God's favor, because you were unwilling to abandon our brothers. Labor therefore as a good soldier, who awaits the reward of the eternal emperor, and strive to display against those who are deprived of the light of the Church that strength of mind by which I know you have despised the enticements of this world.

Since you hold this present life in contempt, show yourself a truthful priest: so that, as you labor for the state of the Church, a council may be able to be celebrated; so that all things which those coming from the other side have subtly contrived to the prejudice of the faith may be able to be reformed for the better. Eternal rewards accompany this labor, which your distinguished faith knows better; and however much exhortation might grow cold in urging us to persist in it, the fervent Holy Spirit, who is in you, would for the sake of the unity of the holy Church spur your mind moment by moment to greater consolations. I also sent a letter to our brother and fellow-bishop Fortunatianus, whom I knew to fear neither the persons of men nor to think of future rewards, so that he too, for the sincerity of his heart and for the faith which he knows he has kept even at the risk of his present life, might deign even now to keep watch with you.

Whom indeed I know, for the holiness of his heart, without doubt both to confirm your prudence with his counsel, and, if it so please you, in no way to deny his presence to your charity. May God keep you safe, dearest brother in the Lord.

Although under the guise 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 distinguished 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 therefore, 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 glory, I can by no means find: except that I know I shall show you more worthy consolations from this, if you believe that I have been thrust into exile together with you. Finally, I who am still hanging in that very expectation, because a harsher necessity meanwhile separates me from your fellowship, am greatly saddened. For I had desired, most devoted brothers, to be spent first for all of you: so that your charity 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 ask therefore your charity, that you believe me to be present with you; and that you feel me not to be absent with that same affection; and that you understand that I grieve greatly 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: against you, devoted soldiers of God in all things, who have also experienced false brethren as enemies, you have carried off victory over treachery: the more their violence was able to grow in the world, the more it is found to confer rewards of praise upon holy priests.

Be therefore secure in the heavenly promise: and because you have been made nearer to God, lift me up, your fellow-priest, a servant of God, to the Lord in your prayers, so that we may be able to bear tolerably the assaults that come upon us, which as they are announced from day to day inflict heavier wounds: 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 has been done in that very encounter; I beseech your holiness to deign to make all things known faithfully by letter: so that either the mind itself, which is tormented by various rumors, or the strength of the body itself, which is now weakened, may be able to feel greater addition from your exhortation. May God keep you safe, brother lords.

How, I ask, could that be done against Athanasius (which you urge)? For one whom not one only, but also a second synod gathered from the whole world has lawfully declared pure and innocent, and whom the Roman synod dismissed in peace, how can we condemn him? Or who will approve of us, if we turn against in his absence one whom we loved in his presence and admitted to communion? That is not in accordance with ecclesiastical canon, nor have we ever received such a tradition from the fathers, who themselves received it from the blessed and great apostle Peter.

But if the emperor is zealous for ecclesiastical peace, if he commands that what has been written among us on behalf of Athanasius be annulled, let there likewise be annulled whatever has been done against him by those parties, let there be annulled also what has been done against all: and finally let an ecclesiastical synod be convened far from the palace, where neither the emperor appears, nor a count is admitted, nor a judge is associated; but let only the fear of God suffice together with the constitution of the apostles, so that above all the ecclesiastical faith be preserved in the manner in which it was defined by the fathers in the Nicene synod. Let the followers of Arian depravity be cast out, and let their heresy be condemned by anathema: and then at last, concerning the charges brought against Athanasius or any other person, as well as those of which the others stand accused, let judgment be rendered, the guilty be expelled, and the innocent live with confidence and security.

For it is not right that those who are impious in faith be numbered among a synod; nor is it fitting that the inquiry into any other matter be preferred over the inquiry into faith. For first every dissension concerning faith must be cut away, and then other matters examined. For our Lord Jesus Christ did not heal the sick before they showed and declared in words what faith they held toward him. These things we have learned from the fathers; report these things to the emperor: for they are conducive both to him and to the building up of the Church. Let Ursacius and Valens not be heard: for since they have done penance for the things they previously did, whatever they now say, they are by no means worthy of trust.

The emperor Constantius said: "Since you are both a Christian and a bishop of our city, we have therefore thought it right to summon you and to admonish you to cast off communion with the wicked madness of the impious Athanasius. For the whole world has judged this to be right, and has decreed by synodal sentence that he is to be excluded from ecclesiastical communion." The bishop Liberius said: "Ecclesiastical judgments, O emperor, ought to be conducted with the highest equity. Wherefore, if it please your piety, command that a judgment be established; and if indeed Athanasius shall appear worthy of condemnation, then let sentence be pronounced against him according to the form of ecclesiastical order.

For a man cannot be condemned by us whom we have not judged." The emperor Constantius said: "The whole world has passed sentence on his impiety, and he mocks time just as he did from the beginning." The bishop Liberius said: "Whoever subscribed did not themselves see the acts; but they subscribed on account of glory and fear, lest they be dishonored by you." The emperor said: "What glory, what fear, what dishonor?" Liberius replied: "Those who do not love the glory of God, preferring your gifts, condemned one whom they had not themselves seen, without any prior judgment; which is foreign to Christians."

The emperor said: "And yet he was judged in his presence at the council of Tyre, and all the bishops of the whole world condemned him in council." Liberius said: "He was never judged in his presence. For all those who were then assembled and condemned Athanasius condemned him without reason after his departure from the judgment." The eunuch Eusebius said: "At the council of Nicaea he was shown to be alien from the catholic faith." Liberius said: "Only five passed judgment from among those who sailed with Ischyras to the Mareotis: whom those parties had sent to draw up acts against the accused. Of those who were then sent, two have departed from this light, namely Theognius and Theodorus; but three remain still living, namely Maris, Valens, and Ursacius. Against these men who had been sent, sentence was pronounced at Sardica for this reason: they afterward presented petitions in synod, seeking pardon for the acts which they had carried out by calumny against Athanasius in the Mareotis with only one party present.

We now have those petitions in our hands. With which of these, O emperor, ought we to agree and communicate—with those who, having previously condemned Athanasius, afterward sought pardon; or with those who recently condemned the former at Sardica?" The bishop Epictetus of Centumcellae said: "Liberius speaks today, O emperor, not for the sake of faith, nor in defense of ecclesiastical judgments, but to boast before the Roman senators that the emperor has been overcome by him."

The emperor said to Liberius: "What part of the whole world are you, that you alone should wish to support an impious man, and dissolve the peace of the whole world and globe?" Liberius said: "Even if I am alone, the cause of faith is not thereby diminished; for even of old only three were found who resisted the king's command." The eunuch Eusebius said: "Do you make our emperor a Nebuchadnezzar?" Liberius said: "By no means; but you rashly condemn a man whom we have not judged.

I for my part demand that first a general subscription precede, which confirms the faith set forth at Nicaea; then that our brothers recalled from exile and restored to their sees, if those who now stir up tumults in the churches shall be seen to agree with the apostolic faith, then let us all assemble at Alexandria, where both the accused and the accusers are, and their advocate, and having examined their cause, let us pronounce a unanimous sentence." The bishop Epictetus said: "But the public post will by no means suffice for the conveyance of bishops." Liberius said: "Ecclesiastical affairs have no need of the public post; for the churches can easily convey their bishops to the sea at their own expense."

The emperor said: "What has already received its form cannot be dissolved any further; for the sentence of the majority of bishops must stand. You alone are the one who retains friendship with that impious man." Liberius said: "We have never heard, O emperor, of a judge charging impiety against an absent defendant, as though he were pursuing private enmities against him." The emperor said: "He has wronged all in common, yet none so much as me, who, not content with the destruction of my elder brother, never ceased to incite even Constans of blessed memory to take up enmities against us; had we not with greater clemency withstood the assault of the one inciting and the one incited. I therefore value no victory so highly—not even that which I won over Magnentius and over Silvanus—as I value the removal of this criminal from the administration of the Church." Liberius said: "Do not, O emperor, avenge your enmities through bishops. For the hands of churchmen ought to be free for sanctifying and blessing.

Command therefore, if it please you, that the bishops be recalled to their own sees, and if they shall be seen to agree with him who upholds the orthodox faith set forth at Nicaea of old, then assembling together, let them provide for the peace of the whole world; lest it be proven that a man who has done no wrong has been branded." The emperor said: "One thing is sought: for I wish, once you have embraced communion with the churches, to send you back to Rome. Assent therefore to peace, and subscribe, and so return to Rome." Liberius said: "I have already bidden farewell to the brothers who are in Rome. For ecclesiastical laws are more important than a dwelling in Rome." The emperor said: "You therefore have a space of three days to deliberate whether you wish to return to Rome by subscribing, or to consider to what place you desire to be deported." Liberius said: "An interval of three days or of months does not change my sentence; therefore send me where you will."

Two days later the emperor, having summoned Liberius, and finding that he did not depart from his position, ordered him to be banished to Beroea, a city of Thrace. And when Liberius had gone out, the emperor sent him five hundred solidi for his expenses. But Liberius said to the one who brought them: "Go, return these to the emperor; for he has need of them to provide for his soldiers." Likewise the Augusta sent him the same amount. Liberius said: "Return these to the emperor; for he has need of them for the pay of his soldiers. But if the emperor has no need of them, let him give them to Auxentius and Epictetus, for they have need of them." When therefore he had refused to accept from these, the eunuch Eusebius brought him others. To whom Liberius said: "You have made the churches of the whole world empty and desolate, and you offer me alms as though I were a criminal: go, and first become a Christian."

To the most beloved brothers, presbyters and fellow bishops in the East, greeting. I. For the sake of divine fear your holy faith is known to God and to men of good will. As the law says: Judge justly, O sons of men, I do not defend Athanasius; but because Julius the bishop my predecessor of blessed memory had received him, I feared lest I be judged a transgressor by someone. But when I learned, when it pleased God, that you had justly condemned him, I straightway gave my assent to your sentences, and gave letters concerning his name 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.

For that you may know more truly that I speak these things in true faith through this letter, my lord and our common brother Demophilus, who has deigned in his benevolence to set forth your faith and the catholic faith, which was treated at Sirmium by many of our brothers and fellow bishops, set forth and received by all who were present, this I have received with a willing mind, I have contradicted it in nothing, I have given my assent; this I follow, this is held by me. I have indeed thought it right to petition your holiness, since you now see clearly that I am in agreement with you in all things, that you deign to labor with common counsel and zeal, to the end that I may now be released from exile and return to the see which has been divinely entrusted to me.

Liberius from exile to Ursacius, Valens, and Germinius. 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 to be preferred even to martyrdom, I address you for the present in this matter, most dear lords and brothers. Let your prudence therefore know that Athanasius, who was bishop of the Alexandrian church, before he came to the court of the holy emperor in accordance with the letters of the Eastern bishops, was also separated from the communion of the Roman church, as the entire presbyterate of the Roman church bears witness.

But the reason was that I seemed to be slower in giving letters concerning his name to our brothers in the East, so that my legates, whom I had sent from the city of Rome to the court, and the bishops who had been deported, might themselves together with these, if it could be done, be recalled from exile.

II. And I wish you also to know this, that I asked brother Fortunatianus to carry my letters to the most clement emperor, which I made to the Eastern bishops, so that they themselves might know that I am separated from communion with Athanasius together with them. Which letters I believe that his piety will receive with gratitude for the good of peace. A copy of these I have also sent to Hilarius, the faithful servant of the emperor. Let your charity perceive that I have done these things with a benign and innocent mind. Wherefore by these my letters I address you and adjure you by God almighty, and by Christ Jesus his Son, our God and Lord, that you deign to go to the most clement emperor Constantius Augustus, and to petition 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 sustain no tribulation.

Moreover that I have peace with all of you bishops of the catholic Church, you ought to know by these my letters with an equitable and simple mind, most dear brothers. For you will acquire great consolation for yourselves on the day of recompense, if through you peace shall be restored to the Roman church. I wish also to make known through you to our brothers and fellow bishops Epictetus and Auxentius, that I have peace and ecclesiastical communion with them, who I believe will receive these things with gratitude. But whoever shall dissent from our peace and concord, which by God's will has been established throughout the whole world, let him know that he is separated from our communion.

I do not teach, but admonish your holy mind, dearest 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. II. I thought it right to inform your Holiness that I have withdrawn from that dispute concerning the name of Athanasius, and have sent letters to our brothers and fellow-bishops in the East on the subject of his name.

Wherefore, since by God's will peace is everywhere among you, deign to convene all the bishops of Campania, and to make these things known to them, and from their number together with your letter, to write to the most clement emperor concerning our unanimity and peace, 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 across the page): We have peace with all the Eastern bishops, and with you. I have acquitted myself before God; you shall see: if you wish me to perish in exile, God will be judge between me and you.

I. One who repents blots out the fault of ignorance. This also is to be observed from the holy Scriptures. We read that godliness is profitable for all things; to which bodily exercise yields, although it too retains the fruit of its usefulness, which the very condition of the present time demands that we pursue. For if some perhaps, who carry on this study, have imprudently thought fit to destroy with a harsher censure what was provided by reason, and to innovate upon what is already fortified by apostolic authority concerning godliness—since it was said that those who acted in ignorance at Ariminum should not be spared—for whom not to know what was unlawful was to fall into error, therefore the truth must be retraced.

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

II. Therefore if anyone, taken captive through ignorance and now repenting, through the brief advocacy of our address has experienced that pestilential, crafty, and dark poison of the Arian dogma within himself, let him, restored, drain it out, condemn it, and rage more vehemently against its authors whom he has experienced as violent against himself, and let him commit himself wholly and afresh to the apostolic and catholic faith even to the standard of the Nicene synod. Through which profession, even if it seems to some a light and lenient thing, let him recover what he had lost through cunning from uprightness. But if anyone of so foolish a mind—which I scarcely believe—shall be found, who not only refuses to be converted by receiving the antidote of health, but thinks to vindicate for himself the noxious poison and venom; he shall both be overcome by reason, and, utterly consigned to the author of perfidy, shall be punished by the spiritual vigor of the catholic Church. Received them.

"And he at first refused to admit them, saying that they were of the Arian party and could not be received by the Church, inasmuch as they had abrogated the Nicene faith. But they replied that they had long since repented and acknowledged the truth; and that they had already long ago abjured the doctrine of the Anomoeans; and that they had confessed the Son to be in all things like the Father, and that 'like' does not differ from 'consubstantial.'" Then Liberius required from them a written declaration of their profession of faith. And when they had presented a libellus, in which they professed in their own name and in the name of those whose legation they were conducting that they condemned the perverse doctrine of Arius and of other heretics as well as the acts of the synod of Ariminum, and received the faith of the Nicene council with the word consubstantial inserted in their libellus, communion was granted by Liberius.

First, on account of the mad suspicions of heretics, who do not cease to bring occasions of offense upon the catholic churches, we, desiring to remove from them every opportunity, profess and declare that the synod of orthodox bishops, which was celebrated at Lampsacus, Smyrna, and various other places, on whose legation we are serving, bringing letters both to your benevolence and to all the bishops of Italy and the West, holds and keeps the catholic faith which was confirmed in the holy synod of Nicaea in the time of the blessed Constantine by three hundred and eighteen bishops, and has remained whole and unshaken in perpetuity until now, in which the word consubstantial was holily and piously set down against the perversity of Arius.

Likewise we also profess with our own hand that we have held and do hold the same faith together with the aforesaid, and will keep it to our last breath: condemning Arius and his impious doctrine together with his disciples; as well as every heresy of the Patripassians, of Marcion, Photinus, Marcellus, and Paul of Samosata, their doctrine, and all who hold the same views as they, and finally all heresies opposed to the aforesaid holy faith which was piously and catholically set forth by the holy Fathers at Nicaea: pronouncing anathema first upon Arius, and upon all that was done at the synod of Ariminum against the aforesaid faith of the holy council of Nicaea: to which acts, brought from the Thracian town of Nice to Constantinople, we subscribed, having been circumvented by deceit and perjury. Now the faith of us and of the aforesaid, on whose legation we serve, is this. II. We believe in one God the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible.

And in one only-begotten God the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, light of light, true God of true God; begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things were made, both those in heaven and those on earth; who for us men and for our salvation descended and was incarnate and was made man; he also suffered and rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, and is coming 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 begotten he was not, and that he was made from things that did not exist; or who say that the Son of God is of another substance or essence, or mutable and subject to change, the catholic and apostolic Church of God anathematizes.

III. I Eustathius, bishop of the city of Sebaste, and Theophilus and Silvanus, legates of the synod of Lampsacus and Smyrna and of the others, have written this profession with our own hands and of our own free will. But if anyone after this exposition of our faith shall wish to bring any accusation against us or against those by whom we were sent, let him come with the letters of your Holiness before orthodox bishops whom your Holiness shall approve, and let him contend with us in judgment before them, and if any crime shall be proved, let punishment be visited upon its author.

To the beloved brothers and fellow-ministers Evethius, Cyrillus, Hyperechius, Uranius, Heron, Elpidius, Maximus, Eusebius, Eucarpus, Heortasius, Neon, Eumathius, Faustinus, Proclinus, Pasinicus, Arsenius, Severus, Didymius, Britannius, Callicrates, Dalmatius, Aedesius, Eustochius, Ambrosius, Gelonius, Pardalius, Macedonius, Paulus, Marcellus, Heraclius, Alexander, Adolius, Marcianus, Sthenelus, Johannes, Macerus, Charisius, Silvanus, Photinus, Antonius, Anythus, Celsus, Euphranor, Milesius, Patricius, Severianus, Eusebius, Eumolpus, Athanasius, Diophantus, Menodorus, Diocles, Chrysampelus, Neon, Eugenius, Eustathius, Callicrates, Arsenius, Eugenius, Martyrius, Hieracius, Leontius, Philagrius, Lucius, and all the orthodox bishops of the East: Liberius bishop, and the bishops of Italy and the West, eternal salvation in the Lord.

I. Your letters, shining with the light of faith, dearest brothers, delivered to us by our most dear brothers and bishops Eustathius, Silvanus, and Theophilus, have brought us the most longed-for joy of peace and concord; and this especially because they affirmed and demonstrated at once that your mind and doctrine fully agree and accord with my humble self and with all the Italians and Westerns. Now we acknowledge this to be the catholic and apostolic faith, which remained whole and unshaken up to the Nicene council. And this faith the legates professed that they hold, and with inestimable joy, abolishing every trace and spark of absurd suspicion, they set it forth not in word only but also in writing, a copy of which we also judged it necessary to append to this letter, lest we leave any opportunity to heretics for laying snares again, by which, stirring up afresh the incentives of their malice, they may kindle fires of discord after their custom.

II. Moreover our dearest brothers Eustathius, Silvanus, and Theophilus also professed this: that both they themselves and your charity have always held, and will keep to their last breath, that faith which was approved at Nicaea by three hundred and eighteen orthodox bishops: which both contains the perfect truth and confutes and overthrows all the hosts of heretics. For it was not by chance but by divine guidance that so great a number of bishops was assembled against the madness of Arius, a number by which the blessed Abraham routed so many thousands through faith. This faith, comprised in the substance and in the word consubstantial, as a firm and impregnable fortification, represses and repels all the assaults and wicked machinations of Arian madness.

Third, wherefore, when all the bishops of the Western regions had assembled at Ariminum, whither the wickedness of the Arians had convoked them with this design, that either by some persuasion, or—which is more truly the case—compelled by the authority of secular power, they might remove or obliquely deny what had been most carefully established in the faith, their cunning availed nothing. For nearly all of those who had been gathered at Ariminum and had then been deceived partly by enticements and partly by fraud, now returning to a sound mind, have condemned with anathema the formula issued by the council of Ariminum, and have subscribed to the catholic faith promulgated at Nicaea, and entering into communion with us, are moved with greater indignation against Arius and his disciples.

When the legates of your charity themselves saw proof of this, they joined you in their subscription, pronouncing anathema upon Arius, as well as upon those things which were done at Ariminum against the faith confirmed at Nicaea; to which acts you also subscribed, having been led into fraud by perjuries.

IV. Wherefore it seemed fitting to us to write a letter to your charity, and to assist those making just requests: especially since from the profession of your legates we have learned that the Easterns, returned to a sound mind, agree with the orthodox Westerns. We inform you, moreover, lest you be unaware, that the blasphemies of the council of Ariminum have now been struck with anathema by those who at that time appeared to have been deceived by fraud, and that all with united minds have agreed upon the Nicene faith. But you also ought to make this known to all, so that those who through force and fraud have suffered some detriment to their faith may at last be able to emerge from the heretical darkness into the divine light of catholic freedom.

For if after this council they shall be unwilling to vomit forth the poison of perverse doctrine, and to reject and condemn with anathema all the blasphemies of Arius, let them know that they are equally strangers and aliens from the communion of the Church together with Arius and his disciples, and the rest of the serpents, whether Sabellians or Patripassians or any other heretics whatsoever, for she does not admit adulterous sons. May God keep you safe, dearest brothers.