Profession of Faith 1

Here begins a copy of the professions made in the Council of Toledo against the sect of Priscillian, in the era 438. After the council had already been held on the Kalends of September, on the third day before the Nones of September, following the various examinations then conducted, on the eighth day before the Ides of September, the professions of the lord Symphosius and the lord Dictinius, bishops of holy memory, and of the lord Comasius of holy memory, then a presbyter, were excerpted from the full proceedings—professions which, among others, they made in the Council of Toledo concerning the condemnation of Priscillian and of his sect. After certain matters had been transacted, and amid certain proceedings at that same time, Dictinius the bishop said: Hear me, most excellent priests, correct all things, for to you correction has been given. For it is written:

To you have been given the keys of the kingdom of heaven. But I ask of you that the keys of the kingdom be opened to us, not the gate of hell. These things, if you deign to hear, I set before all your eyes. For this I reproach in myself, that I said there is one nature of God and of man. Likewise he said: I not only beg your correction, but I also accuse and condemn all my presumption regarding my own writings. Likewise he said: Thus I thought—God is my witness. If I have erred, correct me. Likewise he said: Both a little while ago I said, and now I repeat again, that whatever I composed in my earlier conception and in the beginnings of my conversion, I reject all of it with my whole heart. Likewise he said: Except for the name of God, I anathematize all things. Likewise he said:

All things that are found to be contrary to the faith, I condemn together with their author. Symphosius the bishop said: According to what was read a little while ago in some parchment or other, in which the Son was called "unbegotten," this doctrine—which asserts either two first principles or an unbegotten Son—I condemn together with the very author who wrote it. Likewise he said: I condemn the sect that has been recited, together with its author. Likewise he said: I condemn the evil sect that has been recited, together with its author. Likewise he said: Give me a little document; in these very words I condemn it. And when he had received the document, he recited from the writing: All heretical books, and especially the doctrine of Priscillian, according to what has been read today, where he is said to have written that the Son is unbegotten, I condemn together with their author.

Comasius the presbyter said: Let no one doubt that I am of one mind with my lord the bishop and that I condemn all things which he condemns, and that I set nothing before his wisdom except God alone. And therefore I would not have you doubt that I shall do anything other, or hold any other view, than what he has professed whom I follow, my bishop. Whatever he has condemned, I too condemn. In the same era as above, on the seventh day before the Ides of September, the professions of the bishops of holy memory, the lord Symphosius and the lord Dictinius, and of the lord Comasius of holy memory, then a presbyter: Comasius the presbyter said: I am not afraid to say often what I rejoice to have said once. I follow the authority of my bishop Symphosius; I follow the wisdom of the elder. I hold to what I have said.

If you so command, I will read it again from the document. Let all those follow it who wish to cling to your fellowship. And Comasius the presbyter read from the document: Since we all follow the Catholic and Nicene faith, and since the writing has been recited which the presbyter Donatus, as is read, brought forward, in which Priscillian said that the Son is unbegotten, it is established that this was spoken against the Nicene faith; and therefore I condemn Priscillian, the author of this saying, together with the perversity of that saying and the books which he wickedly composed, together with the author himself. Symphosius the bishop said: Whatever books he wickedly composed, I condemn together with their author. Dictinius the bishop said: I follow the judgment of my lord and my father and my begetter and teacher. Whatever he has spoken, I speak.

For we read it written: If anyone preaches to you any gospel other than that which was preached to you, let him be anathema. And therefore all things which Priscillian either taught wickedly or wrote wickedly, I condemn together with the author himself. On the same day as above: A copy of the definitive sentence of the bishops, transcribed from the proceedings. The bishops said: Let the writing of the sentence be read. And he read:

Although, after long deliberation as to whether—following the Council of Saragossa, in which a sentence had been pronounced against certain definite persons—it would be a difficult thing for us to hear those already condemned, with only Symphosius present on that single day (who afterward, by evading the matter, had scorned to hear the sentence in person), nevertheless, on account of the letters of Ambrose of holy memory which he had sent to us after that council—to the effect that if they condemned the things they had wrongly done and fulfilled the conditions which the prescribed letters contained, they should be restored to peace (add to this what Pope Siricius of holy memory had counseled)—it is evident that we showed great patience:

And although they had previously evaded the council appointed in the city of Toledo, to which we had summoned them, that we might hear why they did not fulfill the conditions which they had set for themselves in the presence and hearing of holy Ambrose, it became clear that Symphosius had answered that he had withdrawn from the recitation of those whom they called martyrs; and thereafter we found that, having been deceived and held captive by very many, he had acted otherwise in some respects, though he was not entangled in any apocryphal books or new doctrines which Priscillian had composed; and that Dictinius had nearly fallen through certain letters, all of which, condemning them by his own profession and seeking correction, he had asked pardon for. It is established that he, like Symphosius, had condemned together with the author himself whatever Priscillian had written contrary to the Catholic faith.

For the rest, Symphosius was to prove that it had been extorted from him by the multitude of the people that he should ordain Dictinius a bishop—Dictinius, whom holy Ambrose had decreed, for the good of peace, should hold the rank of presbyter and not receive any increase of honor. They were also to confess that they had ordained others throughout the various churches that lacked priests, having this confidence: that the great multitude of the peoples of nearly all of Galicia was of their mind. Among these, Paternus, ordained bishop of the church of Braga, was the first to burst out into this voice of confession: that he had known the sect of Priscillian, but having been made a bishop, had been freed from it by the reading of the books of holy Ambrose, as he swore.

Likewise Isonius answered that, having recently been baptized by Symphosius and made a bishop, he held to what Symphosius had professed in the present council. But Vegetinus, made a bishop long before the Council of Saragossa, had likewise condemned the books of Priscillian together with their author; as the proceedings testify concerning the rest, about whom the bishops who are consulted will give judgment. Herenias preferred to follow his own clerics, who of their own accord and unquestioned had proclaimed Priscillian a Catholic and a holy martyr, and he himself had said to the very end that this man was a Catholic who had suffered persecution from the bishops. By which saying he, by his own judgment, brought into the charge of guilt all the many saints already at rest and some still enduring in this light of life.

This man, together with all these—both his own clerics and various bishops, namely Donatus, Acurius, and Aemilius, who, departing from their own professions, had preferred to follow the fellowship of the lost—we decree is to be removed from the priesthood; for it had been established that he was even convicted, on the basis of the rest of his words, by three bishops, and likewise by many presbyters and deacons, of having lied with perjury. But Vegetinus, against whom no sentence had previously been particularly pronounced, having given a profession which the synod accepted, we determine is to be restored to our communion.

Paternus, namely, on account of the truth of the Catholic faith and his having made public the error of the heresy, we have gladly embraced, and have permitted him to hold the church in which he had been established bishop, intending to receive him also into our communion when the Apostolic See shall have written back. As for the rest who did not come from the province of Galicia to the council, and who have always continued in the communion of Symphosius, if they shall have subscribed to the form sent from the council, let them too in the meantime remain in the contemplation of heavenly peace, awaiting by a like example what the present Pope, and what holy Simplicianus, bishop of Milan, and the rest of the priests of the churches, may write back. But if they shall not have given their subscription to the form which we have sent, let them not retain the churches which they hold;

Nor let them have communion with those who, having returned from the synod with their professions given, went back to their own churches. Indeed, we have decreed that Vegetinus alone may have communion with Paternus. But Symphosius, the religious old man, whose deeds we have written above, let him remain in his own church, becoming more circumspect concerning those whom we shall restore to him: from that source he will await communion from which he had earlier received the hope of future peace. We have decreed that the same is to be observed by Dictinius and Anterius. Moreover, we have determined that, before communion is restored to them through the Pope or through holy Simplicianus, they are to ordain no bishops, no presbyters, no deacons;

So that we may know whether, even now—released under this condition—they at length know how to render reverence to the synodical sentence. But let our brothers and fellow bishops remember that they must keep earnest watch, lest anyone who has been removed from communion hold assemblies in the houses of women, and read the apocrypha which have been condemned, lest those communicating with such persons be bound by a like association. For whoever shall have received these persons, it is certain that they too are to be held subject to an even graver sentence. To our brother Ortygius, however, we have pronounced that the churches from which he had been driven out are to be restored.