Likewise also those who say that there are three gods; or [those who deny that the Spirit was sent] to teach them and warn them of all things, through whom too the souls of the devout who believe in him are sanctified and live. But those who say that the Son is from nothing, or that the Spirit is from another substance and not from God, and that 'there was once a time' or 'an age' 'when he was not'—the holy and catholic Church knows as a stranger. Likewise also those who say that there are three gods, or...
Likewise also those who say that there are three [gods]... [the Spirit whom Christ, after] his ascent into the heavens, sent to teach them and to call all things to their remembrance, through whom they are sanctified and through whom they sanctify the souls of the true ones who truly believe in him. But those who say that the Son of God is from things non-existent, or the Spirit from another substance and not from God, or that there was a time or an age when he was not—the holy and catholic Church knows as strangers.
...or that Christ is not God, or that before the ages Christ did not exist, nor the Son of God; or that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one and the same; or that the Son is unbegotten; or that God the Father begot the Son neither by decree nor by will—all these the holy and catholic Church anathematizes and abhors. That Christ is not God, and that before the ages neither Christ nor the Son of God existed, or that he himself is Father and Son and Holy Spirit, or that the Son is unbegettable, or that the Father begot the Son neither by counsel nor by will—the holy and catholic Church anathematizes.
...that Christ is not God, or that the Spirit is not of God; or that before the ages neither Christ nor the Son nor the Spirit of God existed; or that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the same; or that the Son is unbegotten, or the Spirit begotten; or that the Father begot the Son 'by will' or 'by choice,' or 'made' or 'created' or 'showed him forth,' but that he is 'the Word of God, knowing all things according to understanding'—all these the holy catholic Church anathematizes.
...[three] gods, or that Christ is not God, or that before the ages neither Christ nor the Son himself is of God, or that the same one is Father and Son and Holy Spirit, or that the Son is unbegotten, or that the Father begot the Son not by wish nor by will—the holy and catholic Church anathematizes. But those who say that...
...there are gods, or that Christ is not God, or that the Spirit is not of God, or that before the ages neither Christ nor the Son nor the Spirit of God existed, or that the same one is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, or that the Son is unbegotten or the Spirit begotten, or that the Father begot the Son by wish or by will, or that he made him, or that he created him, or that he appointed him beforehand, or that the Word of God came into being by an act of judgment—he who knows all things together with the Father—all these the holy catholic Church anathematizes. Subscriptions.
[I wish you well in the Lord.] (1) Stephanus, bishop of Antioch in the province of Syria Coele: I wish you well in the Lord. (2) Olympius, bishop of Doliche: I wish you well in the Lord. (3) Gerontius, bishop of Raphania: (I wish you well in the Lord). (4) Menophantus, bishop of Ephesus: I wish you well in the Lord. (5) Paulus, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (6) Eulalius, bishop of Amasia: I wish you well in the Lord. (7) Macedonius, bishop of Mopsuestia: I wish you well in the Lord. (8) Thelaphius, bishop of Chalcedon: I wish you well in the Lord. (9) Acacius, bishop of Caesarea: I wish you well in the Lord.
(10) Theodorus, bishop of Heraclea: I wish you well in the Lord. (11) Quintianus, bishop of Gaza: I wish you well in the Lord. (12) Marcus, bishop of Arethusa: I wish you well in the Lord. (13) Cyrotus, bishop of Rhosus: I wish you well in the Lord. (14) Cyrotus, bishop of Lisinia: I wish you well in the Lord. (15) Antonius, bishop of Zeugma: I wish you well in the Lord. (16) Antonius, bishop of Docimium: I wish you well in the Lord. (17) Dianius, bishop of Caesarea: I wish you well in the Lord. (18) Vitalis, bishop of Tyre: I wish you well in the Lord. (19) Eudoxius, bishop of Germanicia: I wish you well in the Lord.
(20) Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria in the province of Cilicia: I wish you well in the Lord. (21) Macedonius, bishop of Berytus: I wish you well in the Lord. (22) Eusebius, bishop of Dorylaeum: I wish you well in the Lord. (23) Basilius, bishop of Ancyra: I wish you well in the Lord. (24) Prohaeresius, bishop of Sinope: I wish you well in the Lord. (25) Eustathius, bishop of Epiphania: I wish you well in the Lord. (26) Pancratius, bishop of Parnassus: I wish you well in the Lord. (27) Eusebius, bishop of Pergamum: I wish you well in the Lord. (28) Sabinianus, bishop of Chadimena: I wish you well in the Lord.
(29) Bithynicus, bishop of Zela: I wish you well in the Lord. (30) Dominius, bishop of Polidiane: I wish you well in the Lord. (31) Pison, bishop of Trocnada: I wish you well in the Lord. (32) Cartherius, bishop of Aspona: I wish you well in the Lord. (33) Philetus, bishop of Iuliopolis: I wish you well in the Lord. (34) Squirius, bishop of Mareotis: I wish you well in the Lord. (35) Philetus, bishop of Cratia: I wish you well in the Lord. (36) Timasarcus, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (37) Eusebius, bishop of Magnesia: I wish you well in the Lord. (38) Quirius, bishop of Philadelphia: I wish you well in the Lord.
(39) Pison, bishop of Adana: I wish you well in the Lord. (40) Timotheus, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (41) Eudaemon, bishop of Thanis: I wish you well in the Lord. (42) Callinicus, bishop of Pelusium: I wish you well in the Lord. (43) Eusebius, bishop of Pergamum: I wish you well in the Lord. (44) Leucadas, bishop of Ilium: I wish you well in the Lord. (45) Niconius, bishop of Troas: I wish you well in the Lord. (46) Adamantius, bishop of Cius: I wish you well in the Lord. (47) Edesius, bishop of Cos: I wish you well in the Lord. (48) Theodulus, bishop of Neocaesarea: I wish you well in the Lord.
(49) Sion, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (50) Theogenes, bishop of Lycia: I wish you well in the Lord. (51) Florentius, bishop of Ancyra: I wish you well in the Lord. (52) Isaac, bishop of Letus: I wish you well in the Lord. (53) Eudaemon, bishop—'I have subscribed on his behalf': I wish you well in the Lord. (54) Agapius, bishop of Thenae: I wish you well in the Lord. (55) Bassus, bishop of Carpathus: I wish you well in the Lord. (56) Narcissus, bishop of Irenopolis: I wish you well in the Lord. (57) Ambracius, bishop of Miletus: I wish you well in the Lord. (58) Lucius, bishop of Antinoopolis: I wish you well in the Lord.
(59) Nonnius, bishop of Laodicea: I wish you well in the Lord. (60) Pantagatus, bishop of Attalia: I wish you well in the Lord. (61) Flaccus, bishop of Laodicea: I wish you well in the Lord. (62) Sisinnius, bishop of Perge: I wish you well in the Lord. (63) Diogenes, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (64) Cresconius, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (65) Nestorius, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (66) Ammonius, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (67) Eugenius, bishop: I wish you well in the Lord. (68) Antonius, bishop of Bostra: I wish you well in the Lord. (69) Demophilus, bishop of Beroea: I wish you well in the Lord.
(70) Euticius, bishop of Philippopolis: I wish you well in the Lord. (71) Severus, bishop of Gabala: I wish you well in the Lord. (72) Timotheus, bishop of Anchialus: I wish you well in the Lord. (73) Valens, bishop of Mursa: I wish you well in the Lord. HERE ENDS THE DECREE OF THE SYNOD OF THE EASTERN BISHOPS AT SERDICA, ON THE SIDE OF THE ARIANS, WHICH THEY SENT TO AFRICA. V. The Letter of the Synod of Ariminum and the Acts of Nice (359). Council VIII. The letter itself: To the most blessed and most glorious Augustus Constantius, the Synod of Ariminum.
By God's command and by the ordinance of your Piety we believe it was arranged that we, the bishops of the West, should come from various provinces to the place of Ariminum, so that the faith might be made clear to all the catholic churches and the heretics might be recognized. COPY OF THE LETTER FROM THE SYNOD TO THE AUGUSTUS CONSTANTIUS. 1. Both by the command of God and by the ordinance of your Piety we believe that the things long ago decreed have come to pass. For to Ariminum, from all the cities of the West, all the bishops came together to one place, that the faith of the catholic Church might be made known and those who think the contrary might become manifest.
For when all of us who hold right belief conferred together, it pleased us to hold fast the faith that has persevered from antiquity—which the prophets, the gospels, and the apostles proclaimed through God himself and our Lord Jesus Christ, the savior of your empire and the bestower of your salvation—that faith which we have always maintained. For we deemed it wrong to mutilate anything of the holy men, and of those who sat together in the Council of Nicaea along with Constantine of glorious memory: [that the faith of the catholic Church might be made known, and those who think the contrary might become manifest].
For, as upon fullest examination we have found, it seemed good that the faith remaining from of old—which the prophets and the gospels and the apostles preached through our Lord Jesus Christ, the guardian of your kingdom and the protector of your welfare—we should hold fast and guard, and, guarding it, keep it to the end. For it seemed absurd and unlawful to alter anything of the things rightly and justly determined, and of the things considered at Nicaea in common with the most glorious Constantine, your father and emperor, whose... Constantine, the father of your Piety;
This definition was made manifest and instilled into the minds of the peoples, and is found to have been set then against the Arian heresy; and not only it, but the remaining heresies too were thereby vanquished. If anything be taken away from it, an entrance is opened to the poisons of the heretics.
Therefore Ursacius and Valens once came under suspicion of that same Arian heresy and were suspended from communion, and they asked for pardon—as their own writings attest—which at that time they obtained from the Council of Milan, the legates [of the Roman Church] also being present. [The Greek adds: this teaching and question passed into the ears and minds of all men, which alone was the adversary and destroyer of the Arian heresy, through which not only it but also the other heresies were overthrown; wherein truly both to add anything is dangerous and to take anything away perilous, since, if either should happen, the enemies would have license to do whatever they wish. 2.]
Whence Ursacius and Valens, since they had long been partakers of and in agreement with the Arian doctrine and had been separated from our communion, were declared [excommunicate]. In order to partake again—for which they had acknowledged themselves to have offended—they asked to obtain repentance and pardon, as the writings drawn up by them testify. Through all of which there was a sparing of them and a pardon of the charges. And the time at which these things were done was when the council of the synod was being convened at Milan, the presbyters of the Church of the Romans being also present. ...of the Roman Church.
...Constantine being present, [the faith] had been drawn up with great scrutiny; holding fast to it, being baptized, he departed to the rest of God. We deem it wrong to mutilate anything of it, and to remove in any respect so many holy men and confessors and successors of the martyrs, the very framers of that definition, since they too preserved all things according to the Scriptures, following the catholic fathers of old, whose faith has remained even to these present times, in which your Piety received from God the Father, through God our Lord Jesus Christ, the power of ruling the world. [Greek: knowing that Constantine, worthy of remembrance after his death, had set forth with all exactness and examination the faith that was written down.]
And since, as one departing from among men, he was baptized and withdrew to the peace that was owed him, we hold it absurd after him to innovate anything, and to despise so many holy confessors and martyrs, the framers and discoverers of this doctrine, who continued holding all things according to the ancient ordinance of the Church—whose faith God transmitted even to these times of your reign, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom it was granted you also so to reign as to rule over our world.
[Greek: Again then these wretched and pitiable ones in mind, with unholy daring of impious thinking, proclaimed themselves heralds and undertake to overturn every ordinance of truth. For as, at your command, the council of the synod was being convened...] They were then also trying to overthrow what had been laid down by reason. And when the letters of your Piety ordered that there be a discussion concerning the faith, there was offered to us by the aforesaid disturbers of the churches—in association with Germinius and Gaius—some new thing, I know not what, to be considered, which contained much of perverse doctrine. But when what they were publicly offering in the council seemed to be displeasing, they thought that it ought to be written otherwise. Indeed it is plain that within a short time they often changed these things.
And lest the churches be disturbed too frequently, it was resolved that the old statutes be kept ratified and unchangeable. [Greek: For when, according to your command, the council of the synod was being convened, they too laid bare the design of their own deceit. For they attempted, with a certain cunning and disturbance, to introduce some novelty, the members of such a fellowship being found to be Germinius, Auxentius and Gaius, who bring in strife and dissension; whose teaching, being but one, has surpassed every multitude of blasphemers. But when we perceived that they were not of such a purpose nor of one mind in the things they wickedly held, they transferred themselves over to our creed, so as to seem to be writing something different.]
But the time was short which also refuted their opinions. In order, then, that the affairs of the Church might not always fall into these same troubles, and that a rolling disturbance and tumult might not confound them, it seemed firm and good to keep the things anciently determined as lawful and immovable, and that the aforesaid men be separated from our communion.
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δι\'η̑ναἰτίτοὺςἀναδιδάξονταςπϱέσβειςπϱὸςτὴνorjvἐπιεί - instruendamigiturtuamclementiam (legatosnostrosmisimus, utsententiamconciliiperlitterasnostrasnuntiarent), quibushocipsumsolummandauimus, utnonaliterlegationemperferrent, quam (ut) statutaueterapermanerentfirmissima, utetsapientiatuacognosceretnonhoc, quodpromiserantsupradictiValens, Ursacius, GerminiusetGaius, si (aliquidrectorum) sublatumfuisset, pacempossecompleri. magisenimturbatiocunctisregionibusetecclesiaeRomanaeinmissaest.
For which cause we have sent legates to instruct your Graciousness, to announce the decision of the council by our letters; to whom we entrusted this one thing above all: that they should carry out the legation in no other way than that the old statutes should remain most firm, so that your Wisdom might recognize that peace cannot be brought to completion by that which the aforesaid Valens, Ursacius, Germinius and Gaius promised, if anything of the right decrees should be removed. For rather, disturbance has been brought upon all the regions and upon the Roman Church.
For which reason we ask your Clemency that with calm ears and serene countenance you both look upon and hear all our legates, and that your Clemency permit nothing to be torn away to the injury of the ancient decrees, but that those things remain which we received from our forefathers—whom we are confident to have been prudent, and not to have acted without the Holy Spirit of God—because by this [novelty]... [Greek: how is it possible for those who dissolve peace to keep peace? For rather strife and disturbance will arise from these in the remaining cities and in the Church of the Romans. 3. Therefore we beseech your Graciousness that with gentle ears and a serene look you may behold our legates, and neither turn to insult of the departed by altering anything anew, but permit us to abide in the things determined and enacted by our forefathers—whom we would say did all things with sagacity and prudence and the Holy Spirit.]
[Greek: For how is it possible for those who destroy peace to keep peace? For rather strife and disturbance will come from these both upon the remaining cities and upon the Church of the Romans. 3. Therefore we beseech your Clemency, that with kindly ears and a calm gaze you would look upon our legates, and neither turn to insult of the dead by altering anything new, but allow us to abide in the things ordained and legislated by our ancestors—whom we would say did all things with sagacity and prudence and the Holy Spirit.] ...by this novelty not only are the faithful peoples disturbed, but even the unbelievers are hindered from coming to belief.
We pray also that you would command so many bishops who are detained at Ariminum—among whom very many are worn out by age and poverty—to return to their own province, lest the peoples of the churches, left destitute, labor without bishops. This too we the more frequently request: that nothing be innovated, nothing diminished, but that those things remain uncorrupted which endured in the times of the father of your holy Piety and in your religious ages. And let your holy Prudence no longer permit us to be wearied or torn from our sees, but let the bishops, at rest together with their peoples, ever have leisure for the petitions which... [Greek: for the things now being innovated by them produce unbelief in those who have believed, and cruelty in those who do not believe].
[Greek: We beseech also this, that you command the bishops who are staying in foreign lands—whom both the hardship of age and the want of poverty wear down—to make easy their return to their own homes, lest the churches remain bereft of their separated bishops. And in addition to all we ask this too: that nothing either be lacking of what existed before nor be added, but that all things remain unbroken which are guarded from the piety of your father even to the present time; that we no longer toil, and that you not permit us to become strangers to our own dwellings, but that the bishops with their own peoples...]
[Greek: ...may in peace have leisure for prayers and acts of worship, making supplication on behalf of your kingdom...] which they ever have both for your welfare and for your kingdom and for the peace which the Divinity, according to your merits, may bestow upon you, deep and perpetual. Our legates will also carry the subscriptions and the names of the bishops and of the legates, as the same other document instructs your holy and religious Prudence. Narrative text. (4) With this letter the catholic bishops, subscribing to the entire faith, sent ten legates to the emperor. Nonetheless the party of the heretics too sent ten legates from their own body, who, when they came to the emperor, were received—so that the legates of the catholics were not received;
and, worn out by long delay and terrified by the emperor's threats, they condemned the entire faith which they had before defended, and took up the perfidy which they had before condemned. That these things are so, you will find from what is appended below. The Acts of Nice. HERE BEGIN THE ACTS IN WHICH THE LEGATE BISHOPS BETRAYED THE TRUE FAITH. In the consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius, on the sixth day before the Ides of October. (5) When the bishops had sat down at the station of Nice, which... [Greek: ...and salvation and peace, which the Divinity will grant you unto perpetuity. And our legates carry both the subscriptions and the titles of the bishops, who also from the divine Scriptures themselves will instruct your Holiness.]
He was formerly called Ustodizo, in the province of Thrace: Restutus, Gregorius, Honoratus, Arthemius, Yginus, Justinus, Priscus, Primus, [...]mus, Taurinus, Lucius, Mustacius, Urbanus, Honoratus, Solutor. Restutus, bishop of Carthage, said: 'Your Prudence knows, most holy fellow-priests, that when the matter of the faith was being discussed at Ariminum, the contention brought about such a rupture that, at the devil's prompting, discord arose among the priests of God; and from this it came about that against our brethren I, Restutus, and that portion of the bishops which followed me pronounced sentence upon Ursacius, Valens, Germinius, and Gaius as though upon the authors of the evil understanding—namely, that they should be separated from our communion.'
'But because, being set face to face, we discussed everything and examined everything, and found that which ought to displease no one—that is, in these men the catholic faith according to their own profession, to which we too have all subscribed—and found that they had never been heretics; and therefore, since concord of peace is before God the greatest of things, it has been resolved that by our common consent all things that were transacted at Ariminum be rendered void, and that, God favouring it, their communion should be restored intact, and that no one should remain in the schism, which might either stain them or ought to do so. And therefore, as I have said, since we are present, each one ought to say whether what I have set forth is right, and to subscribe with his own hand.'
By all the bishops it was said, 'It is agreed,' and they subscribed. Narrative text. (7). But what the confession of faith was to which they afterwards subscribed—the same which Valens also carried with him to Ariminum—you will recognize from what is written below. HERE IT ENDS. VI. HERE BEGINS A COPY OF THE FAITH OF THE LETTER SENT TO THE EMPEROR CONSTANTIUS BY THE FAITHLESS BISHOPS. To our lord, deservedly most glorious and most victorious Augustus Constantius, the synod of Ariminum, in agreement with the Easterners [that is, Migdonius, Megasius, Valens, Epictetus, and the others who consented to the heresy].
Enlightened by the writings of your Piety, we have given and give the greatest thanks to God, because you have blessed us by intimating to us those things which we ought to do in company with the discernment of your Piety, lest anyone should ever name the words 'usia' or 'homousion,' words unknown to the Church of God, which are wont to cause scandal among the brethren. We greatly rejoiced, because we recognized that which we already held. O how blessed are we, to whom such felicity has befallen, that by the recognition of your Piety the others also, who are accustomed to take up these terms on behalf of God and the Son of God, have been refuted and have accepted a limit!
We therefore, rendering our obedience to your Clemency, because in your presence the state of the truth has shone forth—which, since it knows not how to be conquered, has also obtained the victory—so that a name unworthy of God, one which is nowhere written in the holy laws, may now be uttered by no one. Wherefore we pray your Piety, since we are still detained in that place where the synod was held, from which we gave answer through our envoys, that you would order us, who retain the whole doctrine together with the Easterners, now to be dismissed to our congregations, that from this it may appear that they are lovers of the truth who do not change God's name, and that we, who hold the catholic truth, may not be detained any longer together with those who have been infected with perverse doctrine.
Wherefore we earnestly pray, lord, your Piety, before God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, God and the Son of God, that you make us—who have subscribed to sound doctrine, withdrawing from the name 'usia' by your command—that you order us to be dismissed to our congregations; so that the Church may rejoice, which by no means permits the names of God and of His Son to be altered, by the authority of your power and glory, upon whom the Godhead has bestowed so much that, once the sacrilege of the expression has been made manifest, the names 'usia' and 'homousion' may now withdraw—names which are not found written of God and the Son of God in the divine Scriptures. Come to the aid, O pious emperor, of the worshippers of the Most High God; come to the aid of those who through Christ the Son of God pray to God the Father almighty;
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subuenieis, quiiudiciotuodeuotasofferuntaures, quinesciuntcolerenisideumpatremperdominumnostrumIesumChristumgloriaeeiusfilium. etpraecipe, domineimperator, adnostrasnosplebesremearedatislitterisadu. c. praefectumpraetoriiTaurum, quiaetnosinpraedicationenominisdeiOrientalibusettuaedispositioniplenumreddimusobsequium. inhacre, inquasempertenuimus, iamadnostrasplebesrediredebemus. dehacautemreadcoepiscoposnostrosOrientaleslitterasdedimus, utscianthocsempertenuisseetinfidecatholicacumipsispermanere. diuinapietasgloriosissimumtesemperetubiqueperomniafaciatuindicem, dominepiissimeimperator. EXPLICIT. VII.
come to the aid of those who offer devoted ears to your judgment, who know not how to worship any but God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, His Son of glory. And command, lord emperor, that we return to our congregations, by letters given to the most eminent Taurus, praetorian prefect, since we too render full obedience, in the proclamation of the name of God, to the Easterners and to your disposition. In this matter, in which we have always held firm, we ought now to return to our congregations. And concerning this matter we have given letters to our fellow-bishops the Easterners, that they may know that we have always held this and that we remain with them in the catholic faith. May the divine Piety make you always and everywhere in all things a most glorious defender, most pious lord emperor. HERE IT ENDS. VII.
HERE BEGINS THE LETTER OF THE ENVOYS SENT TO THE EMPEROR CONSTANTIUS BY LIBERIUS, BISHOP OF THE CITY OF ROME, THROUGH LUCIFER THE BISHOP. To the most glorious Constantius Augustus, Liberius the bishop. I beseech you, most tranquil emperor, that your Clemency grant me kindly ears, that the purpose of my mind may be made apparent to your Gentleness. For from a Christian emperor, and the son of Constantine of holy memory, I deserve without hesitation to obtain this very thing; but in this I perceive that I labour, that by repeated satisfaction I cannot recall to my favour your spirit, which is placable even towards the guilty.
For the address of your Piety, some time ago sent to the people, greatly wounds me indeed—me, who must needs bear all things patiently—but that your spirit, which is ever free for gentleness, which never, as it is written, keeps its anger to the setting of the sun, should retain its indignation towards me, is a marvel to me. For I, most religious emperor, seek with you a true peace, which is not composed of words with an inner disposition of deceit, but reasonably confirmed by the precepts of the Gospels.