'When God made promise to Abraham, since He had no other greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself' (Heb. 6:13). You see therefore the Scripture, that He has no other greater by whom to swear. But it is the Son of whom it is said that He Himself was seen by Abraham. Whence also He says, 'Abraham saw my day, and rejoiced' (John 8:56). Palladius said: 'The Father is greater.' Bishop Eusebius said: When He spoke as God, He had none greater; when He spoke as man, He had one greater. Palladius said: The Father begot the Son, the Father sent the Son. Bishop Ambrose said: Anathema upon him who denies that the Son is equal to the Father according to His divinity. All the bishops said: Anathema.
Palladius said: The Son is subject to the Father; the Son keeps the commandments of the Father. Bishop Ambrose said: Subject according to the principle of the flesh. Moreover, you yourself remember that you have read, 'No one comes to me unless the Father draw him' (John 6:44). Bishop Sabinus said: Let him say whether He is subject to the Father according to His divinity, or according to His incarnation. Palladius said: Then the Father is greater. Bishop Ambrose said: And elsewhere it is written: 'God is faithful: by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son' (1 Cor. 1:9). I say that the Father is greater according to the assumption of the flesh which the Son of God took on, not according to His divinity. Palladius said: For what comparison is there with the Son of God?
Even the flesh can say, 'God is greater than I.' Was it the flesh that spoke, or the divinity, since the flesh was there? Bishop Ambrose said: Flesh without a soul does not speak. Bishop Eusebius said: God in the flesh spoke according to the flesh, when He said, 'Why do you persecute me, a man?' (John 8:40). Who said this? Palladius said: The Son of God. Bishop Ambrose said: Therefore the Son of God is God according to His divinity, and man according to the flesh. Palladius said: He took flesh. Bishop Eusebius said: Then He used human words? Palladius said: He took human flesh. Bishop Ambrose said: Let him say that the Apostle called Him subject not according to His divinity, but according to the flesh.
For it is written: 'He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death' (Phil. 2:8). In what, then, did He taste death? Palladius said: Because He humbled Himself. Bishop Ambrose said: It was not the divinity, but the flesh, that was humbled and made subject. And he added: Did Arius speak well when he called Him a perfect creature, or did he speak ill? Palladius said: I do not answer you, who have no authority. Bishop Ambrose said: Profess what you will. Palladius said: I do not answer you. Bishop Sabinus said: Do you not answer for Arius? Do you not answer the questions put to you? Palladius said: I have not answered for Arius. Bishop Sabinus said: You have answered to this extent—that you have denied the Son of God to be mighty, denied Him to be true God.
Palladius said: I will not endure you as judge, whom I accuse of impiety. Bishop Sabinus said: You yourself compelled us to sit. Palladius said: I gave order that you should sit, so that I might accuse you. Why did you go behind the emperor's back? You acted by stealth, so that there should not be a full council. Bishop Ambrose said: When the impieties of Arius were uncovered, your own impiety was likewise condemned, which has consented to the Arian impiety. It pleased you, in the middle of the reading of the letter, to propose what you wished. You have been answered as to how the Son of God called the Father greater, namely because, according to the assumption of the flesh, the Son called the Father greater.
You also proposed that the Son of God is subject, and on this point you have been answered: that the Son of God is subject according to the flesh, not according to His divinity. You have our profession; now hear the rest. Since you have been answered, answer to the things that are being read. Palladius said: I do not answer you, because whatever I have said is not written down. Only your words are written down. I do not answer you. Bishop Ambrose said: You see that everything is being written. Indeed, the things that have been written are abundant enough as evidence of your impiety. And he added: Do you call Christ a creature, or do you deny it? Palladius said: I do not answer. Bishop Ambrose said: A while ago, when it was read that Arius called Christ a creature, you denied it.
You were offered the chance to condemn the perfidy, and you would not. Or at least now say whether Christ was born of the Father, or created. Palladius said: If you wish, let our recorders come, and so let everything be taken down. Bishop Sabinus said: Let him bring forward his own recorders. Palladius said: In a full council we will answer you. Bishop Ambrose said: Attalus subscribed in the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea. Let him deny that he came to the council. Let him say today whether he subscribed in the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea, or not. And when Attalus kept silent, Bishop Ambrose said: Attalus the presbyter, although he is among the Arians, nevertheless has the authority to speak.
Let him freely profess whether he subscribed in the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea under his own bishop Agrippinus, or not. Attalus said: You have already said several times that I am condemned; I do not answer you. Bishop Ambrose said: Did you subscribe in the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea, or not? Attalus said: I do not answer you. Palladius said: Do you wish the proceedings to be held in full, or not? Chromatius the presbyter said: You did not deny the creature; you denied the power; you denied everything that the catholic faith professes. Bishop Sabinus said: We are witnesses that Attalus subscribed in the Council of Nicaea, and now refuses to answer. What seems good to all? And when Attalus kept silent, Bishop Ambrose said:
Let him say whether he subscribed in the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea, or not. Palladius said: Let your recorder and ours stand by, and let them write everything down. Bishop Valerianus said: The things you have already said and denied are all written down. Palladius said: Say what you will. Bishop Ambrose said: Since Palladius, who has already frequently been condemned, more often wishes to be condemned, I read the letter of Arius, which he refused to condemn. Profess what seems good to you. All the bishops said: Let it be read. And it was read out: 'BORN, MOREOVER, NOT IN APPEARANCE,' and the rest. Bishop Ambrose said: I have answered you concerning the 'greater,' I have answered you also concerning the 'subject'; now you yourself answer. Palladius said:
I will not answer, unless the authorities come after the Lord's day. Bishop Ambrose said: You had come to dispute, but after I confronted you, you saw the letter of Arius, which you refused to condemn, yet you cannot defend it: therefore you now take flight and quibble. Read it through in full: answer point by point. Whether Christ is seen to be created, or whether there was a time when Christ was not, or rather whether the only-begotten Son of God always was. When you have heard the letter of Arius, either condemn it, or approve it. Palladius said: Since I accuse you of impiety, I do not use you as judge. You are a transgressor. Bishop Sabinus said: What impieties do you charge against our brother and fellow-priest Ambrose? Tell us. Palladius said: I have already told you:
In a full council I will answer, and in the presence of the authorities. Bishop Ambrose said: In the assembly of my brethren I desire to be refuted and confuted. Tell me, then, what I have said impiously. But I seem impious to you, who build up true religion. Bishop Sabinus said: So he seems impious to you who refutes the blasphemies of Arius? Palladius said: I have not denied that the Son of God is good. Bishop Ambrose said: Do you say, then, that Christ is good God? Palladius said: I do not answer you. Bishop Valerianus said: Do not press Palladius too hard; he cannot simply confess our truths. For his conscience is confounded by a double blasphemy. For he was ordained by the Photinians, and was condemned together with them;
and now he will be more fully condemned. Palladius said: Prove this. Bishop Sabinus said: He could not deny the true Christ in any other way except by following his own authorities. Bishop Ambrose said: You have charged that I am impious: prove this. Palladius said: We bring forward our exposition. When we have brought it forward, then the disputation will be held. Bishop Ambrose said: Condemn the impiety of Arius. And when Palladius hung back, Bishop Eusebius said: We are delaying over superfluous matters. So many impieties of Arius Palladius has refused to condemn—indeed, he has rather confessed them by his assertions. He who does not condemn this man is like him, and must rightly be called a heretic. All the bishops said: From all of us, let there be anathema upon Palladius. Bishop Ambrose said:
Do you agree that the rest be read, Palladius? Palladius said: Provide hearers; let recorders come from both sides. You cannot be judges if we have no hearers; and unless men come from both sides to listen, we do not answer you. Bishop Ambrose said: What hearers do you seek? Palladius said: There are many men of rank here. Bishop Sabinus said: After so many blasphemies, do you ask for hearers? Bishop Ambrose said: Priests ought to judge concerning laymen, not laymen concerning priests; but nevertheless tell us what judges you seek. Palladius said: Let the hearers come. Chromatius the presbyter said: Saving the priestly condemnation, let those things also which are of Palladius be read in full. Palladius said:
Let the hearers not be permitted to speak; let recorders come from both sides also, and these men will answer you in a general council. Bishop Ambrose said: Even though he has been caught in many impieties, we are nevertheless ashamed that one who claims the priesthood for himself should be seen to be condemned by laymen. And on this account, since on this very point also he is to be condemned who awaits the verdict of laymen—whereas priests ought rather to judge concerning laymen—in accordance with the things which we have heard today Palladius professing, and in accordance with the things which he refused to condemn, I pronounce him unworthy of the priesthood, and that care be taken that a catholic be ordained in his place. All the bishops said: Anathema upon Palladius. Bishop Ambrose said:
The most clement and Christian emperor entrusted the case to the judgment of the priests, and that they themselves should be arbiters of the dispute in whatever we might determine. Since therefore the judgment seems to have been delegated to us, Scripture is our interpreter: let us condemn Palladius, who refused to condemn the sentence of the impious Arius. And because he himself has denied that the Son of God is eternal, and the other things that cleave to the acts, let him therefore be held anathema. All the bishops said: Let us all condemn him; let him be held anathema. Bishop Ambrose said: Since all here present are Christian men, and brethren approved by God, and our fellow-priests, let each one say what seems good to him. Bishop Valerianus said: To me indeed it seems that whoever defends Arius is an Arian;
whoever does not condemn his blasphemies, is himself a blasphemer. And therefore I judge a man of this sort to be a stranger to the fellowship of priests. Palladius said: Have you begun to play games? Play on: without the Eastern council we do not answer you. Anemius, bishop of Sirmium, said: Whoever does not condemn the Arian heresies must necessarily be an Arian. This man therefore we judge to be once again deprived even of our communion and the priestly assembly, as a stranger to it. Constantius, bishop of Orange, said:
Palladius, the disciple of Arius—whose impieties were long ago condemned by our fathers in the Council of Nicaea, and now today brought forward—was not put to shame when they were recited to him one by one, since he confesses that the Son of God is alien from God the Father, classed with the creature, since he calls Him temporal and denies Him to be the true Lord: him I judge worthy to be condemned for ever. Bishop Justus said: Palladius, who refused to condemn the blasphemies of Arius, but rather seems even to confess them, I judge can no longer be called a priest, nor be reckoned among the bishops. Eventius, bishop of Pavia, said: Palladius, who refused to condemn the impiety of Arius, I deem to be removed for ever from the fellowship of priests.
Abundantius, bishop of Trent, said: Since Palladius defends manifest blasphemies, let him know that he is condemned by the Council of Aquileia. Eusebius, bishop of Bologna, said: Because the impieties of Arius, composed with a diabolical pen—which it was not even lawful to admit to the ears—Palladius not only refused to condemn, but even proved himself an advocate of them, denying the Son of God to be the true Son, the good Lord, the wise Lord, the eternal Lord: this man, by the judgment of the priestly assembly, both by my own verdict and by the judgment of all catholics, I deem rightly condemned. Sabinus, bishop of Piacenza, said:
Since it has been made plain to all that Palladius is an author of the Arian perfidy, and that he holds its impiety, which runs counter to the evangelical and apostolic ordinances, a just sentence of the whole council has been passed against him: let him, deprived once again of the priesthood by the sentence of his depravity (other reading: of his pettiness), be rightly expelled from this most sacred assembly. Felix and Numidius, the legates of the Africans, said: Anathema upon the sect of the Arian heresy, in which Palladius was declared to belong at the synod of Aquileia. But we also condemn those who set themselves in opposition against the truth of the Council of Nicaea. Limenius, bishop of Vercelli, said: It is manifest that the Arian doctrine has often been condemned;
and therefore Palladius, brought before this holy synod of Aquileia, since he refused to correct or amend it, but rather approved it, has entangled himself in a perfidy that can be plainly detected, which he has publicly professed to hold: this man, by my own sentence, I too profess to be deprived of the fellowship of the priesthood. Maximinus, bishop of Emona, said: Palladius, who not only refused to condemn the blasphemies of Arius, but rather confessed them himself, both God knows him to be justly and deservedly condemned, and the conscience of the faithful has condemned him. Exsuperantius, bishop of Tortona, said: Palladius, who refused to condemn the sect of Arius or his doctrine, but defended it, as my other colleagues have condemned him, I too condemn. Bassianus, bishop of Lodi, said:
I have heard, as have my other fellow-priests, the impieties of Arius, which Palladius not only did not condemn, but confirmed. Let this man be anathema, and let him be deprived of the priesthood. Philaster, bishop of Brescia, said: The blasphemies and iniquity of Palladius, who follows and defends the Arian doctrine, I have condemned together with all. Constantius, bishop of Siscia, said: Palladius, who did not condemn the blasphemies and impieties of Arius, like my other fellow-priests I too judge to be condemned. Heliodorus, bishop of Altinum, said: Whoever follows the perfidy of Arius and of all heretics—of whom Palladius is a partner—this man's foolish heart, who has not confessed the truth, I condemn together with my other fellow-priests alike.
Felix, bishop of Zadar, said: Palladius, who blasphemed the Son, as Arius did, I condemn together with all alike. Theodorus, bishop of Octodurum, said: Palladius, who denied that Christ is true God, coeternal with the Father, we deem in no way to be a Christian, nor a priest. Domninus, bishop of Grenoble, said: Palladius, remaining in the perfidy of Arius, I too judge to be condemned for ever, as the brethren also have condemned him. Proculus, bishop of Marseille, said:
Palladius, who defended the blasphemies of Arius under a certain impious inheritance by not condemning them, just as the verdict of very many already venerable priests has marked him out as a blasphemer and deemed him a stranger to the priesthood, my own sentence likewise marks out as condemned for ever. Diogenes, bishop of Geneva, said: Palladius, who, in not confessing Christ the Lord, true God, like and equal to the Father, denied Him, I judge to share in condemnation with my other brethren and fellow-priests. Amantius, bishop of Nice, said: Palladius, who did not destroy the sect of Arius, according to the judgment of my fellow-priests, I too condemn. Bishop Januarius said:
Just as all my fellow-priests have condemned Palladius, so I too by equal judgment deem that he must be condemned. And when Secundianus had slipped in, Bishop Ambrose said: You have heard, Secundianus, what kind of sentence the impious Palladius, condemned by the priestly council, received. Although it has displeased us that you did not recoil from his—that is, Palladius'—madness, nevertheless I ask you in particular some things: whether you call the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, true God, or not. Secundianus said: Whoever denies that the Father of our Lord and God Jesus Christ is true Lord, is not a Christian; nor is he who denies that the Son is true Lord. Bishop Ambrose said: Do you confess the Son of God to be true God? Secundianus said:
I say that He is the true Son of God, the only-begotten true Son of God. Bishop Ambrose said: Do you say He is true God? Secundianus said: As for the true only-begotten Son, who denies Him to be the true Son of God? Bishop Eusebius said: It is not enough that you confess the Son of God to be only-begotten; for all confess this. But this is what troubles us: that Arius said the Father alone is Lord, alone is true, and denied that the Son of God is true Lord. Do you simply confess the Son of God to be true God? Secundianus said: Who Arius was, I do not know; what he said, I do not know. You are speaking with me, living to a living man. This I say, which Christ said: He asserts Himself to be the only-begotten Son of the Father, the only-begotten Son: God is the true Son of God. Bishop Ambrose said:
He is true God; the Son is true God, God. And he added: In the divine Scriptures it is written, 'that those who swear upon the earth shall swear by the true God' (Isaiah 65:16). And there is no doubt that this is said of Christ. We therefore confess the true God, and this is our faith and profession: that the only-begotten Son of the Father is true God. Say you too concerning the true God that the Son of God is true God. Secundianus said: He is of the true God. Bishop Ambrose said: Is the Son of God true God? Secundianus said: Then he is a liar. Bishop Ambrose said: In this you commit a fraud, in that you do not say 'true God' but 'only-begotten God'; and therefore say plainly: the only-begotten Son of God is true God. Secundianus said:
I said the only-begotten Son of God. Bishop Eusebius said: This Photinus does not deny, this Sabellius confesses. Bishop Ambrose said: And whoever does not confess this is justly condemned. And on this account I press you often, although by quibbling you have denied the truth. I do not ask only that you call him the only-begotten of God, the Son of God, but also true God. Secundianus said: I profess myself a servant of the truth. What I say is not written, and what you say is written. I say that Christ is the true Son of God. Who denies that the Son of God is true? Bishop Ambrose said: Whoever denies the only-begotten Son of God, let him be anathema. Secundianus said: The only-begotten Son of God, true God? Why do you make me profess what is not written? Bishop Ambrose said:
It is open sacrilege, when Arius denied that Christ the Son of God is true God. Secundianus said: I say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God, who as Christ is called the true Son, the Son of God. Bishop Ambrose said: You have not yet come to your senses. And he added: Lest anything should seem to have been smuggled in upon him, let him confirm his own statement. Let him therefore say that Christ is the only-begotten, the Son of God, true God. Secundianus said: I have already said it. What more do you wish to wring out of me? Bishop Ambrose said: What have you said? Surely, if you had said so great a thing, what is spoken to one's glory ought to be repeated often. Secundianus said: It is said: 'Let your speech be Yea, yea; Nay, nay' (Matthew 5:37). Bishop Ambrose said:
Whoever says that the Father himself is the Son is a sacrilegious man. This I ask of you: that you say concerning the true God that the Son of God was born true God. Secundianus said: The Son begotten of God (since he himself says, 'I have begotten thee' [Psalm 110:3]), the Son confessing himself to have been begotten—him I confess. Bishop Ambrose said: Is he true God of the true God? Secundianus said: And when you add to the name even the word 'true,' do you hear what sort of faith is in you, and are you a Christian? Bishop Eusebius said: Who denied him to be true God? Arius and Palladius denied it. If you believe him to be true God, you ought to declare it plainly. Bishop Ambrose said: If you will not say that the true God was born of the true God, you have denied Christ. Secundianus said: Being questioned concerning the Son, I gave my answer:
as I ought to profess, I answered. We have your exposition; we will bring it, let it be read. Ambrose said: You ought to have brought it today; but for the rest you try to slip away. Demand a profession from me, and I demand a profession from you. Is the Son of God true God? Secundianus said: The Son of God is only-begotten God. And I in turn ask: Is he only-begotten? Bishop Ambrose said: Let your impiety and folly move us by reason. When you say 'only-begotten true God,' you do not say 'true God' but 'true only-begotten'; and therefore, that you may settle this question, answer thus: Is he true God of the true God? Secundianus said: Then did not God beget God?
That true God who is, begot what he is; he begot one true only-begotten Son. Ambrose said: You do not confess 'true God,' but you wish to say 'true only-begotten.' I too say 'only-begotten,' but I also say 'true God.' Secundianus said: I say the Son truly begotten of the Father; I say this to all. ON THE FAITH, IN THE PERSON OF AMBROSE. CHAPTER ONE. Bishop Ambrose said: We have indeed known many and grave heresies to boil up from very many men, and like venom to pour the poison of their canker into the inmost breast (cf. 2 Timothy 2:17). But those can either easily be overcome or easily avoided, whose whole counsel of heart is betrayed in their first proposition.
But truly those who have many things in common with us can easily strike harmless minds, devoted to God alone, with a fraudulent fellowship, while they defend the poison of their evils by means of our good things. For nothing can be more dangerous than these heretics, who, while they run their course soundly in all respects, yet with one word, as if with a drop of poison, infect that pure and simple faith of the Lord's and thence the apostolic tradition. Hence we must beware vehemently lest anything of this sort should secretly insinuate itself into our minds or ears; for nothing so drives a man to death as to violate, under the pretext of faith, the integrity of that same faith. For just as gypsum mixed with water counterfeits milk in color,
so here, through a plausible confession, an inimical tradition is insinuated. Concerning which matter, not the likeness of the confession, but the sense of the mind by which the confession itself is established must be weighed. Finally, if you attend more diligently and accurately, why they wished the name of 'one substance' to be removed from the evangelical and apostolic faith and from the tradition of the Fathers, you will without doubt find that the Arian heresy was introduced by a subtle shortcut, once this name had been taken away. Nor indeed do I affirm this as gathered by suspicion or opinion;
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nec (utipsiputaut) academicusdisputatorassisto, utsimplicessensusverborumsubtilitatecontorqueam, sedutcontortosetpravos, tcnuiargumentocompositos, inlucemcognitionisexponam, quofaciliuspossitcognitaetcompertainiquitasabomnibusevitari.
nor (as they themselves suppose) do I stand here as an Academic disputant, so as to twist simple meanings by subtlety of words; but in order that meanings that have been twisted and made crooked, composed by a flimsy argument, I may set forth into the light of knowledge, so that the iniquity, once recognized and discovered, may more easily be avoided by all.
For what cause, what reason existed, that what had been handed down to all the Churches to be taught and to be believed, and what our Fathers, the apostolic men, against all heresies and especially the Arian—as if a kind of barrier of truth, by which they might block every access of pestilent doctrine—being filled with the Holy Spirit, established by catholic reason, is now being labored to be removed (not without great effort) by those who are now addicted to the slogan of the Arian taint, except that they might fabricate that the Son of God is mutable and changeable, as having subsisted not from the Father's own substance:
so that to him there is a beginning from time, and an origin from nothing, and a name from another—as they have always taught (on account of which they have also been often condemned)—they may now freely and securely and without hesitation be able to hand it down and insinuate it to the Churches? CHAPTER II. You see therefore that they have set down everything in their treatise, not by evangelical faith, but by crafty malice, to seduce any simple folk. It ought now to be not so much suspected as manifest to all that they have so set down 'God of God' as Arius was wont to hand down—that he was made from God, not born from God. But if he is born, he is of one substance; if he is made, he is not the true Son; and if he is not the true Son, neither is he true God.
Or if he is true God and is not of the Father, then there are two who each have their own wills and diverse dominions. Or if they are one only by concord and fellowship, but not also in substance, then he is not, as I have already said, true God: and thus he will be God as Moses was to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1)—by power, not by nature. The Son too will have to be believed in the way that it was said to the people through Isaiah: 'I have begotten sons and exalted them' (Isaiah 1:2), and elsewhere: 'Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High' (Psalm 82:6). But he will be reckoned firstborn only in the manner that Israel too was called by God a firstborn son (Exodus 4:22). And likewise the firstborn of all creation (Colossians