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Chapter XIX
When the Council Was Assembled, the Emperor Delivered a Public
Address.
The bishops held long consultations; and after summoning
Arius before them, they made an accurate
test of his propositions; they were intently on their
guard, not to come to a vote on either side. When
at length the appointed day arrived on which it had been
decided to settle the doubtful points, they
assembled together in the palace, because the emperor had signified
his intention of taking part in
the deliberations. When he was in the same place with the
priests, he passed through to the head of
the conference, and seated himself on the throne
which had been prepared for him, and the synod
was then commanded to be seated; for seats had
been arranged on either side along the walls of the
palatial rooms, for it was the largest, and excelled the
other chambers.
After they were seated, Eusebius Pamphilus arose
and delivered an oration in honor of the
emperor, returning thanks to God on his account.
When he had ceased speaking, and silence was
restored, the emperor delivered himself in the following words:
"I give thanks to God for all things,
but particularly, O friends, for being permitted to see your
conference. And the event has exceeded
my prayer, in that so many priests of Christ have been
conducted into the same place; now, it is my
desire that you should be of one mind and be partakers of
a consentient judgment, for I deem
dissension in the Church of God as more dangerous than any
other evil. Therefore when it was
announced, and I understood you were in discord, an
unwholesome thing to hear, I was deeply
pained in soul; and least of all does it profit you, since
you are the conductors of divine worship and
arbiters of peace. On this account it is, that I have called
you together in a holy Synod, and being
both your emperor and your fellow-physician, I seek for
you a favor which is acceptable to our
common Lord, and as honorable for me to receive, as
for you to grant. The favor which I seek is,
that you examine the causes of the strife, and put a
consentient and peaceful end thereto; so that I
may triumph with you over the envious demon, who
excited this internal revolt because he was
provoked to see our external enemies and tyrants under our feet, and
envied our good
estate."
The
emperor pronounced this discourse in Latin, and the interpretation was
supplied by one at
his side.
Chapter XX.
After Having Given Audience to Both Parties, the Emperor Condemned the
Followers of Arius and Banished Them.
The next debate by the priests turned upon doctrine. The emperor
gave patient attention to the
speeches of both parties; he applauded those who
spoke well, rebuked those who displayed a
tendency to altercation, and according to his apprehension
of what he heard, for he was not wholly
unpracticed in the Greek tongue, he addressed himself with
kindness to each one. Finally all the
priests agreed with one another and conceded that the
Son is consubstantial with the Father.
At the
commencement of the conference there were but seventeen
who praised the opinion of Arius, but
eventually the majority of these yielded assent to the general view.
To this judgment the emperor
likewise deferred, for he regarded the unanimity of the conference
to be a divine approbation; and
he ordained that any one who should be rebellious thereto,
should forthwith be sent into banishment,
as guilty of endeavoring to overthrow the Divine definitions.
I had thought it necessary to reproduce
the very document concerning the matter, as an example
of the truth, in order that posterity might
possess in a fixed and clear form the symbol of the faith
which proved pacificatory at the time but
since some pious friends, who understood such matters,
recommended that these truths ought to be
spoken of and heard by the initiated and their initiators
[mystai kai mystagogoi] only,
I agreed with their council; for it is
not unlikely that some of the uninitiated may read this book.
While I have concealed such of the
prohibited material as I ought to keep silent about,
I have not altogether left the reader ignorant of
the opinions held by the synod.
Chapter XXI.-
What the Council Determined About Arius; The Condemnation of His
Followers; His Writings are to Be Burnt; Certain of the High Priests
Differ from the
Council;
The Settlement of the Passover.
It ought to be known, that they affirmed the Son to be
consubstantial with the Father; and that those
are to be excommunicated and voted aliens to the Catholic
Church, who assert that there was a
time in which the Son existed not, and before He was
begotten He was not, and that He was made
from what had no existence, and that He is of another
hypostasis or substance from the Father, and
that He is subject to change or mutation.
This decision was sanctioned by Eusebius, bishop of
Nicomedia; by Theognis, bishop of Nicæa; by Maris,
bishop of Chalcedon; by Patrophilus, bishop
of Scythopolis; and by Secundus, bishop of
Ptolemais in Libya. Eusebius Pamphilus, however,
withheld his assent for a little while, but on further examination
assented.
The council
excommunicatedArius and his adherents, and prohibited his
entering Alexandria. The words in
which his opinions were couched were likewise condemned,
as also a work entitled Thalia, which
he had written on the subject. I have not read this book, but
I understand that it is of a loose
character, resembling in license Sotadus. It ought to be
known that although Eusebius, bishop of
Nicomedia, and Theognis, bishop of Nicæa, assented to the
document of this faith set forth by the
council, they neither agreed nor subscribed to the deposition of
Arius. The emperor punished Arius
with exile, and dispatched edicts to the bishops and people of
every country, denouncing him and
his adherents as ungodly, and commanding. that their
books should be destroyed, in order that no
remembrance of him or of the doctrine which he had broached
might remain. Whoever should be
found secreting his writings and who should not bum them
immediately on the accusation, should
undergo the penalty of death, and suffer capital punishment.
The emperor wrote letters to every city
against Arius and those who had received his doctrines, and
commanded Eusebius and Theognis to
quit the cities whereof they were bishops; he addressed
himself in particular to the church of
Nicomedia, urging it to adhere to the faith which
had been set forth by the council, to elect orthodox
bishops, to obey them, and to let the past fall into
oblivion; and he threatened with punishment those
who should venture to speak well of the exiled bishops,
or to adopt their sentiments. In these and in
other letters, he manifested resentment against
Eusebius, because he had previously adopted the
opinions of the tyrant, and had engaged in his plots.
In accordance with the imperial edicts, Eusebius
and Theognis were ejected from the churches which
they held, and Amphion received that of
Nicomedia, and Chrestus that of Nicæa. On the
termination of this doctrinal controversy, the
council decided that the Paschal feast should be celebrated at the same
time in every place.
Have mercy, O Lord, upon Thy servant
the translator Chester, and on Caryn and Jeff.