|
"To Liberius, our Lord and Brother, and Fellow-minister
Eustathius, Silvanus, and Theophilus send greeting in the Lord.
On account of the mad opinions of the heretics who do not cease to keep
on sowing scandals for the Catholic churches, we who nullify their
every attack confess the Synod which was held at Lampsacus, the one
at Smyrna and the councils held in other places, by the orthodox
bishops. We have furnished letters and sent on an embassy to your
Goodness, as likewise to all the other bishops of Italy and of the
West, to confirm and preserve the Catholic faith, which was
established at the holy council of Nicaea, by the blessed Constantine
and three hundred and eighteen God-fearing fathers.
This remains, by an unmixed and immovable settlement, until now, and
will remain perpetually in which the term 'consubstantial' is fixed in
all holiness and piety in testimony against the perverseness of Arius.
We confess, each with his own hand, that we with the aforesaid have
always held this same faith, that we still hold it, and that we shall
adhere to it to the last. We condemn Arius, his impious dogmas, and
his disciples. We also condemn the heresies of Patropasianus, of
Photinus, of Marcellus, of Paul of Samosata, and all who maintain
such doctrines themselves. We anathematize all heresies opposed to the
aforesaid faith established by the saintly fathers at Nicaea. We
anathematize Arius especially, and condemn all such decrees as were
enacted at Ariminum, in opposition to the aforesaid faith established
by the holy council of Nicaea. We were formerly deluded by the guile
and perjury of certain parties, and subscribed to these decrees when
they were transmitted to Constantinople from Nicaea, a city of
Thrace."
After this confession they subjoined a copy of the entire formulary of
Nicaea to their own creed, and, having received from Liberius a
written account of all that they had transacted, they sailed to
Sicily.
|
|