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As if they would rescind their former determinations respecting the
faith, they published anew other expositions of the creed, viz.: one
which Mark of Arethusa composed in Greek; and others in Latin,
which harmonized neither in expression nor in sentiment with one
another, nor with that dictated by the bishop of Arethusa. I shall
here subjoin one of those drawn up in Latin, to that prepared in
Greek by Mark: the other, which was afterwards recited at Sirmium,
will be given when we describe what was done at Ariminum. It must be
understood, however, that both the Latin forms were translated into
Greek. The declaration of faith set forth by Mark, was as follows:
'We believe in one God the Father Almighty, the Creator and
Maker of all things, of whom the whole family in heaven and on earth
is named, and in his only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who was begotten of the Father before all ages, God of God, Light
of Light, by whom all things visible and invisible, which are in the
heavens and upon the earth, were made: who is the Word, and the
Wisdom, and the true Light, and the Life; who in the last days for
our sake was made man and born of the holy virgin, and was crucified
and died, and was buried, and rose again from the dead on the third
day, and was received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of the
Father, and is coming at the completion of the age to judge the living
and the dead, and to requite every one according to his works: whose
kingdom being everlasting, endures into infinite ages; for he will be
seated at the Father's right hand, not only in the present age, but
also in that which is to come. [We believe] also in the Holy
Spirit, that is to say the Comforter, whom, having promised to his
apostles after his ascension into the heavens, to teach them, and
bring all thinks to their remembrance, he sent; by whom also the souls
of those who have sincerely believed in him are sanctified. But those
who affirm that the Son is of things which are not, or of another
substance, and not of God, and that there was a time or an age when
he was not, the holy and catholic Church recognizes to be aliens. We
therefore again say, if any one affirms that the Father and Son are
two Gods, let him be anathema. And if any one admits that Christ is
God and the Son of God before the ages, but does not confess that he
ministered to the Father in the formation of all things, let him be
anathema. If any one shall dare to assert that the Unbegotten, or a
part of him, was born of Mary, let him be anathema. If any one
should say that the Son was of Mary according to foreknowledge, and
not that he was with God, begotten of the Father before the ages,
and that all things were not made by him, let him be anathema. If any
one affirms the essence of God to be dilated or contracted, let him be
anathema. If any one says that the dilated essence of God makes the
Son, or shall term the Son the dilatation of his essence, let him be
anathema. If any one calls the Son of God the internal or uttered
word, let him be anathema. If any one declares that the Son that was
born of Mary was man only, let him be anathema. If any man affirming
him that was born of Mary to be God and man, shall imply the
unbegotten God himself, let him be anathema. If any one shall
understand the text, "I am the first, and I am the last, and
besides me there is no God," which was spoken for the destruction of
idols and false gods, in the sense the Jews do, as if it were said
for the subversion of the only-begotten of God before the ages, let
him be anathema. If any one hearing "the Word was made flesh,"
should imagine that the Word was changed into flesh, or that he
underwent any change in assuming flesh, let him be anathema. If any
one hearing that the only-begotten Son of God was crucified, should
say that his divinity underwent any corruption, or suffering, or
change, or diminution, or destruction, let him be anathema. If any
one should affirm that the Father said not to the Son, "Let us make
man,'' but that God spoke to himself, let him be anathema. If any
one says that it was not the Son that was seen by Abraham, but the
unbegotten God, or a part of him, let him be anathema. If any one
says that it was not the Son that as man wrestled with Jacob, but the
unbegotten God, or a part of him, let him be anathema. If any one
shall understand the words, "The Lord rained from the Lord,''
not in relation to the Father and the Son, but shall say that he
rained from himself, let him be anathema: for the Lord the Son
rained from the Lord the Father. If any one hearing "the Lord the
Father, and the Lord the Son," shall term both the Father and the
Son Lord, and saying "the Lord from the Lord" shall assert that
there are two Gods, let him be anathema. For we do not co-ordinate
the Son with the Father, but [conceive him to be] subordinate to
the Father. For he neither came down to the body without his
Father's will; nor did he rain from himself, but from the Lord
(i.e. the Father) who exercises supreme authority: nor does he sit
at the Father's right hand of himself, but in obedience to the
Father saying, "Sit thou at my right hand" [let him be
anathema]. If any one should say that the Father, Son, and
Holy? Spirit are one person, let him be anathema. If any one,
speaking of the Holy Spirit the Comforter, shall call him the
unbegotten God, let him be anathema. If any one, as he hath taught
us, shall not say that the Comforter is other than the Son, when he
has himself said, "the Father, whom I will ask, shall send you
another Comforter," let him be anathema. If any one affirm that the
Spirit is part of the Father and of the Son, let him be anathema.
If any one say that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three
Gods, let him be anathema. If any one say that the Son of God was
made as one of the creatures by the will of God, let him be anathema.
If any one shall say that the Son was begotten without the Father's
will, let him be anathema: for the Father did not, as compelled by
any natural necessity, beget the Son at a time when he was unwilling;
but as soon as it pleased him, he has declared that of himself without
time and without passion, he begot him. If any one should say that
the Son is unbegotten, and without beginning, intimating that there
are two without beginning, and unbegotten, so making two Gods, let
him be anathema: for the Son is the head and beginning of all things;
but "the head of Christ is God.'' Thus do we devoutly trace up
all things by the Son to one source of all things who is without
beginning. Moreover, to give an accurate conception of Christian
doctrine, we again say, that if any one shall not declare Christ
Jesus to have been the Son of God before all ages, and to have
ministered to the Father in the creation of all things; but shall
affirm that from the time only when he was born of Mary, was he called
the Son and Christ, and that he then received the commencement of his
divinity, let him be anathema, as the Samosatan.' Another
Exposition of the Faith set forth at Sirmium in Latin, and
afterwards translated into Greek.
Since it appeared good that some deliberation respecting the faith
should be undertaken, all points have been carefully investigated and
discussed at Sirmium, in presence of Valens, Ursacius,
Germinius, and others.
It is evident that there is one God, the Father Almighty,
according as it is declared over the whole world; and his
only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, God, and Saviour,
begotten of him before the ages. But we ought not to say that there
are two Gods, since the Lord himself has said 'I go unto my Father
and your Father, and unto my God and your God.' Therefore he is
God even of all, as the apostle also taught, Is he the God of the
Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yea of the Gentiles
also; seeing that it is one God who shall justify the circumcision by
faith.' And in all other matters there is agreement, nor is there
any ambiguity. But since it troubles very many to understand about
that which is termed substantia in Latin, and ousia in Greek; that
is to say, in order to mark the sense more accurately, the word
homoousion or homoiousion, it is altogether desirable that none of
these terms should be mentioned: nor should they be preached on in the
church, for this reason, that nothing is recorded concerning them in
the holy Scriptures; and because these things are above the knowledge
of mankind and human capacity, and that no one can explain the Son's
generation, of which it is written,' And who shall declare his
generation? It is manifest that the Father only knows in what way he
begat the Son; and again the Son, how he was begotten by the
Father. But no one can doubt that the Father is greater in honor,
dignity, and divinity, and in the very name of Father; the Son
himself testifying 'My Father who hath sent me is greater than I.
And no one is ignorant that this is also Catholic doctrine, that
there are two persons of the Father and Son, and that the Father is
the greater: but that the Son is subject, together with all things
which the Father has subjected to him. That the Father had no
beginning, and is invisible, immortal, and impossible: but that the
Son was begotten of the Father, God of God, Light of Light; and
that no one comprehends his generation, as was before said, but the
Father alone. That the Son himself, our Lord and God, took flesh
or a body, that is to say human nature, according as the angel brought
glad tidings: and as the whole Scriptures teaches, and especially the
apostle who was the great teacher of the Gentiles, Christ assumed the
human nature through which he suffered, from the Virgin Mary. But
the summary and confirmation of the entire faith is, that [the
doctrine of] the Trinity should be always maintained, according as we
have read in the gospel, 'Go ye and disciple all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.' Thus the number of the Trinity is complete and perfect.
Now the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, sent by the Son, came
according to his promise, in order to sanctify and instruct the
apostles and all believers.
They endeavored to induce Photinus, even after his deposition, to
assent to and subscribe these things, promising to restore him his
bishopric, if by recantation he would anathematize the dogma he had
invented, and adopt their opinion. But he did not accept their
proposal, and on the other hand he challenged them to a disputation:
and a day being appointed by the emperor's arrangement, the bishops
who were there present assembled, and not a few of the senators, whom
the emperor had directed to attend to the discussion. In their
presence, Basil, who at that time presided over the church at
Ancyra, was appointed to oppose Photinus, and short-hand writers
took down their respective speeches. The conflict of arguments on both
sides was extremely severe; but Photinus having been worsted, was
condemned, and spent the rest of his life in exile, during which time
he composed treatises in both languages--for he was not unskilled in
Latin--against all heresies, and in favor of his own views.
Concerning Photinus let this suffice.
Now the bishops who were convened at Sirmium, were afterwards
dissatisfied with that form of the creed which had been promulgated by
them in Latin; for after its publication, it appeared to them to
contain many contradictions. They therefore endeavored to get it back
again from the transcribers; but inasmuch as many secreted it, the
emperor by his edicts commanded that the version should be sought for,
threatening punishment to any one who should be detected concealing it.
These menaces, however, were incapable of suppressing what had
already fallen into the hands of many.Let this suffice in regard to
these affairs.
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