On the Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia 1–14

Perhaps news has reached you too of the council that is now so much talked about; for letters of the emperor and of the prefects went everywhere, summoning those who were to come to it. But since you, being eager to learn, seek to know what was done, I thought it right to inform you too of what I have seen and accurately learned, so that you may not be left in doubt by hearing it from others, especially since some are accustomed to report what happens otherwise than it happened. The assembly, then, did not take place at Nicaea, as had been decided; instead a second order went out, that the bishops in the western parts should meet at Ariminum in Italy, and those in the eastern parts should be convened at Seleucia in Isauria, called Rough Seleucia. The pretext put about for such a gathering was the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who furnished it were, from Pannonia, Ursacius and Valens and one Germinius; and from Syria, Acacius, Eudoxius, and Patrophilus, who is from the city named after the Scythians. For these men, being always of Arius’s party, and understanding neither how they believe nor about what they make assertions, but deceiving each person quietly and sowing the seeds of their heresy besides, carried off some of those who seemed to be something, and the emperor Constantius himself, who was a heretic, pretending …

First, then, I marvel (and I think every sensible person sees this too) that, when a general council had been appointed and everyone was expecting it, it was suddenly divided, and some met there while others assembled here. This was, as it turned out, the work of Providence, so that in each place the guileless and pure mind of the faith of the one party might be shown, and the suspicious and equivocal character of the other might be exposed. Next, I reflected on this too with the genuine brothers here, and we were vexed among ourselves, seeing the unseemliness of so great a concourse. For what was so urgent that the whole world should be thrown into confusion, and those who in these times are called clergy should run up and down and seek how, after all, they may learn to believe in our Lord Jesus Christ? For if they believed, they would not be seeking as though they did not have it. This gave no small scandal to the catechumens, and to the Greeks it gave not ordinary but loud laughter, that Christians, as if just now awakened from sleep, are seeking how they ought to believe about Christ. And the so-called clergy among them, though claiming precedence over the people as teachers, have now proved themselves unbelievers, seeking what they do not have. And Ursacius and his party, who caused these things, did not know how much wrath they stored up for themselves, since the Lord says through the saints, “Woe to those through whom my name is blasphemed among the nations,” and himself in the Gospels, “Whoever causes one of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for him that a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea,” or, as Luke added, “than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.”

For what teaching for piety was lacking to the catholic church, that they should now inquire about faith, and prefix the consulship of the present time to the words they set out, supposedly about faith? For Ursacius and Valens and Germinius and those with them have done what has never happened or been heard of among Christians. Having written as they themselves wished to believe, they prefixed the consulship and the month and the day of the present time, to show all sensible people that their faith had its beginning not earlier but now, under Constantius. For they wrote everything with an eye to their own heresy. Moreover, while pretending to write about the Lord, they name another master for themselves, Constantius; for it was he who supplied them with the power of their impiety; and those who deny that the Son is eternal have called him eternal emperor: such Christ-fighters are they in their impiety. But perhaps their pretext for the consulship is the dating found in the holy prophets. But even if they dare to say this, they proclaim their ignorance loudly. For the prophecies of the saints do record times: Isaiah and Hosea lived in the days of Uzziah and Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah; Jeremiah in the days of Josiah; Ezekiel and Daniel under Cyrus and Darius; and others prophesied at other times—not laying down the beginning of godliness; for it existed before them, and always existed, and God prepared it for us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Nor were they marking the times of their own faith; for they were believers even before those times. But the times were those of their proclamation. And the proclamation was primarily about the Savior’s coming, and secondarily about what would happen to Israel and to the nations. And the times signified were not those of a beginning of faith, as I said before, but of the prophets themselves, in whose times they lived and prophesied such things. But these wise men of today, neither narrating histories nor foretelling what is to come, but writing, “The catholic faith was set forth,” at once added the consulship and the month and the day, so that, as the saints wrote the times of their histories and of their own ministry, so these might signify the time of their own faith. And would that they had written about their own faith (for it began only now), and not attempted it as though writing about the catholic faith; for they did not write, “Thus we believe,” but, “The catholic faith was set forth.”

The daring of their purpose, then, convicts their ignorance; and the novel device of their writing is on a par with the Arian heresy. For by writing thus they showed when they themselves began to believe, and that they wish their faith to be proclaimed from now on. And just as, according to the evangelist Luke, “a decree went out” concerning the census, and this decree did not exist before but began from those days in which it was issued by the one who wrote it, so these men too, by writing, “The faith has now been set forth,” showed that the mind of their heresy is recent and did not exist before. And if they add “catholic,” they have fallen unawares into the folly of the Phrygians, so that they too say, like them: “To us first it was revealed, and from us the faith of Christians begins.” And as those men inscribed Maximilla and Montanus, so these inscribe Constantius as master instead of Christ. And if, according to them, the faith has its beginning from the present consulship, what will the fathers and the blessed martyrs do? And what will they themselves do with those whom they instructed and who fell asleep before this consulship? How will they raise them up, to wipe out what they seemed to have taught them and to sow in them what they have now written as their own discovery? So ignorant are they, knowing only how to fabricate pretexts—and these unseemly and unpersuasive, with their refutation close at hand.

For the council at Nicaea was not held casually; it had a pressing need and a reasonable cause. Those from Syria, Cilicia, and Mesopotamia were out of step about the feast and kept the Passover with the Jews; and the Arian heresy had risen up against the catholic church and had Eusebius’s party as champions, both in their zeal on its behalf and in their plotting against the pious. And this was the reason an ecumenical council was assembled, so that the day of the feast might be kept everywhere as one, and the heresy that had sprung up might be anathematized. And so it came about: those from Syria were persuaded, and the fathers declared the Arian heresy a forerunner of the Antichrist and rightly published what they wrote against it. Yet though they wrote, and were so many, they dared nothing like what these three or four have dared. For they did not prefix consulship, month, and day; but concerning the Passover they wrote, “The following was decided,” for it was then decided that all should comply; while concerning the faith they did not write “It was decided,” but “Thus the catholic church believes”; and at once they confessed how they believe, to show that their mind is not recent but apostolic, and that what they wrote was not devised by them, but is what the apostles taught. … [7] … received those who spoke Arius’s views as genuine. This too, then, is a great proof that the design of the present councils was not for the sake of the truth, but for the overthrow of what was done at Nicaea; and what was done by them and their like in these very councils shows no less that this is true. For it is now necessary to relate how each thing happened. [8] When all were expecting that those whom the emperor’s letters summoned would come together into one place, and that the council would be one, they were divided; and some went down to Seleucia called the Rough, while others met at Ariminum. There were in the latter some four hundred bishops and more; and there went up to it also Germinius, Auxentius, Valens, Ursacius, Demophilus, and Gaius. But while all the bishops were discussing from the divine Scriptures, these men produced a paper, and, reading out the consulship, demanded that it be preferred to every council, and that nothing more be sought from the heretics than this, nor their meaning be examined, but that this alone should suffice. And what they wrote is this: “The catholic faith was set forth in the presence of our master, the most pious and victorious emperor Constantius Augustus, eternal, in the consulship of the most illustrious Flavius Eusebius and Hypatius, at Sirmium, on the eleventh day before the Kalends of June. We believe in one only and true God, the Father Almighty, creator and maker of all things; and in one only-begotten Son of God, begotten impassibly from God before all ages, and before every beginning, and before every conceivable time, and before every comprehensible essence; through whom the ages were framed and all things came …

… to be; begotten as only-begotten, alone from the Father alone, God from God, like the Father who begot him, according to the Scriptures; whose generation no one knows except the Father alone who begot him. We know that this only-begotten Son of God, at the Father’s bidding, came from the heavens for the putting away of sin, and was born of the Virgin Mary, and went about with the disciples, and fulfilled the whole dispensation according to the Father’s will; was crucified and died, and descended to the regions under the earth and ordered things there, whom the gatekeepers of Hades saw and shuddered; and rose from the dead on the third day, and went about with the disciples, and fulfilled the whole dispensation, and when forty days were fulfilled was taken up into the heavens, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come on the last day of the resurrection in the Father’s glory, rendering to each according to his works. And in the Holy Spirit, whom the only-begotten of God himself, Jesus Christ, promised to send to the human race, the Paraclete, as it is written: “I go away to my Father, and I will ask the Father, and he will send you another Paraclete, the Spirit of truth; he will take of what is mine, and will teach and remind you of all things.” But as for the name “essence,” since it was set down by the fathers in simplicity, but, being unknown to the people, gives offense because the Scriptures do not contain it, it seemed good that it be removed, and that henceforth there be no mention at all of essence with regard to God, because the divine Scriptures nowhere … teach.”

When these words had been read, the craftiness of their authors was soon recognized. For when the bishops proposed that the Arian heresy be anathematized along with the other heresies, and all agreed to this, Ursacius and Valens and those with them refused; and so they were condemned, as having written these things not sincerely but to overthrow what was done at Nicaea, so as to bring in the ill-named heresy in its place. Marveling, then, at their deceitful words and crafty purpose, the bishops said: “We did not come together because we needed a faith (for we have the faith sound within ourselves), but to put to shame those who contradict the truth and attempt innovations. If, then, you wrote these things as people only now beginning to believe, you are not yet clergy, but are only at the beginning of catechesis; but if you came here with the same mind with which we came together, let there be unanimity among all; let us anathematize the heresies and keep what the fathers taught, so that pretexts for councils may no longer run about, since those who met at Nicaea anticipated it once for all and did everything for the catholic church.” But even so, when all the bishops again agreed, the aforesaid refused. And then, condemning them as ignorant and deceitful, or rather as heretics, all voted with the council held at Nicaea, and all decided to be content with it; and the aforesaid Ursacius and Valens, Germinius, Auxentius, Gaius, and Demophilus they declared heretics, and deposed them as being not truly Christians but Arians; and they wrote against them in Latin what has been translated into Greek as well as possible, as follows. [10] Copy of a letter from the council to Constantius Augustus. “By the command of God and the order of your piety, we believe that what was decreed long ago has come about. For we, all the bishops from all the cities of the West, came together at Ariminum, so that both the faith of the catholic church might be made known and those who think the contrary might be exposed. For, as we found after considering it at very great length, it seemed good to hold fast the faith that has remained from of old, which the prophets and the Gospels and the apostles proclaimed through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also the guardian of your empire and the protector of your strength, so that, holding it fast, we may guard it, and guarding it, preserve it to the end. For it appeared absurd and unlawful to alter anything of what was rightly and justly defined, and of what was considered in common at Nicaea with the most glorious Constantine, your father and emperor, whose teaching and mind … Hence Ursacius and Valens, since they had long been partakers and supporters of the Arian doctrine, were declared separated from our communion; and in order to share in it, they asked to obtain repentance and pardon for the faults of which they were conscious, as the documents written by them bear witness; by which they were all spared and pardoned for their offenses. The time when these things were done was when the assembly of the council was convened at Milan, the presbyters of the church of the Romans also being present; and knowing at the same time that Constantine, worthy of memory after his death, set out with all accuracy and examination the faith that had been composed. And since, having been baptized, he departed from among men to the peace that was his due, it is absurd after him to make any innovation, and to disregard so many holy confessors and martyrs, who were also the writers and discoverers of this doctrine, and who have continued holding everything according to the ancient law of the church; whose faith God has handed on also into the times of your reign through our Master Jesus Christ, through whom it has been given to you so to reign that you rule our world. Yet again these wretched men, pitiable in mind, with lawless daring have proclaimed themselves heralds of the impious way of thinking, and are attempting to overthrow every structure of the truth. For when, according to your order, the assembly of the council was convened, they too laid bare the design of their own deceit. For they tried, with a kind of craft and confusion, to bring forward some innovation, having found Germinius, Auxentius, and Gaius caught up in such a faction, who cause the strife and dissension, whose teaching, though single, exceeds every multitude of blasphemies … Therefore we beseech your clemency to look upon our envoys with gentle ears and a calm gaze, and not to permit anything new to be altered to the insult of the dead, but to allow us to remain in what was defined and enacted by our forebears, who, we would say, did everything with sagacity and wisdom and the Holy Spirit. For the innovations they are now making produce unbelief in those who have believed and cruelty in those who do not believe. We beseech you further to order that the bishops staying in foreign lands, whom the hardships of age and the want of poverty wear down, be given an easy return home, so that the churches may not remain bereft, their bishops separated from them. And above all we ask this too: that nothing be either taken away from what existed before or added to it, but that everything remain unbroken, preserved from the piety of your father until the present time; and that you not permit us to toil any longer and be made strangers to our own dioceses, but that the bishops with their own peoples may have leisure in peace for prayers and worship, supplicating for your empire and safety and peace, which the Godhead will grant you forever. Our envoys … the signatures …

As long as it was fitting and possible, most honored brothers, the catholic council and the holy church, in their own patience and forbearance, bore not ignobly with Ursacius and Valens and Gaius and Germinius and Auxentius, who, thinking now one thing and now another, have thrown all the churches into confusion, and who now too have dared to attempt to join their heretical reasoning to the faith of the orthodox and to dissolve the council at Nicaea, which stands opposed to the heresy of the Arians, bringing forward from outside a faith of their own composition, utterly foreign to the most holy church, which we have judged it unlawful to accept. For these men, having long been heretics and holding contrary views, have now too been shown to be such; and we do not permit them to come into our communion, having condemned and deposed them, in their presence, by our own voice. Now, then, declare what you think, so that each one’s judgment may be confirmed by his signature. The bishops with one accord said: “Let the aforesaid enemies be deposed, so that the catholic faith may remain in peace.” And so the proceedings at Ariminum came to a speedy conclusion of this kind. For no one there disagreed, but all with one voice wrote what was decided and deposed the Arians.

What happened at Seleucia the Rough was this. The month was the one called September by the Romans, Thoth by the Egyptians, and Gorpiaeus by the Macedonians, and the day of the month, by the Egyptian reckoning, the sixteenth, on which all who had been summoned assembled. There were about a hundred and sixty there too. And since many among them were under accusation, and their accusers were crying out against them, Acacius and Patrophilus, and Uranius of Tyre, and Eudoxius, who forced his way into the church of Antioch, and Leontius and Theodotus and Evagrius and Theodulus, and George, who has been driven out by the whole world, do something crafty. Fearing the proofs their accusers had against them, they took up with the others of Arius’s party, who had been hired for this very purpose in the service of impiety and appointed by Secundus, who had been deposed by the great council: from Libya, Stephen and Seras and Polydeuces, who were accused on various charges; and then Pancratius and Ptolemaeus, a Melitian. And pretending to inquire about the faith, they did not escape the notice of their accusers that they were afraid; and they championed the heresy, and so they were split. Those with Acacius were suspect and altogether very few; the others were the majority. Acacius’s party, making use of the boldness of desperation, wholly denied what was written at Nicaea and slandered the council; but the others (and they were the majority) accepted everything else of the council, and only made objection to the term “of the same essence,” as suspect for its obscurity. As they stayed on in the place, with the accusers pressing and the accused evading them, and on that account being carried further into impiety and blaspheming against the Lord, the majority of the bishops grew indignant, and deposed Acacius, Patrophilus, Uranius, Eudoxius, and George, the former contractor, and others from Asia, Leontius and Theodosius, Evagrius and Theodulus; and they excommunicated Asterius, Eusebius, Augarus, Basilicus, Phoebus, Fidelius, Eutychius, Eustathius, and Magnus. This they did because, when summoned to defend themselves on charges brought against them by a great many, they did not appear; and they decreed that they should remain so until they had defended themselves and shown themselves clean of the charges brought against them. And having written to each diocese the judgment given against them, they went up …

Who, then, would not approve the piety of the bishops who assembled at the council of Ariminum? They endured so much toil of travel and the dangers of the sea, in order to depose those who hold the views of Arius and to keep the definitions of the fathers intact, resolving this in a holy and canonical manner. For each of them held that, if they undid what those before them had done, they would give a pretext to those after them for undoing what they themselves were now doing. And who would not condemn the levity of Eudoxius’s and Acacius’s party, who sign away the honor of their own fathers out of zeal and favor toward the Ariomaniacs? For what trust can be placed in what they do, if what their predecessors did is undone? Or how can they call fathers those whom they succeeded, when they themselves become accusers of their judgment? And above all, what would Acacius say to Eusebius, his own teacher, who not only subscribed at the council of Nicaea, but also made known by letter to the people under him that the faith confessed at the council of Nicaea was the true faith? For though he defended himself in the letter as he wished, he did not deny the terms, but even accused the Arians, because, in saying, “The Son was not before he was begotten,” they would not have him exist even before Mary. What, then, will they teach the people who were taught by those men? That the fathers erred? And how will they themselves be believed by those whom they teach to disobey their teachers? With what eyes will they look on the tombs of the fathers whom they now call heretics? And why do they disparage the followers of Valentinus and of the Phrygians and the Manichees, while calling saints those who, as they suppose, uttered similar things? Or how can they still be bishops, if they were appointed, as they slander them, by heretics? But if those men thought wrongly and by their writings led the world astray, let even the memory of them cease completely; and if … the writings …

The blessed apostle praises the Corinthians, saying, “that you remember me in everything and hold fast the traditions just as I delivered them to you”; but these men, thinking such things about those before them, will surely dare to say the opposite to the people: “We do not praise you for remembering the fathers; rather we approve of you when you do not hold fast their traditions.” And then let them slander their own low birth and say: “We are born not of pious men but of heretics.” For such things are fitting, as I said before, for those who sign away the honor of their fathers and their own salvation to the Arian heresy, and do not fear to hear what is written in the divine Proverb, “A wicked offspring curses his father,” and the threat laid down in the law against such people. They, then, because of their zeal for the heresy, have such a contentious mind; but as for you, do not be troubled on this account, nor take their daring for truth. For they are at odds even with one another, and, having departed from the fathers, they do not have one mind, but drift about in various and different changes; and, quarreling with the council of Nicaea, they have held many councils themselves, and have set out a faith at each, and have stood by none; and they will never stop doing this, because, seeking wrongly, they will not find the wisdom they have hated. I have therefore of necessity appended in part both what Arius wrote and as much as I could collect of what these men set out in various councils, so that you may know, and marvel, why they are not ashamed of quarreling with an ecumenical council and with their own fathers. Arius and those who thought with him, saying, “God made the Son from nothing and called him his Son; the Word of God is one of the creatures,” and “There was once when he was not; he is changeable, able to change when he wills,” were cast out of the church by the blessed Alexander.