Council of Carthage (419): acts and the Hispana canons (complete)

[The council] held by two hundred and seventeen bishops, in the era 456, at which it was decided that the council of Nicaea be requested from the Eastern bishops; at which synod the legation of the Roman church was present, namely Bishop Faustinus and the presbyters Philippus and Asellus; after the consulship of the most glorious emperors Honorius, for the twelfth time, and Theodosius, for the eighth time, Augusti, on the eighth day before the Kalends of June. At Carthage, in the sacristy of the basilica of Faustus, when Pope Aurelius had taken his seat together with Valentinus of the first see of the province of Numidia, and Faustinus of the church of Potentia in the province of Italy, Picenum, legate of the Roman church, and also the legates of the various African provinces, that is, of the two Numidias, Byzacena, Mauretania Sitifensis and Mauretania Caesariensis, and also of Tripoli, and Vincentius of Culusi, Fortunatianus, and the other bishops of the proconsular province, two hundred and seventeen, and also the presbyters Philippus and Asellus, legates of the Roman church, the deacons standing by, Bishop Aurelius said:

After the appointed day of the council, as you remember, most blessed brothers, many things were requested while we were waiting for our brothers who have now come to the present synod as legates, things which must necessarily be joined to the proceedings; for which we give thanks to our Lord for the gathering of so great an assembly. It remains that both the copies of the council of Nicaea which we now have, decreed by the fathers, and also what our predecessors here decreed in confirmation of that same synod, or what has been salutarily ordained according to that form for all the grades of the clergy from the highest to the lowest, be brought forward. It was said by the whole council: Let them be brought forward. Daniel the notary read: The profession of faith and the statutes of the council of Nicaea are as follows.

When he had heard these things, Faustinus, bishop of the people of Potentia in the province of Italy, Picenum, legate of the Roman church, said: Certain things have been enjoined on us by the apostolic see in writing, and certain also in instructions, to be dealt with together with your blessedness, as we also remember from the earlier proceedings, namely concerning the Nicene canons, that both their decree and the custom be preserved, since some things are held by order and canon, and some have been established by custom. If it pleases your blessedness, then, let us deal with these, so that you may make them known to the venerable see by your replies, and that it may be plainly clear to the venerable pope that we have given notice, even though the chapters of the business have already been inserted in the proceedings. Concerning these, then, as I said above, we ought to do what pleases your blessedness. Let the instruction be brought forward, then, so that your blessedness may know what is contained in it, so that an answer may be given to each point.

Bishop Aurelius said: Let the instruction be brought forward which our brothers and fellow priests recently presented in the proceedings, and the other things that have been done or are to be done. Then Daniel the notary read the instruction: “Zosimus, bishop, to his brother Faustinus and to his sons the presbyters Philippus and Asellus. The business entrusted to you is not unknown to you; carry out everything as if our presence were there, or rather because our presence is there in you, especially since you can have this as our mandate, and the words of the canons which we have inserted in this instruction for fuller strength; for thus spoke our dearest brothers in the council of Nicaea when they decreed on the appeal of bishops: ‘It has pleased that, if a bishop has been accused, and the assembled bishops of that region have judged him and removed him from his rank, and he is seen to have appealed and has taken refuge with the most blessed bishop of the Roman church, and wishes to be heard, and he thinks it just that the examination be renewed, let him deign to write to those bishops who are in the bordering and neighboring province, so that they themselves may inquire into everything diligently and decide according to the faith of truth. But if anyone asks that his case be heard again, and by his entreaty moves the Roman bishop to send a presbyter from his side, it shall be in the bishop's power what he wishes and what he judges; and if he decides that persons should be sent to judge in person with the bishops, having the authority of him by whom they were sent, it shall be at his discretion; but if he believes that the bishops suffice to put an end to the matter, he will do what he judges in his most wise counsel.’”

[4] Reply of Bishop Alypius on searching out the true copies of the council of Nicaea. And when this had been read, Alypius, bishop of the church of Thagaste, legate of the province of Numidia, said: About this we have already written back in the earlier letters of our council, and we profess that we will keep what was decreed in the council of Nicaea; yet it still troubles us, since, when we examined the Greek copies of this Nicene synod, we did not find these things there, for what reason I do not know. Therefore we ask your veneration, holy Pope Aurelius, since the authentic council of Nicaea is said to be in the city of Constantinople, that you deign to send some persons with letters of your holiness, not only to our holy brother the bishop of Constantinople himself, but also to the venerable priests of Alexandria and Antioch, so that they may send us this council attested by their letters, that all ambiguity may afterwards be removed, since we have by no means found it as our brother Faustinus has brought it. Yet we profess that we will keep these things for a little while, as I said before, until the complete copies come. And the venerable bishop of the Roman church, Boniface, is also to be asked by our letters to deign himself to send some persons to the said churches, who can bring the same copies of the said Nicene council in accordance with his letters. Now, however, we attach to these proceedings such copies of the said Nicene council as we have.

Faustinus, bishop, legate of the Roman church, said: Let not your holiness prejudge the Roman church, whether on this chapter or on others, because our brother and fellow bishop Alypius has deigned to say that the canons are doubtful; but deign to write these very things to our holy and most blessed pope, so that he too, inquiring after the complete canons, may deal with your holiness concerning all the decrees. Let it suffice that the most blessed bishop of the city of Rome himself also inquire, just as your holiness deals with it among yourselves, lest contention seem to arise between the churches, but that rather you may deliberate in brotherly love, he writing back what ought better to be observed. Bishop Aurelius said: Besides what we have set down in the proceedings, it is necessary that we also make known very fully, by letters of our littleness, to our holy brother and fellow priest Boniface each thing that we deal with; so, if our proposal pleases all, let us learn it from the mouth of all. The whole council said: It pleases.

Novatus, bishop, legate of Mauretania Sitifensis, said: We now remember that what was read in this present instruction also concerns presbyters and deacons, how they ought to be heard by their own bishops or by neighboring ones, which we have by no means read in the council of Nicaea; therefore let your holiness order this very thing to be read to us. Bishop Aurelius said: Let this too that is requested be read at its place. Daniel the notary read: “Concerning the appeals of clergy, that is, of those of lower rank, there is also a definite answer of the same synod, on which matter we believe we should insert what you are to do; it was said as follows from the council of Sardica (title 17): Bishop Osius said: What still moves me I ought not to keep silent. If some bishop is perhaps irascible, which he ought not to be, and is quickly or harshly roused against his presbyter or deacon and wishes to drive him out of the church, provision must be made that an innocent man is not condemned or deprived of communion; let him who has been cast out have the power to appeal to the neighboring bishops, so that his case may be heard and handled more carefully, because a hearing ought not to be denied to one who asks; and let that bishop who rejected him, justly or unjustly, accept patiently that the matter be discussed, so that his sentence may be either approved or corrected,” and so on.

When this had been read, Augustine, bishop of the church of Hippo Regius, legate of the province of Numidia, said: We profess that we will keep this too, subject to a more careful inquiry into the council of Nicaea. Bishop Aurelius said: If this also pleases the love of all of you, confirm it by your answer. The whole council said: Everything that was decreed in the council of Nicaea pleases us all. Jucundus, bishop of the church of Sufetula, legate of the province of Byzacena, said: What was decreed in the council of Nicaea can in no way be violated by anyone.

Faustinus, bishop, legate of the Roman church, said: Still, according to the profession of your holiness, both of holy Alypius and also of our brother Jucundus, I believe that some things are being confirmed and some weakened, which ought not to be, since the canons themselves have now been called into doubt. Therefore, as pleases both us and your blessedness, let your holiness deign to write to the holy and venerable bishop of the Roman church, so that he too may deliberate on what holy Augustine also has deigned to decide, whether this too is to be decreed and retained, that is, concerning the appeals of those of the lower grade. If, then, there is still doubt about this chapter, it is right that the bishop of the most blessed Roman see should be informed, if indeed you can find this in approved canons.

Bishop Aurelius said: Allow now also, as we long ago made known to your love, the copies of the statutes of the council of Nicaea, and also what was salutarily ordained here by our predecessors according to the form of the same council, or what has now been ordained by us, to be read and inserted in the proceedings. The whole council said: The copies of the faith and statutes of the Nicene synod which were brought to our council long ago by the predecessor of your holiness of blessed memory, Bishop Caecilianus, who was present there, and also what the fathers, following those copies, decreed here, or what we now decree by common deliberation, will remain inserted in these church proceedings; so that, as was said above, your blessedness may deign to write to the venerable men, the bishops of the churches of Antioch and Alexandria and also of Constantinople, that they send the truest copies of the council of Nicaea attested by their letters; by which, the truth being made clear, those chapters which our brother and fellow bishop Faustinus here present, and also our fellow presbyters Philippus and Asellus, brought with them in the instruction will either be confirmed by us if they are found there, or, if they are not found, we will deal with this matter at a synod assembled later. Daniel the notary read in the African council the profession of faith of the council of Nicaea and its statutes.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, born, not made, of one substance with the Father, which the Greeks call homoousion, through whom all things were made, both those in heaven and those on earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come from there to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit. But those who say, “There was when he was not,” and “Before he was born he was not,” and that he was made from things that are not, or from some other substance or nature, saying that the Son of God is changeable and alterable, these the catholic and apostolic church anathematizes.

To the most blessed lord and honorable brother Boniface, Aurelius, Valentinus of the first see of the province of Numidia, and the rest of us who were present, two hundred and seventeen in number, from the whole council of Africa. Since it has pleased the Lord that our humility should write back concerning the things which our holy brothers, the fellow bishop Faustinus and the fellow presbyters Philippus and Asellus, dealt with among us, not to Bishop Zosimus of blessed memory, from whom they brought instructions and letters to us, but to your veneration, who have been divinely appointed in his place, we ought briefly to set out the things that were concluded by the agreement of both sides, not those contained in the lengthy volumes of the proceedings, in which, with love preserved, yet not without some labor of dispute, we spent our time, deliberating in the proceedings on what now pertains to the case; although he too, if he were still in the body, would receive the more gladly what he saw concluded more peacefully, lord brother. The presbyter Apiarius, concerning whose ordination, excommunication, and appeal no light scandal had arisen, not only in the church of Sicca but in the church of all Africa, has asked pardon for all his errors and been restored to communion. Before that, our fellow bishop Urbanus of Sicca had without any hesitation corrected what seemed to need correction in him. But since we had to look to the peace and quiet of the church not only for the present but also for the future, since many such things had gone before, so that similar or even graver things had to be guarded against hereafter, it pleased us that the presbyter Apiarius be removed from the church of Sicca, keeping, that is, the honor of his rank, and that, having received a letter, he exercise the office of presbyter wherever else he wished and could; and this we granted him without difficulty when he asked for it by his own letter. Indeed, before this case was closed with this ending, among the other matters which occupied us in daily disputations, since reason itself demanded that we ask our brothers, the fellow bishop Faustinus and the fellow presbyters Philippus and Asellus, in the church proceedings, to set out whatever had been enjoined on them to deal with among us, they set out some things by word of mouth, without any writing; but when we demanded rather what they carried in writing, they produced the instruction, which, having been read to us, has also been attached to the proceedings which they are bringing to you. In it four things were enjoined on them to transact with us: first, concerning the appeals of bishops to the priest of the Roman church; second, that bishops not sail to the court unseasonably; third, concerning the rehearing of the cases of presbyters and deacons before neighboring bishops, if they have been wrongly excommunicated by their own bishops; fourth, concerning the excommunication of Bishop Urbanus, or even his summons to Rome, unless he corrected what seemed to need correction. Of all these, concerning the first and the third, that is, that it be lawful for a bishop to appeal to Rome, and that the cases of clergy be ended before the bishops of their own provinces, we already last year took care to make known, by our letters given to the same Bishop Zosimus of venerable memory, that we would allow these things to be kept for a little while, without any injury to him, until the inquiry into the statutes of the council of Nicaea. And now we ask of your holiness that you cause those things to be kept for us as they were done or decreed by the fathers at Nicaea, and that you cause to be put into practice there among you these things which they brought in the instruction: Likewise this: “If a bishop has been accused, and the assembled bishops of that region have judged him and removed him from his rank, and he is seen to have appealed and has taken refuge with the most blessed bishop of the Roman church, and wishes to be heard, and he thinks it just that the examination be renewed, let him deign to write to those bishops who are in the bordering and neighboring province, so that they themselves may inquire into everything diligently and decide according to the faith of truth. But if he who asks that his case be heard again moves the Roman bishop by his entreaty to send presbyters from his side, it shall be in the bishop's power what he wishes and what he judges; and if he decides that persons should be sent to judge in person with the bishops, having the authority of him by whom they were sent, it shall be at his discretion; but if he believes that the bishops suffice to put an end to the matter, he will do what he judges in his most wise counsel.” Likewise concerning presbyters and deacons: “If any bishop is irascible, which he ought not to be, and is quickly or harshly roused against his presbyter or deacon and wishes to drive him out of the church, provision must be made that an innocent man is not condemned or deprived of communion; let him who has been cast out have the power to appeal to the neighboring bishops, and let his case be heard and handled more carefully, because a hearing ought not to be denied to one who asks; and let that bishop who rejected him, justly or unjustly, accept patiently that the matter be discussed, so that his sentence may be either approved or corrected.” These things have certainly been inserted in the proceedings until the arrival of the truest copies of the council of Nicaea. If they are found there as decreed, and in the same way as they are contained in that very instruction which the brothers sent from the apostolic see presented among us, and if they were also kept in that order among you in Italy, we would by no means be compelled either to tolerate such things as we do not now wish to mention, or to suffer things intolerable. But we believe, with the help of the mercy of our God, that while your holiness presides over the Roman church we shall no longer suffer that arrogance, and that there will be kept toward us, with brotherly love, the things that ought to be kept toward us who raise no dispute, which, according to the wisdom and justice that the Most High has given you, you yourself also see must be observed, unless perhaps the canons of the council of Nicaea are otherwise. For although we have read very many codices, we have nowhere read in the council of Nicaea, in the Latin codices, the things sent from there in the aforesaid instruction; and because we could not find them here in any codex, we desire rather that they be brought to us from the Eastern churches, where the same decrees are said to be found also in authentic form. For this reason we beseech your veneration too that you yourself deign to write to the priests of those parts, that is, of the churches of Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople, and to others, if it pleases your holiness, so that from there the same canons decreed by the fathers at the city of Nicaea may come to us, you above all conferring this benefit, with the Lord's help, on all the Western churches. For who would doubt that those copies of the council of Nicaea, assembled in Greece, are the truest, which, brought from such different places and from the noble Greek churches, agree when compared? Until that is done, we profess that we will keep, until the proof, the things presented to us in the aforesaid instruction concerning the appeals of bishops to the priest of the Roman church and concerning the cases of clergy to be ended before the bishops of their own provinces; and we trust that your blessedness will help us in this according to the will of God. The other things done or confirmed in our synod, since our aforesaid brothers, Bishop Faustinus and the presbyters Philippus and Asellus, have taken them with them, they will make known to your holiness, if you so deign. And subscribed in another hand: May our Lord keep you for us for very many years, most blessed brother. Aurelius, bishop of Carthage, Alypius, Augustine, Possidius, Marinus, and the other two hundred and seventeen subscribed.

To the honorable lords, holy brothers and fellow bishops Aurelius and Valentinus, and to all the holy assembly gathered in the synod of Carthage, Cyril greets your love in God. We received with all joy, by our son the presbyter Innocentius, the letter of your veneration, containing a great complaint, in which you hope from us that we would furnish to your love, from the archive of our church, under the profession of our faith, the truest copies from the authentic synod decreed and confirmed by the holy fathers at the city of Nicaea, the metropolis of Bithynia. Therefore, honorable lords and brothers, with greeting going before, I have found it necessary to send to your love, by this bearer, our son Innocentius, most faithful copies from the authentic synod held in the city of Nicaea in Bithynia; which you will also find if you search in the church history. Concerning Pascha, as you write, we announce to you that we shall celebrate it on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of May in the coming indiction. And in another hand: May our God and Lord keep your assembly, as we pray, dearest brothers. Amen.

Letter of Atticus, bishop of Constantinople. To the most blessed brothers and fellow bishops Aurelius, Valentinus, and the other dearest brothers gathered in the synod held at Carthage, Atticus, bishop. By our son Marcellus, your subdeacon, I received the letter of your love with all rejoicing, giving thanks to the Lord that I have been found worthy to enjoy the blessing of such great brothers, most blessed lords and brothers. You write, indeed, that I should send, under attestation of the faith, the truest canons decreed by the fathers at the city of Nicaea, the metropolis of Bithynia: and who is there who would deny to his brothers the common faith or the statutes confirmed by the fathers? Therefore, by the same son of mine Marcellus, your subdeacon, who is in great haste, I have sent the complete canons, as they were decreed by the fathers in the city of Nicaea, as you asked, requesting that your holy assembly order much prayer to be made for me. And in another hand: May our God keep your holiness, as we pray, most holy brothers.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord, our Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, born, not created, of the same substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and will come from there to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit. But those who say, “There was a time when he was not,” and that he was made from nothing, or who say that the Son of God is from another substance or essence, or is changeable or alterable, the catholic and apostolic church anathematizes. To this creed of faith are also attached copies of the statutes which were decreed in the great and holy synod at the city of Nicaea, the metropolis of the province of Bithynia; and they were translated from the Greek by Philo and Evaristus of Constantinople.