Church History 2.6–2.8
Greek text: GCS 19.English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 3 (1892), trans. B. Jackson.
Chapter 2
2.6GCS 19:100–119
Εἰς δὲ τὴν Σαρδικὴν πεντήκοντα μὲν καὶ διακόσιοι συνῆλθον ἀρχιερεῖς, ὃς διδάσκει τὰ παλαιὰ διηγήματα. ἀφίκετο δὲ καὶ ὁ μέγας ᾿θανάσιος καὶ ᾿Δσκληπᾶς ὁ Γαζαῖος, οὗ καὶ πρόσθεν ἐμνήσθην, καὶ Μάρκελλος ὁ Ἀγκύρας τῆς Γαλατῶν" μητροπόλεως, ὃς καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς συνόδου τῆς μεγάλης ἐπίσκοπος ἦν. ἀφίκοντο δὲ καὶ οἱ τούτον κατήγοροι καὶ οἱ τῆς αἱρετικῆς προστατεύοντες φάλαγγος, οἱ πάλαι τῶν περὶ τὸν Ἀθανάσιον γενόμενοι δικασταί. ἀλλὰ τῆς συνόδου μεμαθηκότες τὸ ἀκλινὲς καὶ τὴν ἐν τοῖς θείοις δόγμασιν ὑγίειαν, οὐδὲ κληθέντες εἰσῆλθον εἰς τὸ συνέδριον ἀλλ᾽ ἀπέδρασαν σὺν τοῖς ἀδίκοις δικασταῖς καὶ οἱ κατήγοροι. καὶ τοῦτο ἄμεινον διδασχει τῆς συνόδου τὰ γράμματα, ἃ σαφοῦς εἵνεκα διδασχαλίας ἐνθήσω τῇ συγγραφῇ.. Ἢ ἁγία σύνοδος ἡ κατὰ θεοῦ χάριν ἐν Σαρδικῇ συναχθεῖσα ἀπό τε Ῥώμης καὶ Σπανίων καὶ Γαλλίων, Ἰταλίας, Καμπανίας, Καλαβρίας. Ἀφρικῆς, Σαρδανίας, Παννονίας, Λιυσίας, Δακίας, Δαρδανίας, ἄλλης Δακίας, Μακεδονίας, Θεσσαλίας, Ἀχαΐας, Ἠπείρω, Θρᾷχῆς, Ῥοδόπης, Ασίας, Καρίας, Βιθυνίας, Ἑλλησπόντου, Φρυγίας, Πισιδίας, Καππαδοκίας, Πόντου, Κιλικίας, Φρυγίας ἄλλης. Παμφυλίας, Λυδίας, νήσων Κυχλάδων, Αἰγύπτου, Θηβαΐδος, Λιβύης, Γαλατίας, Παλαιστίνης, Ἀραβίας. τοῖς πανταχοῦ ἐπισκόποις καὶ συλλειτουργοῖς τῆς καθολικῆς καὶ ἀποστολικῆς ἐκκλησίας, ἀγαπητοῖς ἀδελφοῖς ἐν κυρίῳ χαίρειν. Πολλὰ μὲν καὶ πολλάκις ἐτόλμησαν οἱ ᾿ρειομανῖται κατὰ τῶν δούλων τοῦ θεοῦ τῶν τὴν πίστιν φυλαττόντων τὴν ὀρθήν. νόθον γὰρ ὑποβάλλοντες διδασκαλίαν τοὺς ὀρθοδόξους ἐλαύνειν ἐπειράθησαν᾽ τοσοῦτον δὲ λοιπὸν κατεπανέστησαν κατὰ τῆς πίστεως οὗς μηδὲ τὴν ἀκοὴν τῶν θεοφιλεστάτων βασιλέων λαθεῖν. τοιγαροῦν τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ συνεργούσης, καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ εὐσεβέστατοι βασιλεῖς -συνήγαγον ἡμᾶς ἐκ διαφόρων ἐπαρχιῶν καὶ πόλεων καὶ τὴν ἁγίαν ταύτην σύνοδον ἐπὶ τὴν Σαρδέων πόλιν γενέσθαι δεδώκασιν, ἵνα πᾶσα μὲν διχόνοια περιαιρεθῇ, πάσης δὲ κακοπιστίας ἐξελαθείσης, "ἢ εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν εὐσέβεια μόνη παρὰ πᾶσι φυλάττηται. ἦλθον γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑῴας ἐπίσκοποι, προτραπέντες καὶ αὐτοὶ παρὰ τῶν εὐσεβεστάτων βασιλέων, μάλιστα δι᾿ ὅπερ ἐθούλουν πολλάκις περὶ τῶν ἀγαπητῶν ἀδελφῶν ἡμῶν καὶ συλλειτουργῶν, ᾿θανασίου τοῦ ἐπισκχύπου τῆς Ἀλεξανόρείας καὶ Μαρκέλλου τοῦ ἐπισκόπου τῆς Ἀγκυρογαλατίας καὶ Ἀσχληπᾶ τοῦ Γάζης. ἴσως γὰρ καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς αὐτοὺς ἔφθασαν αἱ διαβολαί, ὡς καὶ τὰς ἡμετέρας ἀκοὰς ἐπεχείρησαν παρασαλεῦσαι, ἵνα κατὰ μὲν τῶν ἀθώων ἃ λέγουσι πιστεύηται, τὴν "δὲ τῆς μοχθηρᾶς αὐτῶν αἱρέσεως ὑπόνοιαν ἐπικρύψωσιν. ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ ταῦτα ποιεῖν συνεχωρήθησαν. ἔστι γὰρ ὃ προϊστάμενος τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν κύριος, ὁ ὑπὲρ, τούτων καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντων ἡμῶν ᾿θάνατον ὑπομείνας, καὶ δι᾿ αὐτὰς τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἄνοδον πᾶσιν εἡμῖν δεδωκώς. Πάλαι μὲν οὖν ἔγραψαν οἱ περὶ Πὐσέβιον καὶ Μίάριν καὶ Θεόδωρον καὶ Θεογόνιον καὶ Οὐρσάχιον καὶ Οὐάλεντα καὶ Πῆμηνόφαντον καὶ Στέφανον Ἰουλίῳ: τῷ συλλειτουργῷ ἡμῶν, τῆς Ῥωμαίων ἐκχ-χλησίας ἐπισκόπῳ, κατὰ τῶν προειρημένων συλλειτουργῶν ἡμῶν, λέγομεν δὴ Ἀθανασίου τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ Μαρκέλλου τοῦ ἐπισκόπου Ἀγκυρογαλατίας καὶ ᾿σχληπᾷ τοῦ Γάζης. ἔγραψαν ὁὲ καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων μερῶν ἐπίσκοποι, μαρτυροῦντες μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ καθαρότητι τοῦ συλλειτουργοῦ ἡμῶν Ἀθανασίου, τὰ δὲ παρὰ -τῶν περὶ Εὐσέβιον γενόμενα οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ψεύδη καὶ συκοφαντίας εἶναι μεστά. εἰ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα ἐκ τοῦ κληθέντας αὐτοὺς παρὰ τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ καὶ συλλειτουργοῦ Ἰουλίου μὴ ἀπαντῆσαι, καὶ ἐκ τῶν γραφέντων παρὰ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐπισχύπου Ἰουλίου φανερὰ τούτων ἡ -συχοφαντία πέφηνεν (ἦλθον γὰρ ἂν εἴπερ ἐθάρρουν οἷς ἔπραξαν καὶ πεποιήκασι κατὰ τῶν συλλειτουργῶν ἡμῶν), ὅμως καὶ ἐξ ὧν πεποιήκασιν ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἁγίᾳ καὶ μεγάλῃ συνόδῳ, φανερωτέραν τὴν ξΣαυτῶν συσκευὴν ἀπέδειξαν. ἀπαντήσαντες γὰρ εἰς τὴν Σαρδέων πόλιν, ἰδόντες τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἡμῶν Ἀθανάσιον καὶ Διάρκελλον καὶ Ασκληπᾶν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους, ἐφοβήθησαν εἰς κρίσιν ἐλθεῖν. καὶ οὐχ -ἅπαξ οὐδὲ δεύτερον ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλάκις κληθέντες, οὐχ ὑπήκουσαν ταῖς κλήσεσι" καίτοι πάντων τῶν συνελθόντων ἐπισκόπων, μάλιστα τοῦ εὐγηροτάτου Ὁσίου τοῦ καὶ διὰ τὸν χρόνον καὶ διὰ τὴν ὁμολογίαν καὶ διὰ τὸ τοσοῦτον κάματον ὑπομεμενηκέναι πάσης τιμῆς τε καὶ αἰδοῦς τυγχάνοντος ἀξίου, ἀναμενόντων καὶ προτρεπομένων αὐτοὺς εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν κρίσιν, ἵνα ἅπερ ἀπόντων τῶν συλλειτουργῶν ἐθρύλησαν καὶ ἔγραψαν κατ᾽ αὐτῶν, ταῦτα παρόντες ἐλέγξαι δυνηθῶσιν. ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ ἦλθον κληθέντες, καθὼς προείπομεν, δεικνύντες καὶ ἐκ τούτων τὴν συκοφαντίαν αὐτῶν καὶ μόνον οὐχὶ τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν καὶ τὴν συσκευὴν ἣν πεποιήκασι βοῶντες διὰ τῆς παραιτή"σεως. οἱ γὰρ θαρροῦντες οἷς λέγουσι, τούτοις καὶ εἰς πρόσωπον συστῆναι δύνανται. ἐπειδὴ δὲ οὐκ ἀπήντησαν, νομίζομεν λοιπὸν μηδένα ἀγνοεῖν, κἂν ἐκεῖνοι πάλιν κακουργεῖν ἐθελήσωσιν, ὅτι μηδὲν "ἔχοντες κατὰ τῶν συλλειτουργῶν ἡμῶν ἐλέγξαι, τούτους μὲν διαβάλλουσιν ἀπόντας, παρόντας δὲ διαφεύγουσιν. Ἔφυγον γάρ, ἀγαπητοὶ ἀδελφοί, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὴν κατὰ τούτων -συκοφαντίαν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι καὶ τοὺς ἐπὶ διαφόροις ἐγκλήμασιν ἐγκαλοῦντας αὐτοῖς ἐθεώρουν ἀπαντήσαντας. δεσμὰ γὰρ ἣν καὶ σίδηρα προφερόμενα᾽ καὶ ἀπ᾽ ἐξορίας ἐπανελθόντες ἄνθρωποι, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἔτι κατεχομένων ἐν ἐξορίαις ἐλθόντες ἦσαν συλλειτουργοί᾽ συγγενεῖς καὶ φίλοι δὲ τῶν δι’ αὐτοὺς ἀποθανόντων παρεγένοντο᾽ καὶ τὸ "μέγιστον, ἐπίσκοποι παρῆσαν, ὧν ὃ μὲν τὰ σίδηρα καὶ τὰς κατήνας προέφερεν ἃ δι᾿ αὐτοὺς ἐφόρεσεν, οἱ δὲ τὸν ἐκ τῆς διαβολῆς αὐτῶν θάνατον ἐμαρτύραντο. εἰς τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἔφθασαν ἀπονοίας ὡς καὶ ἐπίσκοπον ἐπιχειρεῖν ἀνελεῖν" καὶ ἀνεῖλον ἂν εἰ μὴ ἐξέφυγε τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῶν. ἀνέστη γοῦν ὁ συλλειτουργὸς ἡμῶν ὁ μακαρίτης Θεόὅουλος, φεύγων αὐτῶν τὴν διαβολήν᾽ κεκέλευστο γὰρ ἐκ διαβολῆς αὐτῶν ἀποθανεῖν. ἄλλοι δὲ ξιφῶν πληγὰς ἐπεδείκνυντο, ἄλλοι "λιμὸν ὑπομεμενηκέναι παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀπωδύροντο. καὶ ταῦτα οὐχ οἱ τυχόντες ἐμαρτύρουν ἄνθρωποι, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκκλησίαι ὅλαι ἦσαν, ὑπὲρ ὧν οἱ ἀπαντήσαντες καὶ πρεσβεύοντες ἐδίδασκον, στρατιώτας ξιφήρεις. Ὄχλους μετὰ δοπάλων, δικαστῶν ἀπειλάς, πλαστῶν γραμμάτων ὑποβολάς (ἀνεγνώσθη γὰρ γράμματα τῶν περὶ Θεογόνιον κατὰ τῶν ουλλειτουργῶν ἡμῶν, Ἰθανασίου καὶ “Ιαρκέλλου καὶ ᾿Δσκληπᾶ, ἵνα καὶ βασιλέας κατ᾽ αὐτῶν κινήσωσι" καὶ ταῦτα ἤλεγξαν οἱ γενόμενοι τότε διάκονοι Θεογονίου), πρὸς τούτοις παρθένων γυμνώσεις, ἐμπρησμοὺς ἐκκλησιῶν, φυλακὰς κατὰ τῶν συλλειτουργῶν" καὶ ταῦτα πάντα δι᾿ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ διὰ τὴν δυσώνυμον αἵρεσιν τῶν Ἀρειομανιτῶν. οἱ γὰρ παραιτούμενοι τὴν πρὸς τούτους χειροτονίαν καὶ χοενωνίαν ἀνάγκην εἶχον πειραθῆναι τούτων. Ταῦτα τοίνυν συνορῶντες, εἰς στενὸν εἶχον τὰ τῆς προαιρέσεος. αἰσχυνόμενοι γὰρ ἃ δεδράκασι, διὰ τὸ μὴ δύνασθαι ἔτε ταῦτα κρύπτεσθαι ἀπήντησαν εἰς τὴν Σαρδέων πόλιν, ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἀφίξεως οὑπόνοιαν ος μὴ πλημμελήσαντες δόξωσιν ἀποφέρεσθαι. ἰδόντες οὖν τοὺς παρ᾽ αὐτῶν συχοφαντηθέντας καὶ τοὺς παρ᾽ αὐτῶν παθόντας, τοὺς κατηγόρους, τοὺς ἐλέγχους πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔχοντες, εἰσελθεῖν οὐχ ἐδύναντο κληθέντες, καίτοι τῶν συλλειτουργῶν ἡμῶν ᾿Ἀθανασίου καὶ Μαρκέλλου καὶ Ἀσκληπᾶ πολλῇ τῇ παρρησίᾳ χρωμένων καὶ νἀποδυρομένων καὶ ἐπικειμένων καὶ προκαλουμένων αὐτούς, καὶ "ἐπαγγελλομένων μὴ μόνον ἐλέγχειν τὴν συκοφαντίαν ἀλλὰ καὶ δεικνύναι ὅσα κατὰ τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν αὐτῶν ἐπλημμέλησαν. οἱ δὲ τοσούτῳ φόβῳ τοῦ συνειδότος κατεσχέθησαν οἷς φυγεῖν αὐτούς, καὶ διὰ τῆς φυγῆς τὴν συκοφαντίαν αὐτῶν ἐλέγξαι καὶ ἅπερ ἐπλημμέλησαν διὰ τῶν δρασμῶν ὁμολογῆσαι. Εὶ καὶ τὰ μάλιστα οὐ μόνον ἐκ τῶν προτέρων, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τούτων ἡ καχοτροπία καὶ ἡ συχοφαντία αὐτῶν δείκνυται, ὅμως ἵνα μηδὲ ἐκ τῆς φυγῆς πρόφασίν τινα ἑτέρας κακουργίας πορίσασθαι ᾽δυνηθῶσιν, ἐσκεψάμεθα κατὰ τὸν τῆς ἀληθείας λόγον τὰ παρ᾽ ἐκείνων δραματουργηθέντα ἐξετάσαι. καὶ τοῦτο προθέμενοι, εὑρήχαμὲεν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν πραχθέντων συκοφάντας καὶ μηδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ἐπιβουλὴν κατὰ τῶν συλλειτουργῶν ἡμῶν πεποιηκότας. ὃν γὰρ ἔλεγον παρὰ Ἀθανασίου πεφονεῦσθαι Ἀρσένιον, οὗτος ζῇ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ζῶσιν ἐξετάζεται. ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου καὶ τὰ περὶ τῶν ἄλλων θρυληθέντα παρ᾽ αὐτῶν φαίνεται πλάσματα. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ περὶ ποτηρίου ἐθρύλουν ὡς κλασθέντος παρὰ Δακαρίου τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου Ἀθανασίου, ἐμαρτύρησαν μὲν αὐτοῖς οἱ παραγενόμενοι ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας καὶ ΔΠῆαρεώτου καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ᾿τόπων, ὅτι μηδὲν τούτων πέπρακται" καὶ οἱ ἐπίσκοποι δὲ γράψαντες οἱ ἀπὸ τῆς Αἰγύπτου πρὸς Ἰούλιον τὸν συλλειτουργὸν ἡμῶν ἱκανῶς ᾽διεβεβαιοῦντο μηδὲ ὑπόνοιαν ὅλως τοιαύτην γεγενῆσθαι. ἄλλως τε λέγουσιν ὑπομνήματα ἔχειν κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ, ἃ κατὰ μονομέρειαν συνέστη ᾽γεγενῆσθαι. καὶ ὅμως καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὑπομνήμασι τούτοις ἐθνικοὶ καὶ "κατηχούμενοι ἠρωτῶντο" ἐξ ὧν εἷς κατηχούμενος ἐρωτώμενος ἔφασκεν “ἔνδον εἶναι ὅτε Μακάριος ἐπέστη τῷ τόπῳ, καὶ ἕτερος ἐρωτώμενος ἔλεγε τὸν θρυλούμενον παρ᾽ αὐτῶν Ἰσχύραν νοσοῦντα κατακχεῖσθαι ἐἐν κελλίῳ, ὡς ἀπὸ τούτου φαίνεσθαι μηδ᾽ ὅλως γεγενῆσθαΐ τε τῶν "ὅλων μυστηρίων, διὰ τὸ τοὺς κατηχουμένους ἔνδον εἶναι καὶ τὸν ἀγεέρεν μὴ παρεῖναι. ἀλλὰ νοσοῦντα κχαταχεῖσθαι. καὶ γὰρ καὶ "αὐτὸς ὁ παμπόνηρος Ἰσχύρας, ψευσάμενος ἐπὶ τῷ εἰρηκέναι κεκαυχέγαι τὸν Ἀθανάσιόν τινα τῶν θείων βιβλίων καὶ ὑ διαψεύσασθαι. ὁμολόγησε κατ᾽ ἐχεῖνο καιροῦ νοσεῖν ὅτε Λιακάριος παρῆν καὶ χαταχεῖσθαι, ὡς καὶ ἐκ τούτου συκοφάντην αὐτὸν δείχνυσθαι. ἀμέλει "τῆς συκοφαντίας ταύτης μισθὸν αὐτῷ τῷ Ἰσχύρᾳ δεδώκασιν ἐπισχόύπου ὄνομα, τῷ μηδὲ πρεσβυτέρῳ τυγχάνοντι., ἀπαντήσαντες γὰρ δύο πρεσβύτεροι, σὺν Μελιτίῳ ποτὲ γενόμενοι, ὕστερον δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ μακαρίου Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ γενομένου ἐπισκόπου Ἀλεξανδρείας δεχθέντες, [οἷ καὶ σὺν Αθανασίῳ οντες ἐμαρτυρησαν μηδὲ πώποτε "τοῦτον πρεσβύτερον Μ|εελιτίου γεγενῆσθαι, μηδ᾽ ὅλως ἐσχηκέναι Μελίτιον εἰς τὸν “Μαρεώτην ἐκκλησίαν ἢ λειτουργόν. καὶ ὅμως τὸν "μηδὲ πρεσβύτερον τυγχάνοντα νῦν ος ἐπίσκοπον προήγαγον, ἵνα "τῷ ὀνόματι τούτῳ δόξωσιν ἐπὶ τῇ συκοφαντίᾳ καταπλήττειν τοὺς ἀκούοντας. "Δνεγνώσθη δὲ καὶ τὸ σύγγραμμα τοῦ συλλειτουργοῦ ἡμῶν Δαρ᾿κέλλου καὶ εὐρέθη τῶν περὶ Εὐσέβιον ἡ κακοτεχνία᾽ ἃ γὰρ ὡς ζητῶν ὁ Μάρκελλος εἴρηκεν, ταῦτα ος ὡμολογημένα διαβεβλήκασιν. ἀνε- -γνώσθη γοῦν ταῦτα καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς καὶ τὰ πρὸ αὐτῶν τῶν ζητημάτων, καὶ ὀρθὴ η πίστις τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ευρέθη. οὔτε γὰρ ἀπὸ τῆς αγίας "Μαρίας, ὡς αὐτοὶ διεβεβαιώσαντο, ἀρχὴν ἐδίδου τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ λόγῳ, οὔτε τέλος ἔχειν τὴν βασιλείαν αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν ἂναρχον καὶ ἀκατάπαυστον εἶναι τὴν τούτου ἔγραψεν. Καὶ ᾿᾿σκληπᾶς δὲ ὁ συλλειτουργὸς προσήνεγκεν ὑπομνήματα ᾽γεγενημένα ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ, παρόντων τῶν κατηγόρων καὶ ὐσεβίου τοῦ ἀπὸ Καισαρείας" καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἀποφάσεων τῶν διχκασάντων ἐπισχόπον ἔδειξεν ἑαυτὸν ἀθῶον εἶναι. Ιίχοτως οὖν, ἀδελφοὶ ἀγαπητοί, καλούμενοι πολλάκις οὐχ ὑπα"κούουσιν, εἰκότως ἔφυγον. ὑπὸ γὰρ τοῦ συνειδότος ἐλαυνόμενοι. ᾿φυγῇ τὰς συκοιαντίας ἑαυτῶν ἐβεβαίωσαν, καὶ πιστευθῆναι κατ᾽ "αὐτῶν πεποιήκασιν ἅπερ παρόντες οἱ κατηγοροῦντες ἔλεγον καὶ ἐπεδείκνυντο. ἔτι τοίνυν πρὸς τούτοις πᾶσι καὶ τοὺς πάλαι κατὴηγορηθέντας καὶ ἐχβληθέντας διὰ τὴν ᾿ἀρείου αἵρεσιν οὐ μόνον ἐδέξαντο, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς μείζονα βαθμὸν προήγαγον, διακόνους μὲν εἰς πρεσβυτέριον, ἀπὸ δὲ πρεσβυτέρων εἰς ἐπισκοπήν, δι’ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ ἵνα τὴν ἀσέβειαν διασπεῖραι καὶ πλατῦναι δυνηθῶσι καὶ τὴν εὐσεβῆ διαφθείρωσι πίστιν. Εἰσὶ δὲ τούτων μετὰ τοὺς περὶ Εὐσέβιον νῦν ἔξαρχοι Θεόδωρος ἀπὸ Πρακλείας, Νάρκισσος ἀπὸ Νερωνιάδος τῆς Κιλικίας, Στέφανος ἀπὸ ΑἸντιοχείας, Γεώργιος ἅπο “αοδικείας, ἄχαάκιος ἀπὸ Καισαρείας "τῆς Παλαιστίνης, Διηνόφαντος ἄπο Ἐφέσου τῆς “σίας, Οὐρσάχιος ἀπὸ Σιγγιδούνου τῆς Μυσίας, Οἴαλῆς ἀπὸ Ιυρσοῦ τῆς Παννονίας. καὶ γὰρ οὗτοι τοῖς σὺν αὐτοῖς ἐλθοῦσιν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑῴας οὐχ ἐπέτρεπον οὔτε εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν σύνοδον εἰσελθεῖν οὔτε ὅλως εἰς τὴν "ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ παραβαλεῖν συνεχώρησαν. καὶ ἐρχόμενοι δὲ εἰς τὴν Σαρδικὴν κατὰ τόπους συνόδους ἐποιοῦντο πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς καὶ συνθήχας μετὰ ἀπειλῶν, ὥστε ἐλθόντας αὐτοὺς εἰς τὴν Σαρδικὴν μηδ΄ ολὼς εἰς τὴν κρίσιν ἐλθεῖν, μήτε ἐπὶ τὸ αὖτο συνελθεῖν τῇ ἀγίᾳ καὶ μεγάλῃ συνόδῳ, ἀλλὰ μόνον ἐλθόντας καὶ ἀφοσιώσει τὴν ἑξαυτῶν ἐπιδημίαν ἐπιδειξαμένους ταχέως φυγεῖν. ταῦτα γὰρ γνῶναι δεδυνημεθα παρὰ τῶν συλλειτουργῶν ἡμῶν Μακαρίου ἀπὸ Παλαιστίνης καὶ Ἀστερίου ἀπὸ Ἀραβίας, τῶν ἐλθόντων σὺν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀναχωρησάντων ἀπὸ τῆς ἀπιστίας αὐτῶν. οὗτοι γὰρ ἐλθόντες εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν σύνοδον, τὴν μὲν βίαν ἣν ἔπαθον ἀπωδύραντο, οὐδὲν δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτοῖς ὀρθὸν ἔλεγον πράττεσθαι, προστιθέντες καὶ τοῦτο οἧς ἄρα εἶεν τῆς ὀρθῆς ἀντιποιούμενοι δόξης καὶ κωλυόμενοι ἐξ αὐτῶν ἐλθεῖν ἐνταῦθα καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀπειλεῖν καὶ ἐντέλλεσθαι κατὰ τῶν βουλομένων ἀναχωρεῖν ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν. τούτου γοῦν ἕνεκα καὶ ἐν ἑνὶ οἴκῳ πάντες μεῖναι ἐσπούδασαν, μηδὲ τὸ βραχύτατον ἰδιάζειν αὐτοῖς ἐπιτρέψαντες. Ἐπεὶ οὖν οὐκ ἔδει παρασιωπῆσαι οὐδὲ ἀνεκδικήτους ἐᾶσαι τὰς συκοφαντίας, τὰ δεσμά, τοὺς φόνους, τὰς πληγάς, τὰς περὶ τῶν πλαστῶν ἐπιστολῶν συσκευάς, τὰς αἰκίας, τὰς γυμνώσεις τῶν παρ"θένων, τὰς ἐξορίας, τὰς καταλύσεις τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν, τοὺς ἐμπρησμούς, τὰς μεταθέσεις ἀπὸ μικρῶν πόλεων εἰς μείζονας παροικίας, καὶ πρὸ ὅγε πάντων τὴν κατὰ τῆς ὀρθῆς πίστεως νῦν ἐπαναστᾶσαν δυσώγυμον Αρειανὴν αἵρεσιν δι᾿ αὐτῶν, τούτου γοῦν ἕνεκεν τοὺς μὲν ἀγαπητοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ἡμῶν καὶ συλλειτουργούς, Ἀθανάσιον τὸν τῆς Ἀλεξανδρείας ἐπίσκοπον καὶ Πῆάρκελλον τὸν τῆς Ἀγχυρογαλατίας καὶ Ἀσκληπᾶν τὸν Γάζης καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτοῖς συλλειτουργοῦντας τῷ κυρίῳ, ἀθώους καὶ καθαροὺς εἶναι ἀπεφηνάμεθα, γράψαντες καὶ εἰἷς τὴν ἑκάστου παροικίαν ὥστε γιγνώσκειν ἑκάστης ἐκκλησίας τοὺς λαοὺς τοῦ ἰδίου ἐπισκόπου τὴν καθαρότητα καὶ τοῦτον μὲν ἔχειν ἐπίσκοπον καὶ προσδοκᾶν, τοὺς δὲ εἰς τὰς ἐκκλησίας αὐτῶν ἐπελθόντας δίκην λύκων, Γρηγόριον τὸν ἐν ἈΙλεξανδρείᾳ, Βασίλειον τὸν ἐν Ἀγκύρᾳ, καὶ Κυντιανὸν τὸν ἐν Γάζῃ, τούτους μηδὲ ἐπισκόπους ὀνομάζειν μηδὲ Χριστιανοὺς μηδὲ ὅλως κοινονίαν τινὰ πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἔχειν μηδὲ δέχεσθαί τινα παρ᾽ αὐτῶν γράμματα μήτε γράφειν πρὸς "αὐτούς. Τοὺς δὲ περὶ Θεόδωρον τὸν ἀπὸ Ἡρακλείας τῆς Εὐρώπης καὶ Νάρκισσον τὸν ἀπὸ Νερωνιάδος τῆς Κιλικίας καὶ Ἀκάχιον τὸν ἀπὸ Καισαρείας τῆς Παλαιστίνης καὶ Στέφανον ἀπὸ Ἀντιοχείας καὶ Οὐρσάκιον ἀπὸ Σιγγιδούνου τῆς Μυσίας καὶ Οὐάλεντα τὸν ἀπὸ ΔΙυρσῶν τῆς Παννονίας καὶ Μηνόφαντον τὸν ἀπὸ Ἐφέσου καὶ Γεώργιον τὸν ἀπὸ Λαοδικείας, εἰ καὶ φοβηθεὶς μὴ παρεγένετο ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑῴας, ὅμως διὰ τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ μακαρίου Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ "γενομένου ἐπισχόύπου Ἀλεξανδρείας καθηῃρῆσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ διὰ τὸ καὶ τούτους σὺν αὐτῷ τῆς ᾿Ἰρείου μανίας εἶναι καὶ διὰ τὰ Ἐἐἐπενεχθέντα αὐτοῖς ἐγκλήματα, τούτοις παμψηφεὶ καθεῖλεν ἡ αγία σύνοδος ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς" καὶ ἐκρίναμεν μὴ μόνον αὐτοὺς ἐπισκόπους μὴ εἶναι, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ κοινωνίας μετὰ τῶν πιστῶν αὐτοὺς καταξιοῦσθαι. τοὺς γὰρ χωρίζοντας τῆς τοῦ πατρὸς οὐσίας καὶ θεότητος τὸν υἱὸν καὶ ἀπαλλοτριοῦντας τὸν λόγον ἀπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς χωρίζεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας προσήκει καὶ ἀλλοτρίους εἶναι τοῦ Χριστιανῶν ὀνόματος. ἔστωσαν τοίνυν καὶ ἡμῖν καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνάθεμα, διὰ τὸ κεκαπηλευκέναι αὐτοὺς τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληθείας. ἀποστολικὸν γάρ ἐστι παράγγελμα' εἴ τις ὑμᾶς εὐαγγελίζεται παρ᾽ ὃ παρελάβετε, ἀνάθεμα ἔστως. τούτοις μηδένα κοινωνεῖν παραγγείλατε᾽ οὐδεμία γὰρ κοινωνία φωτὶ "πρὸς σκότοςς. τούτους πάντας μακρὰν ποιεῖτε οὐδεμία γὰρ συμφωνία Χριστῷ πρὸς Βελίαρε. καὶ φυλάξασθε, ἀδελφοὶ ἀγαπητοί, μήτε γράφειν πρὸς αὐτοὺς μήτε γράμματα παρ᾽ αὐτῶν. δέχεσθαι. σπουδάσατε δὲ καὶ ὑμεῖς, ἀγαπητοὶ ἀδελφοὶ καὶ συλλειτουργοί, ὡς τῷ πνεύματι παρόντες τῇ συνόδῳ ἡμῶν συναινέσαι καὶ ψηφίσασθαι δι ὑπογραφῆς ὡὁμετέρας, ὑπὲρ τοῦ παρὰ πάντων ὅ τῶν ἁπανταχοῦ συλλειτουργῶν ἡμῶν ὁμοφωνίαν διασώζεσθαι. Αποχηρύττομεν δὲ ἐκείνους καὶ ἐξορίζομεν τῆς καθολικῆς ἐκχ"κλησίας τοὺς διαβεβαιουμένους ὅτι θεὸς ἐστιν δηλονότι ὁ Χριστὸς, ἀλλὰ μὴν ἀληθινὸς θεὸς οὐχ ἔστιν, ὅτι υἱός ἐστιν, ἀλλὰ ἀληθινὸς ουἱὸς οὐκ ἔστιν, ὅτι γεννητός ἐστιν ἅμα καὶ γενητός. οὕτως γὰρ ἑαυτοὺς νοεῖν τὸν γεγεννημένον ὁμολογοῦσιν, ὅτι οὕτως εἶπον" τὸ γεγεννημένον γεγενημένον ἐστίνε, καὶ ὅτι, τοῦ Χριστοῦ πρὸ αἰώνων ὄντος, διδόασιν αὐτῷ ἀρχὴν καὶ τέλος, ὅπερ οὐκ ἐν καιρῷ, ἀλλὰ πρὸ παντὸς χρόνου ἔχει. καὶ ὑπόγυον δὲ δύο ἔχεις ἀπὸ τῆς ἀσπίδος τῆς “ρειανῆς ἐγεννήθησαν, Οὐάλης καὶ Οὐρσάκιος" οἵ τινες καυχῶνται καὶ οὐκ ἀμφιβάλλουσι λέγοντες ἑαυτοὺς Χριστιανοὺς εἶναι καὶ οὔτε ὁ λόγος καὶ ὅτι τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ ἐσταυρώθη καὶ ἐσφάγη κεὼ ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἀνέστη καί, ὅπερ τὸ τῶν αἱρετικῶν σύστημα φιλοεικεῖ, διαφόρους εἶναι τὰς ὑποστάσεις τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος καὶ εἶναι κεχωρισμένας. “Πμεῖς δὲ ταύτην παρειλήφαμεν καὶ δεδιδάγμεθα, ταύτην ἔχομεν τὴν καθολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν παράδοσιν καὶ πίστιν καὶ ὁμολογίαν" μίαν εἶναι ὑπόστασιν, ἣν αὐτοὶ οἱ αἱρετικοὶ οὐσίαν προσαγορεύουσι, τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἀγίου πνεύματος. καὶ εἰ ζητοῖεν, τίς τοῦ υἱοῦ ἢ ὑποστασίς ἐστιν, ὁμολογοῦμεν ὡς αὐτὴ [ἡ]} ἡ μόνη τοῦ πατρὸς ὁμολογουμένη, καὶ μηδέ ποτε πατέρα χωρὶς υἱοῦ μηδὲ υεἷὸν χωρὶς πατρὸς γεγενῆσθαι μηδὲ εἶναι δύνασθαι ὅ ἐστι λόγος πνεῦμα. ἀτοπώτατον γάρ ἔστι λέγειν ποτὲ πατέρα μὴ γεγενῆσθαι' πατέρα χωρὶς υἱοῦ μήτε ὀνομάζεσθαι μήτε εἶναι δύνασθαι, ἔστιν αὐτοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ μαρτυρία" νἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ "ἐν ἐμοίς καὶ ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμενε. οὐδεὶς ἡμῶν ἀρνεῖται τὸ γεγεννημένονε, ἀλλά τισιν γεγεννημένον, παντάπασιν "ἅπερ ἀόρατα καὶ ὁρατὰ προσαγορεύεται, γεννηθέντα τεχνίτην καὶ ἀρχαγγέλων καὶ ἀγγέλων καὶ κόσμου καὶ τῷ ἀνθρωπίνῳ γένει, ὅτι φησίν᾽ νἡ πάντων τεχνῖτις ἐδίδαξέ με σοφίας καὶ πάντα δι᾿ ναὐτοῦ ἐγένετος. οὐ πάντοτε γὰρ εἶναι ἠδύνατο εἰ ἀρχὴν ἔλαβεν, ῦτι ὃ πάντοτε ὧν ἀρχὴν οὐχ ἔχει λόγος, θεὸς δὲ οὐδέποτε ὑπομένει τέλος. οὐ λέγομεν τὸν πατέρα υἱὸν εἶναι οὐδὲ πάλιν τὸν υἱὸν δ᾽ πατέρα εἶναι. ἀλλ ὃ πατὴρ πατήρ ἐστι καὶ ὁ υἱὸς πατρὸς υἱός. ὁμολογοῦμεν δύναμιν εἶναι τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν υἱόν" ὁμολογοῦμεν τὸν "λόγον θεοῦ πατρὸς εἶναι, παρ᾽ ὃν ἕτερος οὐκ ἔστιν, καὶ τὸν λόγον ἀληθῆ θεὸν καὶ σοφίαν καὶ δύναμιν. ἀληθῆ δὲ υἱὸν παραδιδόαμεν, ἀλλ οὐχ ὥσπερ οἱ λοιποὶ υἱοὶ προσαγορεύονται τὸν υἱὸν λέγομεν, ὅτε ἐκεῖνοι ἢ διὰ τοῦτο θεοὶ εἶεν τοῦ ἀναγεννᾶσθαι χάριν ἢ διὰ τὸ χαταξιωθῆναι υἷοὶ προσαγορεύονται. οὐ διὰ τὴν μίαν ὑπόστασιν, εἥτις ἐστὶ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ. ὁμολογοῦμεν καὶ μονογενῆ καὶ πρωτότοκον" ἀλλὰ μονογενῆ τὸν λόγον. ὃς πάντοτε ἢν καὶ ἔστιν ἐν τῷ πατρί᾽ τὸ πρωτότοχος δὲ τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ. διαφέρει δὲ τῇ κοινῇ κτίσει, ὅτι καὶ πρωτότοκος ἐκ τῶν νεχρῶν. ὁμολογοῦμεν ἕνα εἶναι θεόν, ὁμολογοῦμεν μίαν πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ θεότητα. οὐδέ τις ἀρνεῖταί ποτε τὸν πατέρα τοῦ υἱοῦ μείζονα, οὐ δὲ ἄλλην ὑποστασιν, οὐ διὰ τὴν διαφορὰν, ἀλλ τι αὐτὸ τὸ ονομα τοῦ πατρὸς μεῖζόν ἐστι τοῦ υἱοῦ. αὕτη δὲ αὐτῶν ἡ βλάσφημος καὶ ᾿διεφθαρμένη ἑρμηνεία, τούτου ἕνεχα εἰρηκέναι αὐτὸν φιλονεικοῦσιν ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμενε διὰ τὴν συμφωνίαν καὶ τὴν ὁμόνοίαν. Κατέγνωμεν πάντες οἱ καθολικοὶ τῆς μωρᾶς καὶ οἰχτρᾶς αὐτῶν διανοίας. ὠσπερ αθρῶώποι θνητοὶ ἐπειδὴ διαφέρεσθαι ἢ0ξαντο προσχεχρουχότες διχονοοῦσι καὶ εἰς διαλλαγὴν ἐπάνεισιν, ροὕτως διάστασις καὶ διχόνοια μεταξὺ πατρὸς θεοῦ παντοκράτορος καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ εἶναι δύναται, λέγουσιν. ὅπερ ἀτοπώτατον καὶ νοῆσαι καὶ ὑπολαβεῖν. ἡμεῖς δὲ καὶ πιστεύομεν καὶ διαβεβαιούμεθα καὶ ροῦτο γοοῦμεν, ὁτε ἡ ἱερὰ φωνῇ ἐλαλησεν ξεγῶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμενε καὶ διὰ τὴν τῆς ὑποστάσεως ἑνότητα, ἥτις ἐστὶ μία τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ μία τοῦ υἱοῦ. καὶ τοῦτο δὲ πιστεύομεν πάντοτε, ἀνἄρχως καὶ ἀτελευτήτως τοῦτον μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς βασιλεύειν καὶ μὴ ἔχειν μὴτε χρονον μὴτε ἔκλειψιν αὐτοῦ τὴν βασιλείαν, οτι ὁ πάντοτε ἔστιν οὐδέ ποτε τοῦ εἶναι ἤρξατο οὐδὲ ἐκλείπειν δύναται. Πιστεύομεν καὶ παραλαμβάνομεν τὸν παράκλητον τὸ ἅγιον "πνεῦμα, ὅπερ ἡμῖν αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος καὶ ἐπηγγείλατο καὶ ἔπεμψεν. καὶ τοῦτο πιστεύομεν πεμφθέν" καὶ τοῦτο οὐ πέπονθεν, ἀλλ᾽ ὁ ἄνθρώπος ὃν ἐνεδύσατο, ὃν ἀνέλαβεν ἐκ Μαρίας τῆς παρθένου, τὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸ παθεῖν δυνάμενον" ὅτι. ἄνθρωπος θνητός, θεὸς ὁὲ ἀθάνατος. πιστεύομεν ὅτι τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ ἀνέστη οὐχ δ θεὸς ἐν τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ. ἀλλ᾿ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐν τῷ θεῶ ἀνέστη. ὅντινα καὶ προσήνεγκε τῷ πατρὶ ἑαυτοῦ δῶρον, ὃν ἠλευθέρωσεν. πιστεύομεν ὁὲ ὅτι εὐθέτῳ καιρῷ καὶ ὡρισμένῳ πάντας καὶ περὶ πάντων αὐτὸς χρεινεῖ. τοσαύτη δέ ἐστιν αὐτῶν ἡ ἄνοια καὶ οὕτω παχεῖ σκότῳ ἡ δειάνοια αὐτῶν ἐχτετύφλωται, ἵνα μὴ δυνηθῦσιν ἰδεῖν τὸ φῶς τῆς ἀληθείας. οὐ συνιᾶσιν ᾧ λόγῳ εἴρηται ἵνα καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν "ἂν ὦσις. σαφές ἐστι διὰ τί᾽ ἕν" ὅτι οἱ ἀπόστολοι πνεῦμα ἅγιον "τοῦ θεοῦ ἔλαβον" ἀλλ᾽ ὅμως αὐτοὶ οὐχ ἦσαν πρεῦμα, οὐδέ τις ναὐτῶν ἢ λόγος ἢ σοφία ἢ) δύναμις ην οὐδὲ μονογενὴς ἢν. ᾿ὥσπερε ᾿φησίν "ἐγὼ καὶ σὺ ἕν ἐσμεν, οὕτως καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἡμῖν ἕν ὦσινε. ἀλλ᾽ ἀκριβῶς διέστειλε ἡ θεία φωνή" νἐν ἡμῖν ἕν ὦσις φησίν᾽ οὐκ εἶπεν" νὥσπερ ἡμεῖς ἕν ἐσμεν, ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατήρε᾽ ἀλλ᾽ οἱ μαθηταὶ ἐν ἑαυτοῖς σύζυγοι καὶ ἡνωμένοι ἕν εἰσι τῇ πίστει, τῇ οὁμολογίᾳ, (ἵνα) καὶ ἐν τῇ χάριτι καὶ τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τῇ τοῦ κυρίου καὶ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν συγχωρήσει καὶ ἀγάπῃ ἕν εἶναι δυνηθ'ὥσιν. Ἔχ τῶνδε τῶν γραμμάτων ἔστι μαθεῖν τῶν μὲν κατηγόρων τὴν συκοφαντίαν, τῶν δὲ πάλαι δικασάντων τὴν ἀδικίαν, καὶ πρὸς τούτοις τῶν δογμάτων τὴν ὑγείαν. οὐ γὰρ μόνον τὰ περὶ τῆς θείας ἡμᾶς ἐδίδαξαν φύσεως οἱ μακάριοι πατέρες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν περὶ τῆς οἰκονομίας διδασκαλίαν προσήνεγκαν. Ταῦτα ὃ Κώνστας μεμαθηκὼς ἠθύμησε μὲν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τὴν εὐκολίαν ὁρῶν, ἐχαλέπηνε δὲ κατὰ τῶν ταῦτα τετυρευχότων καὶ τὴν βασιλέως ἠπατηκότων εὐχέρειαν. δύο δὴ οὖν τῶν εἰς τὴν Σαρδικὴν συνεληλυθότων ἐκλεξάμενος ἐπισκόπους πρὸς τὸν ἀδελφὸν μετὰ γραμμάτω ἀπέστειλεν" συναπέστειλε δὲ αὐτοῖς καὶ στρατηγὸν (δαλιανὸς δὲ τούτῳ ὄνομα ἦν), ὃς εὐσεβείᾳ τε καὶ δικαιοσύνῃ διέλαμπεν. τὰ δὲ γράμματα οὐ παραίνεσιν μόνον εἶχε καὶ συμβουλήν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπειλὴν εὐσεβεῖ πρέπουσαν βασιλεῖ. πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἐπέστειλε τῷ ἀδελφῷ τοῖς ἐπισκόποις τὰς ἀκοὰς ὑποσχεῖν καὶ τὰς ὑπὸ Στεφάνου καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τολμωμένας παρανομίας μαθεῖν, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Ἀθανάσιον ἀποδοῦναι τῇ ποίμνῃ, δήλης καὶ τῆς συκοφαντίας γεγενημένης καὶ τῆς τῶν πάλαι δικασάντων παρανομίας “καὶ δυσμενείας. προστέθειχε δέ, ὡς, εἰ μὴ πεισθείη καὶ τὰ δίκαια πράξοι, αὐτὸς τὴν ᾿λεξάνδρειαν καταλήψεται καὶ τὸν Ἀθανάσιον ἀποδώσει τοῖς ποθοῦσι προβάτοις καὶ τῶν δυισμενῶν ἐξελάσει τὸ στῖφος. ταύτην δεξάμενος ὁ Κωνστάντιος τὴν ἐπιστολήν (ἐν Ἀντιοχείᾳ δὲ τηνικαῦτα ἐτύγχανεν ὦν), ὑπέσχετο δράσειν ἅπερ ὁ τῶν οὀδίνων ἐπήγγειλε κοινωνός.
Eis de tēn Sardikēn pentēkonta men kai diakosioi synēlthon archiereis, hos didaskei ta palaia diēgēmata. aphiketo de kai ho megas ᾿thanasios kai ᾿Dsklēpas ho Gazaios, hou kai prosthen emnēsthēn, kai Markellos ho Ankyras tēs Galatōn" mētropoleōs, hos kai epi tēs synodou tēs megalēs episkopos ēn. aphikonto de kai hoi touton katēgoroi kai hoi tēs hairetikēs prostateuontes phalangos, hoi palai tōn peri ton Athanasion genomenoi dikastai. alla tēs synodou memathēkotes to aklines kai tēn en tois theiois dogmasin hygieian, oude klēthentes eisēlthon eis to synedrion all᾽ apedrasan syn tois adikois dikastais kai hoi katēgoroi. kai touto ameinon didaschei tēs synodou ta grammata, ha saphous heineka didaschalias enthēsō tę̄ syngraphę̄.. Ē hagia synodos hē kata theou charin en Sardikę̄ synachtheisa apo te Rhōmēs kai Spaniōn kai Galliōn, Italias, Kampanias, Kalabrias. Aphrikēs, Sardanias, Pannonias, Liysias, Dakias, Dardanias, allēs Dakias, Makedonias, Thessalias, Achaïas, Ēpeirō, Thrąchēs, Rhodopēs, Asias, Karias, Bithynias, Hellēspontou, Phrygias, Pisidias, Kappadokias, Pontou, Kilikias, Phrygias allēs. Pamphylias, Lydias, nēsōn Kychladōn, Aigyptou, Thēbaïdos, Libyēs, Galatias, Palaistinēs, Arabias. tois pantachou episkopois kai sylleitourgois tēs katholikēs kai apostolikēs ekklēsias, agapētois adelphois en kyriǭ chairein. Polla men kai pollakis etolmēsan hoi ᾿reiomanitai kata tōn doulōn tou theou tōn tēn pistin phylattontōn tēn orthēn. nothon gar hypoballontes didaskalian tous orthodoxous elaunein epeirathēsan᾽ tosouton de loipon katepanestēsan kata tēs pisteōs hous mēde tēn akoēn tōn theophilestatōn basileōn lathein. toigaroun tēs charitos tou theou synergousēs, kai autoi hoi eusebestatoi basileis -synēgagon hēmas ek diaphorōn eparchiōn kai poleōn kai tēn hagian tautēn synodon epi tēn Sardeōn polin genesthai dedōkasin, hina pasa men dichonoia periairethę̄, pasēs de kakopistias exelatheisēs, "ē eis ton Christon eusebeia monē para pasi phylattētai. ēlthon gar apo tēs Heǭas episkopoi, protrapentes kai autoi para tōn eusebestatōn basileōn, malista di᾿ hoper ethouloun pollakis peri tōn agapētōn adelphōn hēmōn kai sylleitourgōn, ᾿thanasiou tou episkchypou tēs Alexanoreias kai Markellou tou episkopou tēs Ankyrogalatias kai Aschlēpa tou Gazēs. isōs gar kai eis hymas autous ephthasan hai diabolai, hōs kai tas hēmeteras akoas epecheirēsan parasaleusai, hina kata men tōn athōōn ha legousi pisteuētai, tēn "de tēs mochthēras autōn haireseōs hyponoian epikrypsōsin. all᾽ ouk epi poly tauta poiein synechōrēthēsan. esti gar ho proïstamenos tōn ekklēsiōn kyrios, ho hyper, toutōn kai hyper pantōn hēmōn ᾿thanaton hypomeinas, kai di᾿ autas tēn eis ouranous anodon pasin heēmin dedōkōs. Palai men oun egrapsan hoi peri Pysebion kai Miarin kai Theodōron kai Theogonion kai Oursachion kai Oualenta kai Pēmēnophanton kai Stephanon Iouliǭ: tǭ sylleitourgǭ hēmōn, tēs Rhōmaiōn ekch-chlēsias episkopǭ, kata tōn proeirēmenōn sylleitourgōn hēmōn, legomen dē Athanasiou tou episkopou Alexandreias kai Markellou tou episkopou Ankyrogalatias kai ᾿schlēpą tou Gazēs. egrapsan hoe kai hoi apo tōn allōn merōn episkopoi, martyrountes men epi tę̄ katharotēti tou sylleitourgou hēmōn Athanasiou, ta de para -tōn peri Eusebion genomena ouden heteron ē pseudē kai sykophantias einai mesta. ei kai ta malista ek tou klēthentas autous para tou agapētou kai sylleitourgou Iouliou mē apantēsai, kai ek tōn graphentōn para tou autou epischypou Iouliou phanera toutōn hē -sychophantia pephēnen (ēlthon gar an eiper etharroun hois epraxan kai pepoiēkasi kata tōn sylleitourgōn hēmōn), homōs kai ex hōn pepoiēkasin en tautę̄ tę̄ hagią kai megalę̄ synodǭ, phanerōteran tēn xSautōn syskeuēn apedeixan. apantēsantes gar eis tēn Sardeōn polin, idontes tous adelphous hēmōn Athanasion kai Diarkellon kai Asklēpan kai tous allous, ephobēthēsan eis krisin elthein. kai ouch -hapax oude deuteron alla kai pollakis klēthentes, ouch hypēkousan tais klēsesi" kaitoi pantōn tōn synelthontōn episkopōn, malista tou eugērotatou Hosiou tou kai dia ton chronon kai dia tēn homologian kai dia to tosouton kamaton hypomemenēkenai pasēs timēs te kai aidous tynchanontos axiou, anamenontōn kai protrepomenōn autous eiselthein eis tēn krisin, hina haper apontōn tōn sylleitourgōn ethrylēsan kai egrapsan kat᾽ autōn, tauta parontes elenxai dynēthōsin. all᾽ ouk ēlthon klēthentes, kathōs proeipomen, deiknyntes kai ek toutōn tēn sykophantian autōn kai monon ouchi tēn epiboulēn kai tēn syskeuēn hēn pepoiēkasi boōntes dia tēs paraitē"seōs. hoi gar tharrountes hois legousi, toutois kai eis prosōpon systēnai dynantai. epeidē de ouk apēntēsan, nomizomen loipon mēdena agnoein, kan ekeinoi palin kakourgein ethelēsōsin, hoti mēden "echontes kata tōn sylleitourgōn hēmōn elenxai, toutous men diaballousin apontas, parontas de diapheugousin. Ephygon gar, agapētoi adelphoi, ou monon dia tēn kata toutōn -sykophantian, all᾽ hoti kai tous epi diaphorois enklēmasin enkalountas autois etheōroun apantēsantas. desma gar hēn kai sidēra propheromena᾽ kai ap᾽ exorias epanelthontes anthrōpoi, kai para tōn eti katechomenōn en exoriais elthontes ēsan sylleitourgoi᾽ syngeneis kai philoi de tōn di’ autous apothanontōn paregenonto᾽ kai to "megiston, episkopoi parēsan, hōn ho men ta sidēra kai tas katēnas proepheren ha di᾿ autous ephoresen, hoi de ton ek tēs diabolēs autōn thanaton emartyranto. eis tosouton gar ephthasan aponoias hōs kai episkopon epicheirein anelein" kai aneilon an ei mē exephyge tas cheiras autōn. anestē goun ho sylleitourgos hēmōn ho makaritēs Theoooulos, pheugōn autōn tēn diabolēn᾽ kekeleusto gar ek diabolēs autōn apothanein. alloi de xiphōn plēgas epedeiknynto, alloi "limon hypomemenēkenai par᾽ autōn apōdyronto. kai tauta ouch hoi tychontes emartyroun anthrōpoi, all᾽ ekklēsiai holai ēsan, hyper hōn hoi apantēsantes kai presbeuontes edidaskon, stratiōtas xiphēreis. Ochlous meta dopalōn, dikastōn apeilas, plastōn grammatōn hypobolas (anegnōsthē gar grammata tōn peri Theogonion kata tōn oulleitourgōn hēmōn, Ithanasiou kai “Iarkellou kai ᾿Dsklēpa, hina kai basileas kat᾽ autōn kinēsōsi" kai tauta ēlenxan hoi genomenoi tote diakonoi Theogoniou), pros toutois parthenōn gymnōseis, emprēsmous ekklēsiōn, phylakas kata tōn sylleitourgōn" kai tauta panta di᾿ ouden heteron ē dia tēn dysōnymon hairesin tōn Areiomanitōn. hoi gar paraitoumenoi tēn pros toutous cheirotonian kai choenōnian anankēn eichon peirathēnai toutōn. Tauta toinyn synorōntes, eis stenon eichon ta tēs proaireseos. aischynomenoi gar ha dedrakasi, dia to mē dynasthai ete tauta kryptesthai apēntēsan eis tēn Sardeōn polin, hina dia tēs aphixeōs houponoian os mē plēmmelēsantes doxōsin apopheresthai. idontes oun tous par᾽ autōn sychophantēthentas kai tous par᾽ autōn pathontas, tous katēgorous, tous elenchous pro ophthalmōn echontes, eiselthein ouch edynanto klēthentes, kaitoi tōn sylleitourgōn hēmōn ᾿Athanasiou kai Markellou kai Asklēpa pollę̄ tę̄ parrēsią chrōmenōn kai napodyromenōn kai epikeimenōn kai prokaloumenōn autous, kai "epangellomenōn mē monon elenchein tēn sykophantian alla kai deiknynai hosa kata tōn ekklēsiōn autōn eplēmmelēsan. hoi de tosoutǭ phobǭ tou syneidotos kateschethēsan hois phygein autous, kai dia tēs phygēs tēn sykophantian autōn elenxai kai haper eplēmmelēsan dia tōn drasmōn homologēsai. Ei kai ta malista ou monon ek tōn proterōn, alla kai ek toutōn hē kachotropia kai hē sychophantia autōn deiknytai, homōs hina mēde ek tēs phygēs prophasin tina heteras kakourgias porisasthai ᾽dynēthōsin, eskepsametha kata ton tēs alētheias logon ta par᾽ ekeinōn dramatourgēthenta exetasai. kai touto prothemenoi, heurēchameen autous ek tōn prachthentōn sykophantas kai mēden heteron ē epiboulēn kata tōn sylleitourgōn hēmōn pepoiēkotas. hon gar elegon para Athanasiou pephoneusthai Arsenion, houtos zę̄ kai en tois zōsin exetazetai. apo de toutou kai ta peri tōn allōn thrylēthenta par᾽ autōn phainetai plasmata. Epeidē de kai peri potēriou ethryloun hōs klasthentos para Dakariou tou presbyterou Athanasiou, emartyrēsan men autois hoi paragenomenoi apo tēs Alexandreias kai DPēareōtou kai tōn loipōn ᾿topōn, hoti mēden toutōn pepraktai" kai hoi episkopoi de grapsantes hoi apo tēs Aigyptou pros Ioulion ton sylleitourgon hēmōn hikanōs ᾽diebebaiounto mēde hyponoian holōs toiautēn gegenēsthai. allōs te legousin hypomnēmata echein kat᾽ autou, ha kata monomereian synestē ᾽gegenēsthai. kai homōs kai en tois hypomnēmasi toutois ethnikoi kai "katēchoumenoi ērōtōnto" ex hōn heis katēchoumenos erōtōmenos ephasken “endon einai hote Makarios epestē tǭ topǭ, kai heteros erōtōmenos elege ton thryloumenon par᾽ autōn Ischyran nosounta katakcheisthai een kelliǭ, hōs apo toutou phainesthai mēd᾽ holōs gegenēsthaï te tōn "holōn mystēriōn, dia to tous katēchoumenous endon einai kai ton ageeren mē pareinai. alla nosounta kchatacheisthai. kai gar kai "autos ho pamponēros Ischyras, pseusamenos epi tǭ eirēkenai kekauchegai ton Athanasion tina tōn theiōn bibliōn kai hy diapseusasthai. homologēse kat᾽ echeino kairou nosein hote Liakarios parēn kai chatacheisthai, hōs kai ek toutou sykophantēn auton deichnysthai. amelei "tēs sykophantias tautēs misthon autǭ tǭ Ischyrą dedōkasin epischoupou onoma, tǭ mēde presbyterǭ tynchanonti., apantēsantes gar dyo presbyteroi, syn Melitiǭ pote genomenoi, hysteron de hypo tou makariou Alexandrou tou genomenou episkopou Alexandreias dechthentes, [hoi kai syn Athanasiǭ ontes emartyrēsan mēde pōpote "touton presbyteron M|eelitiou gegenēsthai, mēd᾽ holōs eschēkenai Melition eis ton “Mareōtēn ekklēsian ē leitourgon. kai homōs ton "mēde presbyteron tynchanonta nyn os episkopon proēgagon, hina "tǭ onomati toutǭ doxōsin epi tę̄ sykophantią kataplēttein tous akouontas. "Dnegnōsthē de kai to syngramma tou sylleitourgou hēmōn Dar᾿kellou kai eurethē tōn peri Eusebion hē kakotechnia᾽ ha gar hōs zētōn ho Markellos eirēken, tauta os hōmologēmena diabeblēkasin. ane- -gnōsthē goun tauta kai ta hexēs kai ta pro autōn tōn zētēmatōn, kai orthē ē pistis tou andros eurethē. oute gar apo tēs agias "Marias, hōs autoi diebebaiōsanto, archēn edidou tǭ tou theou logǭ, oute telos echein tēn basileian autou alla kai tēn basileian anarchon kai akatapauston einai tēn toutou egrapsen. Kai ᾿᾿sklēpas de ho sylleitourgos prosēnenken hypomnēmata ᾽gegenēmena en Antiocheią, parontōn tōn katēgorōn kai ysebiou tou apo Kaisareias" kai ek tōn apophaseōn tōn dichkasantōn epischopon edeixen heauton athōon einai. Iichotōs oun, adelphoi agapētoi, kaloumenoi pollakis ouch hypa"kouousin, eikotōs ephygon. hypo gar tou syneidotos elaunomenoi. ᾿phygę̄ tas sykoiantias heautōn ebebaiōsan, kai pisteuthēnai kat᾽ "autōn pepoiēkasin haper parontes hoi katēgorountes elegon kai epedeiknynto. eti toinyn pros toutois pasi kai tous palai katēēgorēthentas kai echblēthentas dia tēn ᾿areiou hairesin ou monon edexanto, alla kai eis meizona bathmon proēgagon, diakonous men eis presbyterion, apo de presbyterōn eis episkopēn, di’ ouden heteron ē hina tēn asebeian diaspeirai kai platynai dynēthōsi kai tēn eusebē diaphtheirōsi pistin. Eisi de toutōn meta tous peri Eusebion nyn exarchoi Theodōros apo Prakleias, Narkissos apo Nerōniados tēs Kilikias, Stephanos apo AIntiocheias, Geōrgios hapo “aodikeias, achaakios apo Kaisareias "tēs Palaistinēs, Diēnophantos apo Ephesou tēs “sias, Oursachios apo Singidounou tēs Mysias, Oialēs apo Iyrsou tēs Pannonias. kai gar houtoi tois syn autois elthousin apo tēs Heǭas ouch epetrepon oute eis tēn hagian synodon eiselthein oute holōs eis tēn "ekklēsian tou theou parabalein synechōrēsan. kai erchomenoi de eis tēn Sardikēn kata topous synodous epoiounto pros heautous kai synthēchas meta apeilōn, hōste elthontas autous eis tēn Sardikēn mēd΄ olōs eis tēn krisin elthein, mēte epi to auto synelthein tę̄ agią kai megalę̄ synodǭ, alla monon elthontas kai aphosiōsei tēn hexautōn epidēmian epideixamenous tacheōs phygein. tauta gar gnōnai dedynēmetha para tōn sylleitourgōn hēmōn Makariou apo Palaistinēs kai Asteriou apo Arabias, tōn elthontōn syn autois kai anachōrēsantōn apo tēs apistias autōn. houtoi gar elthontes eis tēn hagian synodon, tēn men bian hēn epathon apōdyranto, ouden de par᾽ autois orthon elegon prattesthai, prostithentes kai touto hoēs ara eien tēs orthēs antipoioumenoi doxēs kai kōlyomenoi ex autōn elthein entautha kai dia to apeilein kai entellesthai kata tōn boulomenōn anachōrein ap᾿ autōn. toutou goun heneka kai en heni oikǭ pantes meinai espoudasan, mēde to brachytaton idiazein autois epitrepsantes. Epei oun ouk edei parasiōpēsai oude anekdikētous easai tas sykophantias, ta desma, tous phonous, tas plēgas, tas peri tōn plastōn epistolōn syskeuas, tas aikias, tas gymnōseis tōn par"thenōn, tas exorias, tas katalyseis tōn ekklēsiōn, tous emprēsmous, tas metatheseis apo mikrōn poleōn eis meizonas paroikias, kai pro hoge pantōn tēn kata tēs orthēs pisteōs nyn epanastasan dysōgymon Areianēn hairesin di᾿ autōn, toutou goun heneken tous men agapētous adelphous hēmōn kai sylleitourgous, Athanasion ton tēs Alexandreias episkopon kai Pēarkellon ton tēs Anchyrogalatias kai Asklēpan ton Gazēs kai tous syn autois sylleitourgountas tǭ kyriǭ, athōous kai katharous einai apephēnametha, grapsantes kai eiis tēn hekastou paroikian hōste gignōskein hekastēs ekklēsias tous laous tou idiou episkopou tēn katharotēta kai touton men echein episkopon kai prosdokan, tous de eis tas ekklēsias autōn epelthontas dikēn lykōn, Grēgorion ton en AIlexandreią, Basileion ton en Ankyrą, kai Kyntianon ton en Gazę̄, toutous mēde episkopous onomazein mēde Christianous mēde holōs koinonian tina pros autous echein mēde dechesthai tina par᾽ autōn grammata mēte graphein pros "autous. Tous de peri Theodōron ton apo Hērakleias tēs Eurōpēs kai Narkisson ton apo Nerōniados tēs Kilikias kai Akachion ton apo Kaisareias tēs Palaistinēs kai Stephanon apo Antiocheias kai Oursakion apo Singidounou tēs Mysias kai Oualenta ton apo DIyrsōn tēs Pannonias kai Mēnophanton ton apo Ephesou kai Geōrgion ton apo Laodikeias, ei kai phobētheis mē paregeneto apo tēs Heǭas, homōs dia to apo tou makariou Alexandrou tou "genomenou epischoupou Alexandreias kathēę̄rēsthai auton kai dia to kai toutous syn autǭ tēs ᾿Ireiou manias einai kai dia ta Eeepenechthenta autois enklēmata, toutois pampsēphei katheilen hē agia synodos apo tēs episkopēs" kai ekrinamen mē monon autous episkopous mē einai, alla mēde koinōnias meta tōn pistōn autous kataxiousthai. tous gar chōrizontas tēs tou patros ousias kai theotētos ton huion kai apallotriountas ton logon apo tou patros chōrizesthai apo tēs katholikēs ekklēsias prosēkei kai allotrious einai tou Christianōn onomatos. estōsan toinyn kai hēmin kai pasin anathema, dia to kekapēleukenai autous ton logon tēs alētheias. apostolikon gar esti parangelma' ei tis hymas euangelizetai par᾽ ho parelabete, anathema estōs. toutois mēdena koinōnein parangeilate᾽ oudemia gar koinōnia phōti "pros skotoss. toutous pantas makran poieite oudemia gar symphōnia Christǭ pros Beliare. kai phylaxasthe, adelphoi agapētoi, mēte graphein pros autous mēte grammata par᾽ autōn. dechesthai. spoudasate de kai hymeis, agapētoi adelphoi kai sylleitourgoi, hōs tǭ pneumati parontes tę̄ synodǭ hēmōn synainesai kai psēphisasthai di hypographēs hōometeras, hyper tou para pantōn ho tōn hapantachou sylleitourgōn hēmōn homophōnian diasōzesthai. Apochēryttomen de ekeinous kai exorizomen tēs katholikēs ekch"klēsias tous diabebaioumenous hoti theos estin dēlonoti ho Christos, alla mēn alēthinos theos ouch estin, hoti huios estin, alla alēthinos ouios ouk estin, hoti gennētos estin hama kai genētos. houtōs gar heautous noein ton gegennēmenon homologousin, hoti houtōs eipon" to gegennēmenon gegenēmenon estine, kai hoti, tou Christou pro aiōnōn ontos, didoasin autǭ archēn kai telos, hoper ouk en kairǭ, alla pro pantos chronou echei. kai hypogyon de dyo echeis apo tēs aspidos tēs “reianēs egennēthēsan, Oualēs kai Oursakios" hoi tines kauchōntai kai ouk amphiballousi legontes heautous Christianous einai kai oute ho logos kai hoti to pneuma kai estaurōthē kai esphagē keō apethanen kai anestē kai, hoper to tōn hairetikōn systēma philoeikei, diaphorous einai tas hypostaseis tou patros kai tou huiou kai tou hagiou pneumatos kai einai kechōrismenas. “Pmeis de tautēn pareilēphamen kai dedidagmetha, tautēn echomen tēn katholikēn kai apostolikēn paradosin kai pistin kai homologian" mian einai hypostasin, hēn autoi hoi hairetikoi ousian prosagoreuousi, tou patros kai tou huiou kai tou agiou pneumatos. kai ei zētoien, tis tou huiou ē hypostasis estin, homologoumen hōs autē [hē]} hē monē tou patros homologoumenē, kai mēde pote patera chōris huiou mēde yeion chōris patros gegenēsthai mēde einai dynasthai ho esti logos pneuma. atopōtaton gar esti legein pote patera mē gegenēsthai' patera chōris huiou mēte onomazesthai mēte einai dynasthai, estin autou tou huiou martyria" negō en tǭ patri kai ho patēr "en emois kai egō kai ho patēr hen esmene. oudeis hēmōn arneitai to gegennēmenone, alla tisin gegennēmenon, pantapasin "haper aorata kai horata prosagoreuetai, gennēthenta technitēn kai archangelōn kai angelōn kai kosmou kai tǭ anthrōpinǭ genei, hoti phēsin᾽ nē pantōn technitis edidaxe me sophias kai panta di᾿ nautou egenetos. ou pantote gar einai ēdynato ei archēn elaben, yti ho pantote hōn archēn ouch echei logos, theos de oudepote hypomenei telos. ou legomen ton patera huion einai oude palin ton huion d᾽ patera einai. all ho patēr patēr esti kai ho huios patros huios. homologoumen dynamin einai tou patros ton huion" homologoumen ton "logon theou patros einai, par᾽ hon heteros ouk estin, kai ton logon alēthē theon kai sophian kai dynamin. alēthē de huion paradidoamen, all ouch hōsper hoi loipoi huioi prosagoreuontai ton huion legomen, hote ekeinoi ē dia touto theoi eien tou anagennasthai charin ē dia to chataxiōthēnai huioi prosagoreuontai. ou dia tēn mian hypostasin, heētis esti tou patros kai tou huiou. homologoumen kai monogenē kai prōtotokon" alla monogenē ton logon. hos pantote ēn kai estin en tǭ patri᾽ to prōtotochos de tǭ anthrōpǭ. diapherei de tę̄ koinę̄ ktisei, hoti kai prōtotokos ek tōn nechrōn. homologoumen hena einai theon, homologoumen mian patros kai huiou theotēta. oude tis arneitai pote ton patera tou huiou meizona, ou de allēn hypostasin, ou dia tēn diaphoran, all ti auto to onoma tou patros meizon esti tou huiou. hautē de autōn hē blasphēmos kai ᾿diephtharmenē hermēneia, toutou henecha eirēkenai auton philoneikousin egō kai ho patēr hen esmene dia tēn symphōnian kai tēn homonoian. Kategnōmen pantes hoi katholikoi tēs mōras kai oichtras autōn dianoias. ōsper athrōōpoi thnētoi epeidē diapheresthai ē0xanto proschechrouchotes dichonoousi kai eis diallagēn epaneisin, routōs diastasis kai dichonoia metaxy patros theou pantokratoros kai tou huiou einai dynatai, legousin. hoper atopōtaton kai noēsai kai hypolabein. hēmeis de kai pisteuomen kai diabebaioumetha kai routo gooumen, hote hē hiera phōnę̄ elalēsen xegō kai ho patēr hen esmene kai dia tēn tēs hypostaseōs henotēta, hētis esti mia tou patros kai mia tou huiou. kai touto de pisteuomen pantote, anarchōs kai ateleutētōs touton meta tou patros basileuein kai mē echein mēte chronon mēte ekleipsin autou tēn basileian, oti ho pantote estin oude pote tou einai ērxato oude ekleipein dynatai. Pisteuomen kai paralambanomen ton paraklēton to hagion "pneuma, hoper hēmin autos ho kyrios kai epēngeilato kai epempsen. kai touto pisteuomen pemphthen" kai touto ou peponthen, all᾽ ho anthrōpos hon enedysato, hon anelaben ek Marias tēs parthenou, ton anthrōpon to pathein dynamenon" hoti. anthrōpos thnētos, theos hoe athanatos. pisteuomen hoti tę̄ tritę̄ hēmerą anestē ouch d theos en tǭ anthrōpǭ. all᾿ ho anthrōpos en tǭ theō anestē. hontina kai prosēnenke tǭ patri heautou dōron, hon ēleutherōsen. pisteuomen hoe hoti euthetǭ kairǭ kai hōrismenǭ pantas kai peri pantōn autos chreinei. tosautē de estin autōn hē anoia kai houtō pachei skotǭ hē deianoia autōn echtetyphlōtai, hina mē dynēthysin idein to phōs tēs alētheias. ou syniasin hǭ logǭ eirētai hina kai autoi en hēmin "an ōsis. saphes esti dia ti᾽ hen" hoti hoi apostoloi pneuma hagion "tou theou elabon" all᾽ homōs autoi ouch ēsan preuma, oude tis nautōn ē logos ē sophia ē) dynamis ēn oude monogenēs ēn. ᾿hōspere ᾿phēsin "egō kai sy hen esmen, houtōs kai autoi en hēmin hen ōsine. all᾽ akribōs diesteile hē theia phōnē" nen hēmin hen ōsis phēsin᾽ ouk eipen" nōsper hēmeis hen esmen, egō kai ho patēre᾽ all᾽ hoi mathētai en heautois syzygoi kai hēnōmenoi hen eisi tę̄ pistei, tę̄ hoomologią, (hina) kai en tę̄ chariti kai tę̄ eusebeią tę̄ tou theou patros kai tę̄ tou kyriou kai sōtēros hēmōn synchōrēsei kai agapę̄ hen einai dynēth'hōsin. Ech tōnde tōn grammatōn esti mathein tōn men katēgorōn tēn sykophantian, tōn de palai dikasantōn tēn adikian, kai pros toutois tōn dogmatōn tēn hygeian. ou gar monon ta peri tēs theias hēmas edidaxan physeōs hoi makarioi pateres, alla kai tēn peri tēs oikonomias didaskalian prosēnenkan. Tauta ho Kōnstas memathēkōs ēthymēse men tou adelphou tēn eukolian horōn, echalepēne de kata tōn tauta tetyreuchotōn kai tēn basileōs ēpatēkotōn euchereian. dyo dē oun tōn eis tēn Sardikēn synelēlythotōn eklexamenos episkopous pros ton adelphon meta grammatō apesteilen" synapesteile de autois kai stratēgon (dalianos de toutǭ onoma ēn), hos eusebeią te kai dikaiosynę̄ dielampen. ta de grammata ou parainesin monon eiche kai symboulēn, alla kai apeilēn eusebei prepousan basilei. prōton men gar epesteile tǭ adelphǭ tois episkopois tas akoas hyposchein kai tas hypo Stephanou kai tōn allōn tolmōmenas paranomias mathein, kai mentoi kai Athanasion apodounai tę̄ poimnę̄, dēlēs kai tēs sykophantias gegenēmenēs kai tēs tōn palai dikasantōn paranomias “kai dysmeneias. prostetheiche de, hōs, ei mē peistheiē kai ta dikaia praxoi, autos tēn ᾿lexandreian katalēpsetai kai ton Athanasion apodōsei tois pothousi probatois kai tōn duismenōn exelasei to stiphos. tautēn dexamenos ho Kōnstantios tēn epistolēn (en Antiocheią de tēnikauta etynchanen ōn), hypescheto drasein haper ho tōn oodinōn epēngeile koinōnos.
Two hundred and fifty high priests came together at Sardica, as the old accounts teach. The great Athanasius came too, and Asclepas of Gaza, whom I mentioned before, and Marcellus of Ancyra, the metropolis of the Galatians, who had been a bishop at the great synod as well. Their accusers came too, and the patrons of the heretical phalanx, who had formerly been the judges of Athanasius's party. But having learned the steadfastness of the synod and its soundness in the divine doctrines, they did not enter the council even when summoned, but ran away, the accusers together with the unjust judges. The synod's letter teaches this better; for clear instruction I shall insert it in my history.
“The holy synod assembled by the grace of God at Sardica, from Rome, the Spains, the Gauls, Italy, Campania, Calabria, Africa, Sardinia, Pannonia, Moesia, Dacia, Dardania, the other Dacia, Macedonia, Thessaly, Achaia, Epirus, Thrace, Rhodope, Asia, Caria, Bithynia, the Hellespont, Phrygia, Pisidia, Cappadocia, Pontus, Cilicia, the other Phrygia, Pamphylia, Lydia, the Cyclades islands, Egypt, the Thebaid, Libya, Galatia, Palestine, and Arabia, to the bishops and fellow ministers of the catholic and apostolic church everywhere, beloved brothers in the Lord: greeting.
The Ario-maniacs have often dared many things against the servants of God who guard the right faith. Substituting a spurious teaching, they tried to drive out the orthodox; and they have risen up against the faith so far that it did not escape even the hearing of the most God-beloved emperors. Therefore, with the cooperation of the grace of God, the most pious emperors themselves assembled us from various provinces and cities and granted that this holy synod should take place in the city of Sardica, so that all dissension might be removed, all false belief driven out, and piety toward Christ alone kept by all. For bishops came from the East too, urged by the most pious emperors, chiefly because of what they kept spreading about our beloved brothers and fellow ministers Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepas of Gaza. Perhaps their slanders have reached you too, as they tried to unsettle our ears as well, so that what they say against the innocent might be believed and they might hide the suspicion of their own wicked heresy. But they were not allowed to do this for long. For the Lord presides over the churches, he who endured death for them and for all of us, and through them has granted to all of us the ascent to heaven.
Long ago Eusebius, Maris, Theodore, Theognis, Ursacius, Valens, Menophantus, and Stephen wrote to Julius, our fellow minister and bishop of the church of the Romans, against our aforesaid fellow ministers, namely Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, Marcellus, bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, and Asclepas of Gaza. Bishops from other parts also wrote, testifying to the innocence of our fellow minister Athanasius and that what Eusebius's party had done was nothing but lies and full of slander. Their slander had already been made plain, especially by their failure to appear when summoned by our beloved fellow minister Julius, and by what the same bishop Julius wrote (for they would have come if they had confidence in what they had done against our fellow ministers); yet by what they have done at this holy and great synod they have shown their conspiracy still more plainly. For when they arrived at the city of Sardica and saw our brothers Athanasius, Marcellus, Asclepas, and the others, they were afraid to come to trial. Summoned not once or twice but many times, they did not obey the summons, although all the bishops who had come together, and especially Hosius of most venerable old age, who on account of his years, his confession, and the great labours he has endured is worthy of all honour and respect, waited for them and urged them to come to the trial, so that what they had spread and written against our fellow ministers in their absence they might prove in their presence. But they did not come when summoned, as we said, showing by this too their slander, and all but proclaiming by their refusal the plot and conspiracy they had made. For those who have confidence in what they say can also make it good face to face. Since they did not appear, we think that no one can henceforth be unaware, even if they wish to do mischief again, that, having nothing to prove against our fellow ministers, they slander them when absent and flee from them when present.
For they fled, beloved brothers, not only because of their slander against these men, but also because they saw that those who accused them of various crimes had arrived. Chains and irons were produced; men who had returned from exile were there, and fellow ministers had come from those still held in exile; relatives and friends of those who had died because of them were present; and, most important, bishops were present, one of whom produced the irons and chains he had worn because of them, while others testified to deaths caused by their slander. For they reached such a pitch of madness as even to attempt to kill a bishop; and they would have killed him had he not escaped their hands. Our fellow minister of blessed memory, Theodulus, died fleeing their slander; for he had been ordered to be put to death through their slander. Others showed sword wounds; others lamented that they had endured hunger at their hands. And it was not ordinary people who testified to these things, but whole churches, on whose behalf those who came as envoys told of soldiers with drawn swords, mobs with clubs, threats of judges, the substitution of forged letters (for letters of Theognis's party against our fellow ministers Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas were read, written to stir up the emperors too against them, and those who had then been Theognis's deacons proved it), and besides these the stripping of virgins, the burning of churches, and imprisonments of fellow ministers; and all this for no other reason than the abominable heresy of the Ario-maniacs. For those who refused ordination at their hands and communion with them were bound to experience these things.
Seeing all this, they found their choice hard pressed. Ashamed of what they had done, since it could no longer be hidden, they came to the city of Sardica, so that by coming they might seem to rid themselves of the suspicion of having done wrong. But seeing those they had slandered and those who had suffered at their hands, and having the accusers and the proofs before their eyes, they could not come in when summoned, although our fellow ministers Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas spoke with great boldness, lamented, pressed them, and challenged them, promising not only to refute the slander but also to show how much wrong they had done against their churches. They were seized by such fear of conscience that they fled, and by their flight proved their slander and by their running away confessed the wrongs they had done.
Although their malice and slander are shown not only by their earlier conduct but also by this, yet, so that they might not procure from their flight a pretext for further mischief, we decided to examine, by the rule of truth, what they had dramatized. Having undertaken this, we found from what was done that they were slanderers and had done nothing else but plot against our fellow ministers. For Arsenius, whom they said Athanasius had murdered, is alive and is numbered among the living; from this it appears that what they spread about the other matters too is fabrication. Since they also spread a story about a cup supposedly broken by Macarius, Athanasius's presbyter, those who came from Alexandria, the Mareotes, and the other places testified that nothing of the kind had happened; and the bishops of Egypt, writing to Julius our fellow minister, sufficiently affirmed that there had not been any such suspicion at all. Besides, the records they say they have against him were, as has been established, made by one side only; and yet in these very records pagans and catechumens were questioned. One of them, a catechumen, when questioned, said that he was inside when Macarius came to the place; and another, when questioned, said that Ischyras, of whom they talk so much, was lying ill in a cell; so that from this it appears that no celebration of the mysteries at all had taken place, since the catechumens were inside and Ischyras was not present but lying ill. For the utterly wicked Ischyras himself, having lied in saying that Athanasius had burned some of the divine books, was proved a liar: he confessed that at the time when Macarius was there he was ill and lying down, so that by this too he is shown to be a slanderer. Indeed, as the reward for this slander they have given Ischyras the name of bishop, though he was not even a presbyter. For two presbyters who had once been with Melitius, and were later received by the blessed Alexander, formerly bishop of Alexandria, and who are now with Athanasius, came and testified that he had never been a presbyter of Melitius, and that Melitius had never had any church or minister in the Mareotes at all. And yet they have now put forward as a bishop a man who is not even a presbyter, so that by this title they may seem to overawe the hearers with their slander.
The book of our fellow minister Marcellus was also read, and the craft of Eusebius's party was discovered; for what Marcellus said by way of inquiry they misrepresented as if he had affirmed it. The passages that came after and before the inquiries were read, and the man's faith was found to be orthodox. For he did not give the Word of God a beginning from holy Mary, as they claimed, nor did he say that his kingdom has an end; but he wrote that his kingdom is without beginning and without end. Our fellow minister Asclepas too produced records made at Antioch in the presence of his accusers and of Eusebius of Caesarea, and showed from the decisions of the bishops who judged him that he was innocent.
With reason, then, beloved brothers, they did not obey though often summoned; with reason they fled. Driven by conscience, they confirmed their slanders by flight, and caused what the accusers who were present said and showed against them to be believed. Besides all this, they not only received those who had long ago been accused and expelled because of the heresy of Arius, but even promoted them to a higher rank, deacons to the presbyterate and presbyters to the episcopate, for no other reason than to spread and widen impiety and corrupt the pious faith. Their leaders now, after Eusebius's party, are Theodore of Heraclea, Narcissus of Neronias in Cilicia, Stephen of Antioch, George of Laodicea, Acacius of Caesarea in Palestine, Menophantus of Ephesus in Asia, Ursacius of Singidunum in Moesia, and Valens of Mursa in Pannonia. For these men did not allow those who came with them from the East to enter the holy synod, nor let them approach the church of God at all. On their way to Sardica they held synods among themselves in various places and made agreements with threats that, when they came to Sardica, they should not come to the trial at all nor meet with the holy and great synod, but only come, display their presence as a formality, and quickly flee. We have been able to learn this from our fellow ministers Macarius of Palestine and Asterius of Arabia, who came with them and withdrew from their unbelief. For these came to the holy synod, lamented the violence they had suffered, and said that nothing right was being done among them, adding that there were many among them who held the right opinion but were prevented by them from coming here, through threats and commands against those who wished to withdraw from them. For this reason too they were eager that all should stay in one house, not allowing them even the briefest privacy.
Since, then, it was not right to pass over in silence or to leave unpunished the slanders, the chains, the murders, the beatings, the conspiracies with forged letters, the outrages, the stripping of virgins, the exiles, the destruction of churches, the burnings, the translations from small cities to greater dioceses, and above all the abominable Arian heresy now risen through them against the right faith, for this reason we have declared our beloved brothers and fellow ministers Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, Marcellus of Ancyra in Galatia, Asclepas of Gaza, and those who minister to the Lord with them, to be innocent and pure; and we have written to each one's diocese, so that the people of each church may know the innocence of their own bishop and may have and await him as bishop; and that those who have invaded their churches like wolves, Gregory in Alexandria, Basil in Ancyra, and Quintianus in Gaza, they should not call bishops or even Christians, nor have any communion with them at all, nor receive any letters from them nor write to them. As for Theodore of Heraclea in Europe, Narcissus of Neronias in Cilicia, Acacius of Caesarea in Palestine, Stephen of Antioch, Ursacius of Singidunum in Moesia, Valens of Mursa in Pannonia, Menophantus of Ephesus, and George of Laodicea (even though from fear he did not come from the East, yet because he had been deposed by the blessed Alexander, formerly bishop of Alexandria, and because these men with him belong to the madness of Arius, and because of the charges brought against them), the holy synod has unanimously deposed them from the episcopate; and we have judged that they are not only not bishops, but not even worthy of communion with the faithful. For those who separate the Son from the essence and divinity of the Father and estrange the Word from the Father ought to be separated from the catholic church and to be strangers to the name of Christians. Let them, then, be anathema to us and to all, because they have peddled the word of truth. For it is an apostolic command: ‘If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed.’ Command that no one have communion with them, for there is no fellowship of light with darkness. Keep them all far away, for there is no agreement of Christ with Belial. And take care, beloved brothers, neither to write to them nor to receive letters from them. Be eager also, beloved brothers and fellow ministers, as being present in spirit at our synod, to agree and to vote by your signatures, so that unanimity may be preserved among all our fellow ministers everywhere.
We repudiate and expel from the catholic church those who assert that Christ is God, indeed, but not true God; that he is Son, but not true Son; that he is begotten and at the same time made; for they confess that they understand ‘the begotten’ in this way, since they have said, ‘What has been begotten has been made’; and who, though Christ is before the ages, give him a beginning and an end, which he has not in time but before all time. Two vipers have lately been begotten of the Arian asp, Valens and Ursacius, who boast and do not hesitate to call themselves Christians, and say that the Word and the Spirit was both crucified and slain and died and rose again, and, as the faction of the heretics contends, that the hypostases of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit are different and separated.
But we have received and been taught, and we hold, this catholic and apostolic tradition, faith, and confession: that there is one hypostasis, which the heretics themselves call essence, of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And if they should ask what the hypostasis of the Son is, we confess that it is the very one that is confessed to be the only hypostasis of the Father; and that the Father never came to be, nor can be, without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, which is the Word, Spirit. For it is most absurd to say that the Father ever came to be. That the Father can neither be named nor exist without the Son, there is the testimony of the Son himself: ‘I am in the Father and the Father in me,’ and ‘I and the Father are one.’ None of us denies ‘the begotten’; but we say he was begotten before all things that are called invisible and visible, begotten as the craftsman of archangels and angels, of the world, and of the human race, since it says: ‘Wisdom, the craftsman of all, taught me,’ and ‘All things came into being through him.’ For he could not always have existed if he had received a beginning; for the Word who always is has no beginning, and God never undergoes an end. We do not say that the Father is the Son, nor again that the Son is the Father; but the Father is Father, and the Son is the Son of the Father. We confess that the Son is the Power of the Father; we confess that the Word is of God the Father, besides whom there is no other, and that the Word is true God, Wisdom, and Power. We hand down that he is true Son; but we do not call him Son as the others are called sons; for they are either gods because of their rebirth, or are called sons because they have been counted worthy, not because of the one hypostasis which is of the Father and of the Son. We confess him both only-begotten and firstborn: only-begotten as the Word, who always was and is in the Father; ‘firstborn’ in respect of the man. He differs from the common creation in that he is also firstborn from the dead. We confess that there is one God; we confess one divinity of the Father and the Son. And no one ever denies that the Father is greater than the Son, not because of another hypostasis, nor because of a difference, but because the very name of the Father is greater than that of the Son. But this is their blasphemous and corrupt interpretation: they contend that he said ‘I and the Father are one’ because of agreement and concord. All of us catholics have condemned their foolish and pitiable notion. For they say that, just as mortal men, when they have begun to differ, quarrel and disagree and then come back to reconciliation, so there can be dissension and discord between God the Father Almighty and the Son; which is most absurd both to think and to suppose. But we believe, affirm, and understand that the sacred voice said ‘I and the Father are one’ because of the unity of the hypostasis, which is one of the Father and one of the Son. And this too we believe: that he reigns with the Father always, without beginning and without end, and that his kingdom has neither a time nor a failing; for what always is never began to be nor can fail.
We believe in and receive the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord himself both promised and sent to us; and we believe that he was sent. And it was not he who suffered, but the man whom he put on, whom he took from Mary the virgin, the man who was capable of suffering; because man is mortal, but God immortal. We believe that on the third day it was not God in the man who rose, but the man in God who rose, whom he also offered to his Father as a gift, whom he set free. We believe that at a suitable and appointed time he himself will judge all and concerning all. So great is their folly, and so blinded is their mind by thick darkness, that they cannot see the light of truth. They do not understand in what sense it was said, ‘that they too may be one in us.’ It is clear why ‘one’: because the apostles received the Holy Spirit of God; yet they themselves were not the Spirit, nor was any of them Word or Wisdom or Power, nor was he only-begotten. ‘As I and you are one,’ he says, ‘so they too may be one in us.’ But the divine voice distinguished exactly: ‘one in us,’ it says. It did not say, ‘as we are one, I and the Father,’ but that the disciples, joined and united among themselves, are one in faith and confession, so that in the grace and piety of God the Father and in the forgiveness and love of our Lord and Saviour they may be able to be one.”
From this letter one may learn the slander of the accusers, the injustice of those who had judged before, and besides this the soundness of the doctrines. For the blessed fathers taught us not only about the divine nature, but also offered the teaching about the dispensation.
When Constans learned this, he was disheartened at seeing his brother's easiness, and angry with those who had contrived these things and deceived the emperor's facility. So he chose two of the bishops who had come together at Sardica and sent them to his brother with letters; with them he also sent a general named Salianus, who was distinguished for piety and justice. The letter contained not only exhortation and counsel but also a threat befitting a pious emperor. First he directed his brother to give ear to the bishops and learn of the lawless acts dared by Stephen and the others, and also to restore Athanasius to his flock, since both the slander and the lawlessness and hostility of those who had judged before had become plain. He added that if he were not persuaded and did not do what was just, he himself would come to Alexandria, restore Athanasius to the sheep that longed for him, and drive out the troop of his enemies. Constantius received this letter (he happened then to be at Antioch) and promised to do what his brother, who had shared the same birth-pangs, had directed.
Gal 1:8 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 6:14–15 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 2:17 (allusion, high confidence) · John 14:10 (quotation, high confidence) · John 10:30 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:3 (quotation, high confidence) · Col 1:18 (allusion, high confidence) · John 14:28 (allusion, high confidence) · John 14:16 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 17:21–22 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:24 (allusion, medium confidence)
Notes and citation
Summary: Theodoret quotes the encyclical letter of the Western bishops at Sardica, which recounts the flight of the Eastern bishops, clears Athanasius, Marcellus, and Asclepas, deposes their opponents, and ends with a statement of faith confessing one hypostasis of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Constans then presses Constantius by letter to restore Athanasius.
- Document: encyclical letter of the council of Sardica (343), Western bishops. The narrative part is also preserved by Athanasius, Defence against the Arians 44–50 (published on this site), and in Latin by Hilary; the canons of the council are published separately (council-sardica). The statement of faith at the end is found only in Theodoret's copy; Athanasius (Tome to the Antiochenes 5) says that the synod issued no new creed. It is translated as printed, without comment.
- “One hypostasis, which the heretics themselves call essence”: the statement uses hypostasis in the sense of essence.
- The statement of faith is badly damaged in the OCR text: several lines of apparatus and marginal matter were run into it and have been removed (logged). The words “which is the Word, Spirit” are translated as printed; their sense is uncertain. In “we say he was begotten before all things” the printed text is garbled (“ἀλλά τισιν γεγεννημένον, παντάπασιν”) and is translated by sense. In “say that the Word and the Spirit was ... crucified” the printed text (“καὶ οὔτε ὁ λόγος”) is garbled; translated by sense.
- “Two presbyters ... who are now with Athanasius”: the printed text opens a square bracket here without closing it; the words are translated.
- “Wisdom, the craftsman of all, taught me”: Wis 7:22.
- “His brother, who had shared the same birth-pangs”: literally “the sharer of the birth-pangs,” i.e. his brother.
- The Greek list of provinces is translated as printed.
- “He differs from the common creation” (τῇ κοινῇ κτίσει): some read καινῇ, “in the new creation.”
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR debris (a garbled duplicate line) removed; OCR garbled the word; apparatus and marginal matter run into the text by the OCR removed; apparatus line run into a divided word by the OCR removed; apparatus line run into the text by the OCR removed; marginal matter run into the text by the OCR removed): ὅ᾽ ἔστι ΒΑ Νι αβίθ)τεν {πε Τ ἑαυτοὺς ὁμολογοῦσιν] εἰώθασι νοεῖν τὸ γεγεννημένονε, ὁμολογοῦντες ΒΟ σοιδὺ Ποοῦβ τα ὕτίοχῦ ὩδΟ δὲσ εγεΐ)γε ἐπιξοἐἐἔσογα σονιθιεθγιεπέ παΐμρι, χει ἐαἐθηέμν "λόγος πνεῦμα → ὅ ἐστι λόγος πνεῦμα; κεὼ δ εἰ ῖ ἰς τοῦνυἱοῦ ἐπ πξύστεισίς ἢ ἐμ ογοῦ ὃς αὔτ Τῇ εἰ ζητοῖεν → καὶ εἰ ζητοῖεν; δ νεῖ. Αἰμαπαθ. Δρο]. ο. Αυίδη. ἢ αὐτοὺς → αὐτοὺς; Παλαι- ΒΑ Νε αβθ("τπεσ [Εππτετῷ Τ στίνης → Παλαιστίνης; ἀλλ᾽ ΒΑ ΝΕ αβί() τεσ ΨΈΡΥ()-Ξε, Τ' οἱ μαθηταὶ → ἀλλ᾽ οἱ μαθηταὶ; συγγθαφΊ, → συγγραφῇ..
Extrabiblical texts: Wis 7:22 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation); Athanasius, Apol. sec. 44-50 (Defence against the Arians; quotation); Conc. Sard. (Canons of the Council of Sardica (Greek); allusion)
Topics: Trinity, Christology, Heresy, Church office, Persecution
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 2.6 (GCS 19:100–119; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/2-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/2-6
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.
2.7GCS 19:119–121
ἀλλ ἐπὶ τούτοις ἀλγήσαντες οἱ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ πολεμεῖν εἰωθότες τὸ παμμίαρον ἐκεῖνο καὶ δυσσεβὲς κατεσκεύασαν δρᾶμα, χκατήχθη μὲν γὰρ παρὰ τὴν ὑπώρειαν τῶν ἀρχιερέων ἡ ξυνωρίς, δὲ στρατηγὸς καταγωγὴν ἑτέραν εἰλήφει. Στέφανος δὲ (αὐτὸς γὰρ τῆς Ἀντιοχέων ἐκκλησίας κατέχων τοὺς οἴακας ὑποβρύχιον ἐποίει τὸ σκάφος) εἶχε μὲν καὶ ἄλλους τῶν τυρανγικῶν συνεργοὺς τολμημάτων, οἷς χρώμενος τοὺς τῶν ὀρθῶν ἄἀντεχομένους δογμάτων παντοδαπαῖς περιέβαλλε συμφοραῖς. ἡγεῖτο δὲ τούτων νέος τις θρασύτητι μὲν συξζῶν, τὸν δὲ παράνομον ἀσπαξζόμέρος βίον" ὃς οὐ μόνον τοὺς ἐκ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἀπῆγε προπηλακίζων καὶ αἰκιζόμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταῖς οἰκίαις ἐπιὼν ἀναίδην καὶ ἄνδρας ἐξῆγε καὶ γυναῖκας σεμνότητι κοσμουμένας. καὶ ἵνα μὴ σφόδρα μηκύνω τὴν τούτου διηγούμενος πονηρίαν, τὸ κατὰ τῶν ἀρίστων ἀνδρῶν τολμηθὲν διηγήσομαι" ἀ ἀπόχρη γὰρ τεχμηριῶσαι τὰ κατὰ τῶν ἀστῶν ὑπ ἐχείνου παρανόμῶς πραχθέντα. Οὗτος πρός τινα χαμαιτύπην παραγενόμενος ἔφησε ξένους ἔναγχος ἐληλυθότας δεῖσθαι νύκτωρ αὐτῆς. εἶτα πεντεκαίδεκα στασιώτας λαβὼν καὶ τούτους ἐν ταῖς κατὰ τὴν ὑπώρειαν αἱμασιαῖς κατακρύψας, ἧκεν ἄγων τὴν χαμαιτύπην᾽ καὶ τὸ συγκείμενον ἐπιφθεγξάμενος σύνθημα καὶ μαθὼν οἧς πάρεισι τοῦ δράματος οἱ συνἰστορες, ἧκε παρὰ τὴν αὔλιον θύραν τῆς τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐκείνων καταγωγῆς. καὶ ταύτην ἀνεῳγυῖαν εὑρὼν (ἕνα γὰρ τῶν οἰκετῶν τοῦτο δρᾶσαι χρήμασιν ἐπεπείχε!) εἰσήγαγε τὴν γυναῖκα" καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τὴν θύραν ἐπιδείξας, ἔνθα δὴ καθεύδειν θάτερον τῶν ἀρχιερέων συνέβαινεν, εἴσω γενέσθαι προσέταξεν, αὐτὸς δὲ τοὺς στασιώτας καλέσων ἐξῆλθεν. συνέβη δὲ τὸν μὲν Πυφρατᾶν (τοῦτο γὰρ ἣν ὄνομα τῷ πρεσβυτέρῳ) ἐν τῷ προδόμῳ καθεύδειν, ὁ δὲ Βικέντιος (οὕτως γὰρ ὃ ἕτερος ὠνομάζετο) ἐν τῷ ἐνδοτέρῳ θαλάμῳ κατέμενεν. εἴσω δὲ τῶν θυρῶν τῆς χαμαιτύπης γενομένης, τοῦ κτύπου τῶν ποδῶν ὁ Πύὐφρατᾶς αἰσθόμενος (σκότος δὲ ἦν) ἤρετο τίς ὃ βαδίξζων' φθεγξαῦ μένης δὲ ἐκείνης, θορύβου μεστὸς ὁ Βὐφρατᾶς ἐγένετο, δαίμονα τοπάσας εἶναι γυναικείαν φωνὴν μιμησάμενον, καὶ παραυτίκα τὸν σωτῆρα Χριστὸν εἰς ἐπικουρίαν ἐκάλει. ὁ δὲ Ὄναγρος (οὕτω γὰρ ὁ τοῦ πονηροῦ στίφους ἡγεμονεύων προσηγορεύετο, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς ταῖς χερσὶ καὶ τοῖς ποσὶν ὅπλοις κατὰ τῶν εὐσεβούντων ἐκέχρητο) μετὰ τοῦ στίφους εἰσελήλυθε, παρανόμους ἀποκαλῶν τοὺς παρανομίας διχκαστὰς ἔσεσθαι προσδοκῶντας. βοῆς δὲ πλείστης γενομένης, συνέὅραμον μὲν οἱ οἰκέται, ἐξανέστη δὲ καὶ ὃ Βικέντιος. καὶ τὴν αὔλιον ἀποκλείσαντες θύραν, ἑπτὰ μὲν τῶν στασιωτῶν συλλαβεῖν ἠδυνήθησαν (ὁ δέ 7ὲ Ὄναγρος σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀπέδρα), ἐφρουρεῖτο δὲ σὺν ὅ ἐκείνοις καὶ ἡ γυνή. ὑπὸ δὲ τὴν ἕω τὸν σὺν αὐτοῖς ἀφικόμενον διαναστήσαντες στρατηγὸν κατέλαβον τὰ βασίλεια" καὶ τῶν “Στεφάνου τολμημάτων καταβοῶντες ἔλεγον μὴ δεῖσθαι δίκης μηδὲ βασάνου τὰ τούτου παρανομήματα. ὁ δέ γε στρατηγὸς διαφερόντως ἐβόα, ἄντιβολῶν κελεῦσαι τὸν βασιλέα μὴ συνοδικῶς ἀλλὰ δικαστικῶς ἐξετασθῆναι τὸ παράνομον τόλμημα, καὶ τοὺς τῶν ἐπισκόπων κληρικοὺς ὑπισχνεῖτο πρώτους εἰς αἰκίαν ἐκδώσειν, χρῆναι δὲ καὶ τοῦ Στεφάνου τοὺς ὑπηρέτας ταῦτα παθεῖν. ἐκείνου δὲ ἀναίδην ζυγομαχοῦντος καὶ λέγοντος μὴ δεῖν κληρικοὺς ὑπομεῖναι πληγάς, ἔδοξε καὶ βασιλεῖ καὶ τοῖς ἄρχουσιν ἔνδον ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις τοῦ πράγματος γενέσθαι τὴν βάσανον. καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἤροντο τὴν γυναῖκα, τίς αὐτὴν εἰς τὴν τῶν ἐπισκόπων ἀπήγαγε καταγωγήν. ἡ δὲ ἔφη νέον τινὰ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἀφικόμενον τὴν τῶν ξένων ἐπιδημίαν καὶ χρείαν εἰπεῖν, καὶ οὃς ἑσπέρας ἀφικόμενος ἀπήγαγέ τε εἰς τὴν καταγωγήν. καὶ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἐπιζητήσας λόχον καὶ τοῦτον εὑρὼν εἴσω τε τῆς αὐλίου θύρας εἰσήγαγε καὶ εἰς τὸν πρόδομον εἰσελθεῖν παρηγγύησε. προσετίθει δὲ καὶ τοῦ ἐπισκόπου τὴν πεῦσιν καὶ τὸ γενόμενον δέος καὶ τὴν εὐχὴν καὶ τῶν ἐπεισελθόντων τὴν ἔφοδον.
all epi toutois algēsantes hoi tę̄ alētheią polemein eiōthotes to pammiaron ekeino kai dyssebes kateskeuasan drama, chkatēchthē men gar para tēn hypōreian tōn archiereōn hē xynōris, de stratēgos katagōgēn heteran eilēphei. Stephanos de (autos gar tēs Antiocheōn ekklēsias katechōn tous oiakas hypobrychion epoiei to skaphos) eiche men kai allous tōn tyrangikōn synergous tolmēmatōn, hois chrōmenos tous tōn orthōn aantechomenous dogmatōn pantodapais perieballe symphorais. hēgeito de toutōn neos tis thrasytēti men syxzōn, ton de paranomon aspaxzomeros bion" hos ou monon tous ek tēs agoras apēge propēlakizōn kai aikizomenos, alla kai tais oikiais epiōn anaidēn kai andras exēge kai gynaikas semnotēti kosmoumenas. kai hina mē sphodra mēkynō tēn toutou diēgoumenos ponērian, to kata tōn aristōn andrōn tolmēthen diēgēsomai" a apochrē gar techmēriōsai ta kata tōn astōn hyp echeinou paranomōs prachthenta. Houtos pros tina chamaitypēn paragenomenos ephēse xenous enanchos elēlythotas deisthai nyktōr autēs. eita pentekaideka stasiōtas labōn kai toutous en tais kata tēn hypōreian haimasiais katakrypsas, hēken agōn tēn chamaitypēn᾽ kai to synkeimenon epiphthenxamenos synthēma kai mathōn hoēs pareisi tou dramatos hoi synistores, hēke para tēn aulion thyran tēs tōn andrōn ekeinōn katagōgēs. kai tautēn aneǭguian heurōn (hena gar tōn oiketōn touto drasai chrēmasin epepeiche!) eisēgage tēn gynaika" kai tou oikou tēn thyran epideixas, entha dē katheudein thateron tōn archiereōn synebainen, eisō genesthai prosetaxen, autos de tous stasiōtas kalesōn exēlthen. synebē de ton men Pyphratan (touto gar hēn onoma tǭ presbyterǭ) en tǭ prodomǭ katheudein, ho de Bikentios (houtōs gar ho heteros ōnomazeto) en tǭ endoterǭ thalamǭ katemenen. eisō de tōn thyrōn tēs chamaitypēs genomenēs, tou ktypou tōn podōn ho Pyyphratas aisthomenos (skotos de ēn) ēreto tis ho badixzōn' phthenxau menēs de ekeinēs, thorybou mestos ho Byphratas egeneto, daimona topasas einai gynaikeian phōnēn mimēsamenon, kai parautika ton sōtēra Christon eis epikourian ekalei. ho de Onagros (houtō gar ho tou ponērou stiphous hēgemoneuōn prosēgoreueto, epeidē pros tais chersi kai tois posin hoplois kata tōn eusebountōn ekechrēto) meta tou stiphous eiselēlythe, paranomous apokalōn tous paranomias dichkastas esesthai prosdokōntas. boēs de pleistēs genomenēs, syneoramon men hoi oiketai, exanestē de kai ho Bikentios. kai tēn aulion apokleisantes thyran, hepta men tōn stasiōtōn syllabein ēdynēthēsan (ho de 7e Onagros syn tois allois apedra), ephroureito de syn ho ekeinois kai hē gynē. hypo de tēn heō ton syn autois aphikomenon dianastēsantes stratēgon katelabon ta basileia" kai tōn “Stephanou tolmēmatōn kataboōntes elegon mē deisthai dikēs mēde basanou ta toutou paranomēmata. ho de ge stratēgos diapherontōs eboa, antibolōn keleusai ton basilea mē synodikōs alla dikastikōs exetasthēnai to paranomon tolmēma, kai tous tōn episkopōn klērikous hypischneito prōtous eis aikian ekdōsein, chrēnai de kai tou Stephanou tous hypēretas tauta pathein. ekeinou de anaidēn zygomachountos kai legontos mē dein klērikous hypomeinai plēgas, edoxe kai basilei kai tois archousin endon en tois basileiois tou pragmatos genesthai tēn basanon. kai prōton men ēronto tēn gynaika, tis autēn eis tēn tōn episkopōn apēgage katagōgēn. hē de ephē neon tina pros autēn aphikomenon tēn tōn xenōn epidēmian kai chreian eipein, kai hoos hesperas aphikomenos apēgage te eis tēn katagōgēn. kai ton oikeion epizētēsas lochon kai touton heurōn eisō te tēs auliou thyras eisēgage kai eis ton prodomon eiselthein parēngyēse. prosetithei de kai tou episkopou tēn peusin kai to genomenon deos kai tēn euchēn kai tōn epeiselthontōn tēn ephodon.
But those who were accustomed to make war on the truth, pained at this, contrived that utterly foul and impious drama. The pair of high priests had been lodged at the foot of the hill, while the general had taken other lodgings. Stephen (for he held the helm of the church of the Antiochenes and was sinking the ship) had other helpers too in his tyrannical acts of daring, and using them he surrounded those who held to the orthodox doctrines with every kind of misfortune. Their leader was a certain young man who lived with boldness and embraced a lawless life; he not only dragged people from the market-place, insulting and maltreating them, but also shamelessly entered houses and led out men and women adorned with modesty. Not to lengthen too much the account of his wickedness, I shall relate what he dared against those excellent men; for it is enough to show what he lawlessly did against the citizens.
He went to a certain harlot and said that some strangers had lately arrived and wanted her that night. Then taking fifteen of his partisans and hiding them in the walled enclosures at the foot of the hill, he came bringing the harlot. Having spoken the agreed password and learned that his accomplices in the drama were present, he came to the courtyard door of the lodging of those men. Finding it open (for he had persuaded one of the servants with money to do this), he brought the woman in; and pointing out the door of the room where one of the high priests happened to be sleeping, he told her to go in, while he himself went out to call the partisans. It happened that Euphratas (this was the name of the elder) was sleeping in the front room, while Vincent (as the other was called) was in the inner chamber. When the harlot was inside the door, Euphratas heard the sound of feet (it was dark) and asked who was walking there. When she spoke, Euphratas was filled with alarm, supposing it to be a demon imitating a woman's voice, and at once called on Christ the Saviour for help. Onager (for so the leader of that wicked troop was called, since besides his hands and feet he used weapons against the pious) came in with the troop, calling lawbreakers those who expected to be judges of lawbreaking. A great outcry arose; the servants ran together, and Vincent too got up. Shutting the courtyard door, they managed to seize seven of the partisans (Onager escaped with the others), and the woman was kept under guard with them.
At dawn they roused the general who had come with them and went to the palace; and crying out against Stephen's acts of daring, they said that his lawless deeds needed neither trial nor torture. The general especially protested, begging the emperor to order that the lawless deed be examined not by a synod but by a court of law, and he promised to hand over the bishops' clergy to torture first, but said that Stephen's servants too must undergo it. When Stephen shamelessly objected and said that clergy ought not to suffer blows, the emperor and the officials decided that the investigation of the affair should take place inside the palace. First they asked the woman who had brought her to the bishops' lodging. She said that a young man had come to her, told her of the strangers' arrival and their wish, and had come in the evening and brought her to the lodging; and that he had looked for his own band, found it, brought her inside the courtyard door and told her to go into the front room. She also added the bishop's question, his fear, his prayer, and the onrush of those who burst in.
Notes and citation
Summary: At Antioch Bishop Stephen's agent Onager smuggles a harlot at night into the lodging of the bishops Euphratas and Vincent, envoys from Sardica, to discredit them; the plot fails, his men are caught, and the general Salianus insists on a judicial investigation in the palace, where the woman tells what happened.
- “Onager” means “wild ass,” a nickname; Theodoret explains it by the man's violence.
- “Euphratas ... the elder”: Euphratas, bishop of Cologne, is called “the elder” (πρεσβύτερος), i.e. the older of the two bishops; the other is Vincent of Capua.
Topics: Church office, Heresy
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 2.7 (GCS 19:119–121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/2-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/2-7
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Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.
2.8GCS 19:121
ταῦτα μεμαθηκότες οἱ δικασταὶ τῶν συνειλημμένων εἰς μέσον ἄγουσι τὸν νεώτατον ὃς οὐχ ἀναμείνας τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν μαστίγων ἀνάγκην τὸ συντεθὲν ἐγύμνῶσε δρᾶμα, καὶ τὸν Ὄναγρον ταῦτα πάντα δεδρακέναι καθωμολόγησεν᾽ ἀχθεὶς δὲ ἐκεῖνος τὸν Στέφανον ἔφη ταῦτα προῦτεταχέναι. Οὕτω τοῦ Στεφάνου τὴν πονηρίαν μεμαθηκότες, τοῖς τηνικαῦτα παροῦσε τῶν ἐπισκόπων καθελεῖν τοῦτον ἐπέτρεψαν καὶ τῆς ἐκχκλησίας ἐξήλασαν. οὐ μὴν παντάπασιν ἡ ἐκκλησία τῆς Ἀρειανικῆς ἠλευθερώθη λώβης. Δεόντιος γὰρ μετ᾽ ἐκεῖνον τῆς προεδρίας ἔτυχεν, ἀνὴρ Φρὺξ μὲν τὸ γένος, τὴν δὲ γνώμην κρυψίνους καὶ τὰς ὑφάλους πέτρας μιμούμενος. ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν κατὰ τοῦτον μικρὸν ὕστερον διηγήσομαι.
tauta memathēkotes hoi dikastai tōn syneilēmmenōn eis meson agousi ton neōtaton hos ouch anameinas tēn apo tōn mastigōn anankēn to syntethen egymnōse drama, kai ton Onagron tauta panta dedrakenai kathōmologēsen᾽ achtheis de ekeinos ton Stephanon ephē tauta proutetachenai. Houtō tou Stephanou tēn ponērian memathēkotes, tois tēnikauta parouse tōn episkopōn kathelein touton epetrepsan kai tēs ekchklēsias exēlasan. ou mēn pantapasin hē ekklēsia tēs Areianikēs ēleutherōthē lōbēs. Deontios gar met᾽ ekeinon tēs proedrias etychen, anēr Phryx men to genos, tēn de gnōmēn krypsinous kai tas hyphalous petras mimoumenos. alla ta men kata touton mikron hysteron diēgēsomai.
Having learned this, the judges brought forward the youngest of those arrested, who, without waiting for the compulsion of the whip, laid bare the drama that had been composed and confessed that Onager had done all this. Onager, when brought in, said that Stephen had ordered it. Having thus learned Stephen's wickedness, they entrusted the bishops then present with deposing him, and he was driven out of the church. Yet the church was not altogether freed from the Arian infection. For Leontius obtained the presidency after him, a man Phrygian by race, but secretive in mind and like the rocks hidden under the sea. But I shall relate his story a little later.
Notes and citation
Summary: The plot is traced through Onager to Bishop Stephen, who is deposed; Leontius, a secret Arian, succeeds him at Antioch.
Topics: Church office, Heresy
Cite (SBL): Theodoret, Hist. eccl. 2.8 (GCS 19:121; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/2-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)
Permanent link: https://sophiascriptura.com/p/theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica/2-8
BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSON (whole work; this passage's key: sophiascriptura-theodoret-historia-ecclesiastica-2-8) · Report an error
Translation: Translated by Claude (Opus) from Parmentier's Greek text (GCS 19, 1911; OCR by this project); every chapter compared afterwards with Jackson's English in NPNF² 3.