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The Arian Letters |
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Arius’
Letter to Eusebius of (from
Theodoret, Ecclesiastical History, I, IV. LPNF, ser. 2, vol. 3, 41. To his
very dear lord, the man of God, the faithful and orthodox Eusebius, Arius,
unjustly persecuted by Alexander the Pope, on account of that all conquering
truth of which you also are a champion, sendeth greeting in the Lord. Ammonius,
my father, being about to depart for Nicomedia, I considered myself bound to
salute you by him, and withal to inform that natural affection which you bear
towards the brethern for the sake of God and His Christ, that the bishop greatly
wastes and persecutes us, and leaves no stone unturned against us. He has driven
us out of the city as atheists, because we do not concur in what he publicly
preaches, namely, God always, the Son always; as the Father so the Son; the Son
co-exists unbegotten with the God; He is everlasting; neither by thought nor by
any interval does God precede the Son; always God, always Son; he is begotten of
the unbegotten; the Son is of God Himself. Eusebius, your brother bishop of
Caesarea, Theodotus, Paulinus, Athanasius, Gregorius, Aetius, and all the
bishops of the East, have been condemned because they say that God had an
existence prior to that of his Son; except Philogonius, Hellanicus, and Macarius,
who are unlearned men, and who have embraced heretical opinions. Some of them
say that the Son is an eructation, others that He is a production, others the He
is also unbegotten. These are impieties to which we cannot listen, even though
heretics threaten us with a thousand deaths. But we say and believe, and have
taught, and do teach, that the Son is not unbegotten; and that He does not
derive his subsistence from any matter; but that by His own will and counsel He
has subsisted before time, and before ages, as perfect God, only begotten and
unchangeable, and that before He was begotten, or created, or purposed, ot
established, He was not. For He was not unbegotten. We are persecuted, because
we say that the Son has a beginning, but that God is without beginning. This is
the cause of our persecution, and likewise, because we say that He is of the
non-existent. And this we say, because He is neither part of God, nor of any
essential being. For this are we persecuted; the rest you know. I bid thee
farewell in the Lord, remembering our afflictions, my fellow-Lucianist, and true
Eusebius.
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Alexander
of Alexandria’s Catholic Epistle (ANF, 6,
296-298.) To our
beloved and most reverend fellow-ministers of the Catholic Church in
every place, Alexander sends greeting in the Lord: 1. Since
the body of the Catholic Church is one, and it is commanded in Holy
Scripture that we should keep the bond of unanimity and peace, it
follows that we should write and signify to one another the things
which are done by each of us; that whether one member suffer or rejoice
we may all either suffer or rejoice with one another. In our diocese,
then, not so long ago, there have gone forth lawless men, and
adversaries of Christ, teaching men to apostatize; which thing, with
good right, one might su spect and call the precursor of Antichrist. I
indeed wished to cover the matter up in silence, that so perhaps the
evil might spend itself in the leaders of the heresy alone, and that it
might not spread to other places and defile the ears of any of the m
ore simple-minded. But since Eusebius, the present bishop of Nicomedia,
imagining that with him rest all ecclesiastical matters, because,
having left Berytus and cast his eyes upon the church of the
Nicomedians, and no punishment has been inflicted upon h im, he is set
over these apostates, and has undertaken to write everywhere,
commending them, if by any means he may draw aside some who are
ignorant to this most disgraceful and Ant;christian heresy; it became
necessary for me, as knowing what is written in the law, no longer to
remain silent, but to announce to you all, that you may know both those
who have become apostates, and also the wretched words of their heresy;
and if Eusebius write, not to give heed to him. 2. For
he, desiring by their assistance to renew that ancient wickedness of
his mind, with respect to which he has for a time been silent, pretends
that he is writing in their behalf, but he proves by his deed that he
is exerting himself to do this on his own account. Now the apostates
from the Church are these: Arius, Achilles, Aithales, Carpones, the
other Arius, Sarmates, who were formerly priests; Euzoius, Lucius,
Julius, Menas, Helladius, and Gains, formerly deacons; and with them
Secundus and The onas, who were once called bishops. And the words
invented by them, and spoken contrary to the mind of Scripture, are as
follows:-- “God was not always the Father; but there was a
time when God was not the Father. The Word of God was not always, but
was made ‘from things that are not;’ for He who is God fashioned the
non-existing from the non-existing; wherefore there was a time when He
was not. For the Son is a thing created, and a thing made: nor is He
like to the Father in substance; nor is He the true and natural Word of
the Father; nor is He His true Wisdom; but He is one of the things
fashioned and made. And He is c alled, by a misapplication of the
terms, the Word and Wisdom, since He is Himself made by the proper Word
of God, and by that wisdom which is in God, in which, as God made all
other things, so also did He make Him. Wherefore, I He is by His very
nature ch angeable and mutable, equally with other rational beings. The
Word, too, is alien and separate from the substance of God. The father
also is ineffable to the Son; for neither does the Word perfectly and
accurately know the Father, neither can He perfectly see Him. For
neither does the Son indeed know His own substance as it is. Since He
for our sakes was made, that by Him as by an instrument God might
create us; nor would He have existed had not God wished to make us.
Some one asked of them whether the So n of God could change even as the
devil changed; and they feared not to answer that He can; for since He
was made and created, He is of mutable nature.” 3. Since
those about Arius speak these things and shamelessly maintain them, we,
coming together with the Bishops of Egypt and the 4. Now
concerning their blasphemous assertion who say that the Son does not
perfectly know the Father, we need not wonder: for having once purposed
in their mind to wage war against Christ, they impugn also these words
of His, “As the Father knoweth Me , even so know I the
Father.” Wherefore, if the Father only in part knoweth the Son,
then it is evident that the Son doth not perfectly know the Father. But
if it be wicked thus to speak, and if the Father perfectly knows the
Son, it is plain that, even a s the Father knoweth His own Word, so
also the Word knoweth His own Father, of whom He is the Word. 5. By
saying these things, and by unfolding the divine Scriptures, we have
often refuted them. But they, chameleon-like, changing their
sentiments, endeavour to claim for themselves that saying: “When
the wicked cometh, then cometh contempt.” Before th em, indeed,
many heresies existed, which, having dared more than was right, have
fallen into madness. But these by all their words have attempted to do
away with the Godhead of Christ, have made those seem righteous, since
they have come nearer to Antichr ist. Wherefore they have been
excommunicated and anathematized by the Church. And indeed, although we
grieve at the destruction of these men, especially that after having
once learned the doctrine of the Church, they have now gone back; yet
we do not wond er at it; for this very thing Hymenaeus and Philetus
suffered, and before them Judas, who, though he followed the Saviour,
afterwards became a traitor and an apostate. Moreover, concerning these
very men, warnings are not wanting to us, for the Lord foret old: “Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in My
name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not
therefore after them.” Paul, too, having learnt these things from
the Saviour, wrote, “In the latter times some shall depa rt from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils
which turn away from the truth.” 6. Since, therefore, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has thus Himself exhorted us, and by His apostle hath signified such things to us; we, who have heard their impiety with our own ears, have consistently anathematized such men, as I have already sa id, and have declared them to be aliens from the Catholic Church and faith, and we have made known the thing, beloved and most honoured fellow-ministers, to your piety, that you should not receive any of them, should they venture rashly to come unto you, and that you should not trust Eusebius or any one else who writes concerning them. For it becomes us as Christians to turn with aversion from all who speak or think against Christ, as the adversaries of God and the destroyers of souls, and “not even to wi sh them Godspeed, lest at any time we become partakers of their evil deeds,” as the blessed John enjoins. Salute the brethren who are with you. Those who are with me salute you.
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Arius’
Letter to Alexander of Alexandria (excerpt) (from
Athanasius, De Synodis, 16. LNPF ser. 2, vol. 4, 458) Our faith from our forefathers, which also we have learned from thee, Blessed Pope, is this:- We ackowledge One God, alone Ingenerate, alone Everlasting, alone Unbegun, alone True, alone having Immortality, alone Wise, alone Good, alone Sovereign; Judge, Governor, and Providence of all, unalterable and unchangeable, just and good, God of Law and Prophets and New Testament; who begat an Only-begotten Son before eternal times, through whom He has made both the ages and the universe; and begat Him, not in semblance, but in truth; and that He made Him subsist at His own will, unalterable and unchangeable; perfect creature of God, but not as one of the creatures; offspring, but not as one of things begotten; nor as Valentinus pronounced that the offspring of the Father was an issue; nor as Manichaeus taught that the offspring was a portion of the Father, one in essence; or as Sabellius, dividing the Monad, speaks of a Son-and-Father; nor as Hieracas, of one torch from another, or as a lamp divided in two; nor that He was was before, was afterwards generated or new-created into a Son, as thou too thyself, Blessed Pope, in the midst of the Church and in session has often condemned; but, as we say, at the will of God, created before times and ages, and gaining life and being from the Father, who gave subsistence to His glories together with Him. For the Father did not, in giving to Him the inheritance of all thigns, deprive Himself of what He has ingenerately in Himself; for He is the Fountain of all things. Thus there are Three Subsistences. And God, being the cause of all things, is Unbegun and altogether Sole, but the Son being begotten apart from time by the Father, and being created and founded before ages, was not before His generation, but being begotten apart from time before all things, alone was made to subsist by the Father. For He is not eternal or co-eternal or co-unoriginate with the Father, nor has He His being together with the Father, as some speak of relations, introducing two ingenerate beginnings, but God is before all things as being Monad and Beginning of all. Wherefore also He is before the Son; as we have learned also from they preaching in the midst of the Church. So far then as from God He has being, and glories, and life, and all things are delivered unto Him, in such sense is God His origin. For He is above Him, as being His God, and before Him. But if the terms “from Him,” and “from the womb,” and “I came forth from the Father, and I am come” (Rom. xi. 36; Ps. cx. 3; John xvi. 28) be understood by some to mean as if a part of Him, one in essence or as an issue, then the Father is according to them compounded and divisible and alterable and material, and, as far as their belief goes, has the circumstances of a body, Who is the incorporeal God.
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Alexander
of (ANF, 6,
291-296.) To the
most reverend and like-minded brother, Alexander, Alexander sends
greeting in the Lord; 1. The
ambitious and avaricious will of wicked men is always wont to lay
snares against those churches which seem greater, by various pretexts
attacking the ecclesiastical piety of such. For incited by the devil
who works in them, to the lust of that which is set before them, and
throwing away all religious scruples, they trample under foot the fear
of the judgment of God. Concerning which things, I who suffer, have
thought it necessary to show to your piety, in order that you may be
aware of such men, lest any of them presume to set foot in your
dioceses, whether by themselves or by others; for these sorcerers know
how to use hypocrisy to carry out their fraud; and to employ letters
composed and dressed out with lies, which are able to deceive a man who
is intent upon a simple and sincere faith. Arius, therefore, and
Achilles, having lately entered into a conspiracy, emulating the
ambition of Colluthus, have turned out far worse than he. For Colluthus,
indeed, who reprehends these very men, found some pretext for his evil
purpose; but these, beholding his battering of Christ, endured no
longer to be subject to the Church; but building for themselves dens of
thieves, they hold their assemblies in them unceasingly, night and day
directing their calumnies against Christ and against us. For since they
call in question all pious and apostolical doctrine, after the manner
of the Jews, they have constructed a workshop for contending against
Christ, denying the Godhead of our Saviour, and preaching that He is
only the equal of all others. And having collected all the passages
which speak of His plan of salvation and His humiliation for our sakes,
they endeavour from these to collect the preaching of their impiety,
ignoring altogether the passages in which His eternal Godhead and
unutterable glory with the Father is set forth. Since, therefore, they
back up the impious opinion concerning Christ, which is held by the
Jews and Greeks, in every possible way they strive to gain their
approval; busying themselves about all those things which they are wont
to deride in us, and daily stirring up against us seditions and
persecutions. And now, indeed, they drag us before the tribunals of the
judges, by intercourse with silly and disorderly women, whom they have
led into error; at another time they cast opprobrium and infamy upon
the Christian religion, their young maidens disgracefully wandering
about every village and street. Nay, even Christ’s indivisible tunic,
which His executioners were unwilling to divide, these wretches have
dared to rend. 2. And
we, indeed, though we discovered rather late, on account of their
concealment, their manner of life, and their unholy attempts, by the
common suffrage of all have s cast them forth from the congregation of
the Church which adores the Godhead of Christ. But they, running hither
and thither against us, have begun to betake themselves to our
colleagues who are of the same mind with us; in appearance, indeed,
pretending to seek for peace and concord, but in reality seeking to
draw over some of them by fair words to their own diseases, asking long
wordy letters from them, in order that reading these to the men whom
they have deceived, they may make them impenitent in the errors into
which they have fallen, and obdurate in impiety, as if they had bishops
thinking the same thing and siding with them. Moreover, the things
which amongst us they have wrongly taught and done, and on account of
which they have been expelled by us, they do not at all confess to
them, but they either pass them over in silence, or throwing a veil
over them, by feigned words and writings they deceive them. Concealing,
therefore, their pestilent doctrine by their specious and flattering
discourse, they circumvent the more simple-minded and such as are open
to fraud, nor do they spare in the meanwhile to traduce our piety to
all. Hence it comes to pass that some, subscribing their letters,
receive them into the Church, although in my opinion the greatest guilt
lies upon those ministers who venture to do this; because not only does
the apostolic rule not allow of it, bat the working of the devil in
these men against Christ is by this means more strongly kindled.
Wherefore without delay, brethren beloved, I have stirred myself up to
show you the faithlessness of these men who say that there was a time
when the Son of God was not; and that He who was not before, came into
existence afterwards, becoming such, when at length He was made, even
as every man is wont to be born. For, they say, God made all things
from things which are not, comprehending even the Son of God in the
creation of all things rational and irrational. To which things they
add as a consequence, that He is of mutable nature, and capable both of
virtue and vice. And this hypothesis being once assumed, that He is “from things which are not,” they overturn the sacred
writings concerning His eternity, which signify the immutability and
the Godhead of Wisdom and the Word, which are Christ. 3. We,
therefore, say these wicked men, can also be the sons of God even as
He. For it is written, “I have nourished and brought up
children.” But when what follows was objected to them, “and
they have rebelled against me,” which indeed is not applicable to
the nature of the Saviour, who is of an immutable nature; they,
throwing off all religious reverence, say that God, since He foreknew
and had foreseen that His Son would not rebel against Him, chose Him
from all. For He did not choose Him as having by nature anything
specially beyond His other sons, for no one is by nature a son of God,
as they say; neither as having any peculiar property of His own; but
God chose Him who was of a mutable nature, on account of the
carefulness of His manners and His practice, which in no way turned to
that which is evil; so that, if Paul and Peter had striven for this,
there would have been no difference between their sonship and His. And
to confirm this insane doctrine, playing with Holy Scripture, they
bring forward what is said in the Psalms respecting Christ: “Thou
lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God,
hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows,” 4. But
that the Son of God was not made “from things which are not,”
and that there was no “time when He was not,” the evangelist
John sufficiently shows, when he thus writes concerning Him: “The
only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father.” For since
that divine teacher intended to show that the Father and the Son are
two things inseparable the one from the other, he spoke of Him as being
in the bosom of the Father. Now that also the Word of God is not
comprehended in the number of things that were created “from
things which are not,” the same John says, “All things were
made by Him.” For he set forth His proper personality, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. All things were made by Him; and with out Him was not
anything made that was made.” For if all things were made by Him,
how comes it that He who gave to the things which are made their
existence, at one time Himself was not. For the Word which makes is not
to be defined as being of the same nature with the things which are
made; since He indeed was in the beginning, and all things were made by
Him, and fashioned “from things which are not.” Moreover,
that which is seems to be contrary to and far removed froth those
things which are made “from things which are not.” For that
indeed shows that there is no interval between the Father and the Son,
since not even in thought can the mind imagine any distance between
them. But that the world was created “from things which are
not,” indicates a more recent a and later origin of substance,
since the universe receives an essence of this sort from the Father by
the Son. When, therefore, the most pious John contemplated the essence
of the divine Word at a very great distance, and as placed beyond all
conception of those things that are begotten, he thought it not meet to
speak of His generation and creation; not daring to designate the
Creator in the same terms as the things that are made. Not that the
Word is unbegotten, for the Father alone is unbegotten, but because the
inexplicable subsistence of the only-begotten Son transcends the acute
comprehension of the evangelists, and perhaps also of angels. 5.
Wherefore I do not think that he is to be reckoned amongst the pious
who presumes to inquire into anything beyond these things, not
listening to this saying: “Seek not out the things that are too
hard for thee, neither search the things that are above thy
strength.” For if the knowledge of many other things that are
incomparably inferior to this, are hidden from human comprehension,
such as in the apostle Paul, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Him.” As also God said to Abraham,
that “he could not number the stars;” and that passage, “Who can number the sand of the sea, and the drops of rainy”
How shall any one be able to investigate too curiously the subsistence
of the divine Word, unless he be smitten with frenzy? Concerning which
the Spirit of prophecy says, “Who shall declare his
generation?” And our Saviour Himself, who blesses the pillars of
all things in the world, sought to unburden them of the knowledge of
these things, saying that to comprehend this was quite beyond their
nature, and that to the Father alone belonged the knowledge of this
most divine mystery. “For no man,” says He, “knoweth the
Son, but the Father: neither knoweth any man the Father, save the
Son.” Of this thing also I think that the Father spoke, in the
words, “My secret is to Me and Mine.” 6. Now
that it is an insane thing to think that the Son was made from things
which are not, and was in being in time, the expression, “from
things which are not,” itself shows, although these stupid men
understand not the insanity of their own words. For the expression, “was not,” ought either to be reckoned in time, or in some
place of an age. But if it be true that “all things were made by
Him,” it is established that both every age and time and all
space, and that “when” in which the “was not” is
found, was made by Him. And is it not absurd that He who fashioned the
times and the ages and the seasons, in which that “was not”
is mixed up, to say of Him, that He at some time was not? For it is
devoid of sense, and a mark of great ignorance, to affirm that He who
is the cause of everything is posterior to the origin of that thing.
For according to them, the space of time in which they say that the Son
had not yet been made by the Father, preceded the wisdom of God that
fashioned all things, and the Scripture speaks falsely according to
them, which calls Him “the First-born of every creature.”
Conformable to which, that which the majestically-speaking Paul says of
Him: “Whom He hath appointed heir of all things. By whom also He
made the worlds. But by Him also were all things created that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were
created by Him, and for Him; and He is before all things.” 7.
Wherefore, since it appears that this hypothesis of a creation from
things which are not is most impious, it is necessary to say that the
Father is always the Father. But He is the Father, since the Son is
always with Him, on account of whom He is called the Father. Wherefore,
since the Son is always with Him, the Father is always perfect, being
destitute of nothing as regards good; who, not in time, nor after an
interval, nor from things which are not, hath begotten His
only-begotten Son. How, then, is it not impious to say, that the wisdom
of God once was not which speaks thus concerning itself: “I was
with Him forming all things; I was His delight;” or that the power
of God once did not exist; or that His Word was at any time mutilated;
or that other things were ever wanting from which the Son is known and
the Father expressed? For he who denies that the brightness of the
glory existed, takes away also the primitive light of which it s the
brightness. And if the image of God was not always, it is clear also
that He was not always, of which it is the image. Moreover, in saying
that the character of the subsistence of God was not, He also is done
away with who is perfectly expressed by it. Hence one may see that the
Sonship of our Saviour has nothing at all in common with the sonship of
the rest. For just as it has been shown that His inexplicable
subsistence excels by an incomparable excellence all other things to
which He has given existence, so also His Sonship, which is according
to the nature of the Godhead of the Father, transcends. by an ineffable
excellence. the sonship of those who have been adopted by Him. For He,
indeed, is of an immutable nature, every way perfect, and wanting in
nothing; but these since they are either way subject to change, stand
in need of help from Him. For what progress can the wisdom of God make?
What increase can the truth itself and God the Word receive? In what
respect can the life and the true light be made better? And if this be
so, how much more unnatural is it that wisdom should ever be capable of
folly; that the power of God should be con-joined with infirmity; that
reason should be obscured by unreason; or that darkness should be mixed
up with the true light? And the apostle says, on this place, “What
communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath Christ with
Belial?” And Solomon says, that it is not possible that it should
come to pass that a man should comprehend with his understanding “the way of a serpent upon a rock,” which is Christ,
according to the opinion of Paul. But men and angels, who are His
creatures, have received His blessing that they might make progress,
exercising themselves in virtues and in the commandments of the law, so
as not to sin. Wherefore our Lord, since He is by nature the Son of the
Father, is by all adored. But these, laying aside the spirit of
bondage, when by brave deeds and by progress they have received the
spirit of adoption, being blessed by Him who is the Son by nature, are
made sons by adoption. 8. And
His proper and peculiar, natural and excellent Sonship, St. Paul
has declared, who thus speaks of God: “Who spared not His own Son,
but for us,” who were not His natural sons, “delivered Him
up.” For to distinguish Him from those who are not properly sons,
He said that He was His own Son. And in the Gospel we read: “This
is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Moreover, in the
Psalms the Saviour says: “The Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art my
Son.” Where, showing that He is the true and genuine Son, He
signifies that there are no other genuine sons besides Himself. And
what, too, is the meaning of this: “From the womb before the
morning I begat thee”? Does He not plainly indicate the natural
sonship of paternal bringing forth, which he obtained not by the
careful framing of His manners, not by the exercise of and increase in
virtue, but by property of nature? Wherefore, the only-begotten Son of
the Father, indeed, possesses an indefectible Sonship; but the adoption
of rational sons belongs not to them by nature, but is prepared for
them by the probity of their life, and by the free gift of God. And it
is mutable as the Scripture recognises: “For when the sons of God
saw the daughters of men, they took them wives,” etc. And in
another place: “I have nourished and brought up children, but they
have rebelled against Me,” as we find God speaking by the prophet
Isaiah. 9. And
though I could say much more, brethren beloved, I purposely omit to do
so, as deeming it to be burdensome at great length to call these things
to the remembrance of teachers who are of the same mind with myself.
For ye yourselves are taught of God, nor are ye ignorant that this
doctrine, which hath lately raised its head against the piety of the
Church, is that of Ebion and Artemas; nor is it aught else but an
imitation of Paul of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, who, by the judgment
and counsel of all the bishops, and in every place, was separated from
the Church. To whom Lucian succeeding, remained for many years separate
from the communion of three bishops. And now lately having drained the
dregs of their impiety, there have arisen amongst us those who teach
this doctrine of a creation from things which are not, their hidden
sprouts, Arius and Achilles, and the gathering of those who join in
their wickedness. And three bishops in 10. But
after these things, brethren beloved, what is there wonderful in that
which I am about to write, if I shall set forth the false calumnies
against me and our most pious laity? For those who have set themselves
in array against the Godhead of Christ, do not scruple to utter their
ungrateful ravings against as. Who will not either that any of the
ancients should be compared with them, or suffer that any of those
whom, from our earliest years, we have used as instructors should be
placed on a level with them. Nay, and they do not think that any of all
those who are now our colleagues, has attained even to a moderate
amount of wisdom; boasting themselves to be the only men who are wise
and divested of worldly possessions, the sole discoverers of dogmas,
and that to them alone are those things revealed which have never
before come into the mind of any other under the sun. Oh, the impious
arrogance! Oh, the immeasurable madness! Oh, the vainglory befitting
those that are crazed! Oh, the pride of Satan which has taken root in
their unholy souls. The religious perspicuity of the ancient Scriptures
caused them no shame, nor did the consentient doctrine of our
colleagues concerning Christ keep in check their audacity against Him.
Their impiety not even the demons will bear, who are ever on the watch
for a blasphemous word uttered against the Son. 11. And let these things be now urged according to our power against those who, with respect to matter which they know nothing of, have, as it were, rolled in the dust against Christ, and have taken in hand to calumniate our piety towards Him. For those inventors of stupid fables say, that we who turn away with aversion from the impious and unscriptural blasphemy against Christ, of those who speak of His coming from the things which are not assert, that there are two unbegottens. For they ignorantly affirm that one of two things must necessarily be said, either that He is from things which are not, or that there are two unbegottens; nor do those ignorant men know how great is the difference between the unbegotten Father, and the things which were by Him created from things which are not, as well the rational as the irrational. Between which two, as holding the middle place, the only begotten nature of God, the Word by which the Father formed all things out of nothing, was begotten of the true Father Himself. As in a certain place the Lord Himself testified, saying, “Every one that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him.” 12.
Concerning whom we thus believe, even as the Apostolic Church
believes. In one Father unbegotten, who has from no one the cause of
His being, who is unchangeable and immutable, who is always the same,
and admits of no increase or diminution; who gave to us the Law, the
prophets, and the Gospels; who is Lord of the patriarchs and apostles,
and all the saints. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son
of God; not begotten of things which are not, but of Him who is the
Father; not in a corporeal manner, by excision or division as Sabellius
and Valentinus thought, but in a certain inexplicable and unspeakable
manner, according to the words of the prophet cited above: “Who
shall declare His generation?” Since that His subsistence no
nature which is begotten can investigate, even as the Father can be
investigated by none; because that the nature of rational beings cannot
receive the knowledge of His divine generation by the Father. But men
who are moved by the Spirit of truth, have no need to learn these
things from me, for in our ears are sounding the words before uttered
by Christ on this very thing, No man knoweth the Father, save the
Son; and no man knoweth who the Son is, save the Father.” That He
is equally with the Father unchangeable and immutable, wanting in
nothing, and the perfect Son, and like to the Father, we have learnt;
in this alone is He inferior to the Father, that He is not unbegotten.
For He is the very exact image of the Father, and in nothing differing
from Him. For it is clear that He is the image fully containing all
things by which the greatest similitude is declared, as the Lord
Himself hath taught us, when He says, “My Father is greater than
I.” And according to this we believe that the Son is of the
Father, always existing. “For He is the brightness of His glory,
the express image of His Father’s person.” But let no one take
that word always so as to raise suspicion that He is unbegotten, as
they imagine who have their senses blinded. For neither are the words, “He was,” or
“always,” or “before all
worlds,” equivalent to unbegotten. But neither can the human mind
employ any other word to signify unbegotten. And thus I think that you
understand it, and I trust to your right purpose in all things, since
these words do not at all signify unbegotten. For these words seem to
denote simply a lengthening out of time, but the Godhead, and as it
were the antiquity of the only-begotten, they cannot worthily signify;
but they have been employed by holy men, whilst each, according to his
capacity, seeks to express this mystery, asking indulgence from the
hearers, and pleading a reasonable excuse, in saying, Thus far have we
attained. But if there be any who are expecting from mortal lips some
word which exceeds human capacity, saying that those things have been
done away which are known in part, it is manifest that the words, “He was,” and
“always,” and “before all ages,”
come far short of what they hoped. And whatever word shall be employed
is not equivalent to unbegotten. Therefore to the unbegotten Father,
indeed, we ought to preserve His proper dignity, in confessing that no
one is the cause of His being; but to the Son must be allotted His
fitting honour, in assigning to Him, as we have said, a generation from
the Father without beginning, and allotting adoration to Him, so as
only piously and properly to use the words, “He was,” and “always,” and
“before all worlds,” with respect to
Him; by no means rejecting His Godhead, but ascribing to Him a
similitude which exactly answers in every respect to the Image and
Exemplar of the Father. But we must say that to the Father alone
belongs the property of being unbegotten, for the Saviour Himself said,
“My Father is greater than I.” And besides the pious opinion
concerning the Father and the Son, we confess to one Holy Spirit, as
the divine Scriptures teach us; who hath inaugurated both the holy men
of the Old Testament, and the divine teachers of that which is called
the New. And besides, also, one only Catholic and Apostolic Church,
which can never be destroyed, though all the world should seek to make
war with it; but it is victorious over every most impious revolt of the
heretics who rise up against it. For her Goodman hath confirmed our
minds by saying, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world.” After this we know of the resurrection of the dead, the
first-fruits of which was our Lord Jesus Christ, who in very deed, and
not in appearance merely, carried a body, of Mary Mother of God, who in
the end of the world came to the human race to put away sin, was
crucified and died, and yet did He not thus perceive any detriment to
His divinity, being raised from the dead, taken up into heaven, seated
at the right hand of majesty. 13.
These things in part have I written in this epistle, thinking it
burdensome to write out each accurately, even as I said before, because
they escape not your religious diligence. Thus do we teach, thus do we
preach. These are the apostolic doctrines of the Church, for which also
we die, esteeming those but little who would compel us to forswear
them, even if they would force us by tortures, and not casting away our
hope in them. To these Arius and Achilles opposing themselves, and
those who with them are the enemies of the truth, have been expelled
from the Church, as being aliens from our holy doctrine, according to
the blessed Paul, who says, “If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed; even though
he feign himself an angel from heaven.” And also, “If any man
teach otherwise, and consent not to the wholesome words of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he
is proud, knowing nothing,” and so forth. These, therefore, who
have been anathematized by the brotherhood, let no one of you receive,
nor admit of those things which are either said or written by them. For
these seducers do always lie, nor will they ever speak the truth. They
go about the cities, attempting nothing else but that under the mark of
friendship and the name of peace, by their hypocrisy and blandishments,
they may give and receive letters, to deceive by means of these a few “silly women, and laden with sins, who have been led captive by
them,” and so forth. 14.
These men, therefore, who have dared such things against Christ; who
have partly in public derided the Christian religion; partly seek to
traduce and inform against its professors before the judgment-seats;
who in a time of peace, as far as in them lies, have stirred up a
persecution against us; who have enervated the ineffable mystery of
Christ’s generation; from these, I say, beloved and like-minded
brethren, turning away in aversion, give your suffrages with us against
their mad daring; even as our colleagues have done, who being moved
with indignation, have both written to us letters against these men,
and have subscribed our letter. Which also I have sent unto you by my
son Apion the deacon, being some of them from the whole of
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Arius’
Letter to the Emperor Constantine (from
Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History, 2, 27. LPNF, ser. 2, vol. 2,
277. Arius
and Euzoius, presbyters, to According
as your piety, beloved of God, commanded, O sovereign emperor, we here
furnish a written statement of our own faith, and we protest before God
that we, and all those who are with us, believe what is here set forth.
We
believe in one God, the Father Almighty, and in His Son the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was begotten from Him before all ages, God the Word, by
whom all things were made, whether things in heaven or on earth; He
came and took upon Him flesh, suffered and rose again, and ascended
into heaven, whence He will again come to judge the quick and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Ghost, in the resurrection of the body, in the life to come, in the kingdom of heaven, and in one Catholic Church of God, established throughout the earth. We have received this faith from the Holy Gospels, in which the Lord says to his disciples, “Go forth and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” If we do not so believe this, and if we do not truly receive the doctrines concerning the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as they are taught by the whole Catholic Church and by the sacred Scriptures, as we believe in every point, let God be our judge, both now and in the day which is to come. Wherefore we appeal to your piety, O our emperor most beloved of God, that, as we are enrolled among the members of the clergy, and as we hold the faith and thought of the Church and of the sacred Scriptures, we may be openly reconciled to our mother, the Church, through your peacemaking and pious piety; so that useless questions and disputes may be cast aside, and that we and the Church may dwell together in peace, and we all in common may offer the customary prayer for your peaceful and pious empire and for your entire family.
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The
Pronouncement of the Synod of (from
Athanasius, De Synodis, 21. LPNF, ser. 2, vol. 4, 460.) The Holy
Council assembled in |
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