BOOK ONE. THE ACTS OF THE BISHOPS AT AQUILEIA AGAINST THE ARIAN HERETICS. In the consulship of the most noble Syagrius and Eucherius, on the third day before the Nones of September, while the bishops were sitting in council in the church at Aquileia, with Valerianus of the city of Aquileia, and the bishops Ambrose, Eusebius, Limenius, Anemius, Sabinus, Abundantius, Artemius, Constantius, Justus, Philastrius, Constantius, Theodorus, Almachius, Domninus, Amantius, Maximus, Felix, Bassianus, Numidius, Januarius, Proculus, Heliodorus, Jovinus, Felix, Exuperantius, Diogenes, Maximus, Macedonius, Cassianus, Marcellus, and Eustathius being present: Bishop Ambrose said: We have long debated this matter apart from the formal acts.
And since such great blasphemies of the father of Palladius and Secundianus are brought to our ears, that it is hard for anyone to believe they could blaspheme so openly: lest by any craftiness they should afterwards attempt to deny their own words, although there can be no doubt because of the testimony of so many priests: nevertheless, since it is the pleasure of all the bishops, let acts be drawn up, so that no one may afterwards be able to deny his own profession. What therefore is your pleasure, holy men, must be declared. All the bishops said: It is our pleasure. Bishop Ambrose said: Our disputes are to be confirmed by the imperial decree, that it may be cited. Sabinianus the deacon read it out:
Lest the priests, doubtful in their reverence for doctrines, should be at variance, We had ordered the bishops, desiring as soon as possible to make trial, to assemble in the city of Aquileia from the diocese entrusted to the merits of your Excellency. For matters of doubtful judgment in controversy could be settled in no more fitting way than if We should appoint as interpreters the very bishops from whom arise the established teachings of doctrine, so that by the same men the contradictions of discordant teaching might be resolved. Nor indeed do We now order otherwise than We have ordered; not departing from the tenor of Our precept, but considering that a superfluous multitude of those assembling is unnecessary.
For inasmuch as Ambrose, the bishop of the city of Milan, conspicuous both for the merit of his life and for God's favour, suggests that a multitude is not needed there where the truth would not labour among many, if it were established among few; and that he, together with the assertions of those who would stand against them, and the priests of the neighbouring cities of Italy, can amply and abundantly suffice: We have judged that the venerable men should be spared the fatigue, lest any one heavy with mature age, or worn out by bodily weakness, or of modest and praiseworthy poverty, should travel to unaccustomed lands, and so forth. Bishop Ambrose said: Behold what the Christian emperor has decreed. He has been unwilling to do injury to the priests: he has appointed the bishops themselves as interpreters.
And by this, since we sit in a council of priests, answer to those things which are put to you. The letter of Arius has been read: even now it shall be read again, if it seem good to you. From its very beginning it contains blasphemies: he has said that the Father alone is eternal. If it seem to you that the Son of God is not everlasting, prove this very thing however you wish: if you think it ought to be condemned, condemn the Gospel. The Apostle too is present, all the Scriptures are at hand; prove it from whatever you wish, if you think the Son of God is not everlasting. Palladius said: It has come about by your zeal, as the reading of the sacred letter brought forward by you indicates, that there was no general and full council. Our fellow-priests being absent, we cannot answer. Bishop Ambrose said:
Who are your associates? Palladius said: The Eastern bishops. Bishop Ambrose said: Meanwhile, since in former times the council was so arranged that the Easterners, established in the parts of the East, should hold a council, and the Westerners in the West, we, established in the parts of the West, have come together to the city of Aquileia according to the emperor's command. Moreover, the prefect of Italy also issued letters, that if they wished to assemble, it should be in their power. But since they have made a custom of this kind, that in the East there should be a council of the Easterners, and within the West one of the Westerners, therefore they thought they need not come. Palladius said: Our emperor Gratian ordered the Easterners to come.
Do you deny that he ordered it? The emperor himself told us that he had ordered the Easterners to come. Bishop Ambrose said: To be sure he ordered it, in that he did not forbid them to come here. Palladius said: But your petition brought it about that they should not come: under the appearance of a false willingness you obtained this, and you put off the council. Bishop Ambrose said: There is no need to wander further; answer now. Did Arius say well that the Father alone is eternal? And did he say this according to the Scriptures, or not? Palladius said: I do not answer you. Bishop Constantius said: Do you not answer, you who have blasphemed for so long? Bishop Eusebius said: But you ought simply to give forth the freedom of your faith.
If a pagan were to demand of you how you believe in Christ, you ought not to be ashamed to confess it. Bishop Sabinus said: You demanded that we should answer today according to your wish, and at your urging we assembled, and did not wait for the rest of the brethren who could have come. Therefore you are not free to wander. Do you say that Christ was created? Or do you say that the Son of God is everlasting? Palladius said: Did I say so to you? We wrote to you for this reason, that we might come and prove that you had not rightly acted in misleading the emperor. Bishop Ambrose said: Let the letter of Palladius be read, whether he commanded us this: and it will be shown that even now he deceives. Palladius said: Let it be read by all means. The bishops said:
When the emperor was present at Sirmium, did you appeal to him, or did he himself compel you? And he added: What do you answer to these things? Palladius said: He said to me, Go. We said, Have the Easterners been convened? He said, They have been convened. Surely, if the Easterners had not been convened, would we have assembled? Bishop Ambrose said: Let the cause of the Easterners be set aside; today I seek your own opinion. The letter of Arius has been read to you. You are accustomed to deny that you are an Arian. Either condemn Arius today, or defend him. Palladius said: It is not within your authority to demand this of me. Bishop Eusebius said: We do not believe that the religious emperor said anything other than he wrote. He ordered the bishops to assemble:
he could not have said to you alone, against his own rescript, that the case should by no means be tried without the Easterners. Palladius said: Were the Italians alone ordered to assemble? Evagrius the presbyter and legate said: Seeing that four days before, and two days before, you answered that you would be present, why then did you wait? As you say that the agreement of your Eastern associates was to be awaited, so you ought to have given notice, not promised a contest. Palladius said: Because I had come as if to a full council, I saw that my associates had not assembled: so that I might gather and declare that you had acted by command to the prejudice of the future council. Bishop Ambrose said: That we should sit today, you yourself demanded.
In short, even today you yourself said that we Christians have come to Christians. You have proved us Christians. You promised that you would contend, you promised that you would bring forward reasoning. Gladly therefore have we accepted your preface. We desired that you might come as it were to Christians. I have offered you the letter of Arius, which Arius wrote, by whose name you say you frequently suffer reproach. You say that you do not follow Arius. Today the opinion ought to be made plain. Either condemn him, or prove it from whatever passages you wish. And he added: Therefore, according to the letter of Arius, is Christ the Son of God not everlasting? Palladius said: We said that we would prove ourselves Christians, but in a full council.
We do not answer you at all, to the prejudice of the future council. Bishop Eusebius said: Without craftiness you ought to set forth the profession of your faith. Palladius said: And what then do we reserve for the council? Bishop Ambrose said: With one voice condemnation has been pronounced upon him who would deny that the Son of God is everlasting. Arius denied it; Palladius follows him, who is unwilling to condemn Arius. Therefore consider whether his opinion is to be approved: and whether he speaks according to the Scriptures, or against the Scriptures, it is plain to understand. For it has been read: The eternal power of God and his divinity (Romans 1:20). The power of God is Christ. If therefore the power of God is eternal, then surely Christ is eternal, since Christ is the power of God.
Bishop Eusebius said: This is our faith, this is the catholic understanding. Whoever shall not say these things, let him be anathema. All the bishops said: Anathema. Bishop Eusebius said: Does he expressly say that the Father alone is everlasting, and that the Son at some time had a beginning? Palladius said: I have neither seen Arius, nor do I know who he is. Bishop Eusebius said: The blasphemy of Arius has been brought forward, in which he denies that the Son of God is everlasting. This perfidy do you condemn together with its author, or do you assert it? Palladius said: Where there is not the authority of a full council, I do not speak. Bishop Ambrose said: Do you hesitate to condemn it after the divine judgments, when he has burst in the midst? And he added: Let the holy men, the legates of the Gauls, speak. Bishop Constantius, legate of the Gauls, said:
This impiety of that man we have both always condemned, and now condemn, not only Arius, but also whosoever shall not say that the Son of God is everlasting. Bishop Ambrose said: What also says my lord Justus? Justus, bishop and legate of the Gauls, said: Whoever does not confess the Son of God to be coeternal with the Father, let him be held anathema. All the bishops said: Anathema. Bishop Ambrose said: Let the legates of the Africans also speak, who have brought hither the opinions of all their fellow-citizens. Felix, bishop and legate, said:
If anyone shall deny that the Son of God is everlasting, and shall deny that he is coeternal, not only I, the legate of all the African province, condemn him, but also the whole choir of priests which sent me to this most holy assembly has likewise condemned him beforehand. Bishop Anemius said: The capital of Illyricum is none other than the city of Sirmium. I therefore am the bishop of that city. Whoever does not confess the Son of God to be eternal and coeternal with the Father, which is to be everlasting, I declare anathema; and likewise upon those who do not confess the same. Bishop Ambrose said: Hear what follows. And it was read: 'The Father alone eternal, alone without beginning, alone true, alone having immortality.' Bishop Ambrose said:
In this too condemn him, who denies that the Son is true God. For since he himself is the truth, how is he not true God? And he added: What say you to this? Palladius said: Who does not say that the Son is true? Bishop Ambrose said: Arius denied it. Palladius said: Since the Apostle says that Christ is God over all (Romans 9:5), can anyone deny that he is the true Son of God? Bishop Ambrose said: That you may know how simply the more truthful confession is required of us by you, behold, I say as you say, but I hold it as only half-complete: for when you so speak, you seem to deny true God: but if you simply confess the Son of God to be true God, prove it in the order in which I myself propose. Palladius said: I speak to you according to the Scriptures: I say the Lord is the true Son of God.
Bishop Ambrose said: Do you say the Son of God is true Lord? Palladius said: Since I say he is the true Son, what more? Bishop Ambrose said: I do not ask merely that you say he is the true Son, but that you say the Son of God is true Lord. Bishop Eusebius said: Is Christ true God, according to the faith of all and the catholic profession? Palladius said: He is the true Son of God. Bishop Eusebius said: For we too are sons by adoption, but he is so according to the property of his divine generation. And he added: Do you then confess that the true Son of God is true Lord, according to his divinity and property? Palladius said: I say he is the true only-begotten Son of God. Bishop Eusebius said:
Do you then think it against the Scriptures, if Christ be said to be true God? And when Palladius kept silent, Bishop Ambrose said: He who says the Son of God is true only, and is unwilling to say true Lord, seems to deny him. Let Palladius therefore confess in this order (if indeed he confesses), and let him say whether he calls the Son of God Lord. Palladius said: Since the Son says: 'That they may know thee the only true Lord, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent' (John 17:3), is it with affection or in truth? Bishop Ambrose said: John said in his Epistle: This is the true God (1 John 5:20). Deny this. Palladius said: When I say to you 'the true Son,' I profess also true divinity. Bishop Ambrose said:
And in this lies the fraud. For you are accustomed so to speak of one and true divinity, as to say it is the true and one divinity of the Father only, not also the true and one divinity of the Son. Therefore if you wish to speak openly, since you appeal me to the Scriptures, say what the evangelist John said: 'This is the true God,' or deny that it was said. Palladius said: Apart from the Son, no other has been begotten. Bishop Eusebius said: Is Christ true God according to the faith of all and the catholic profession, or in your opinion is he not true God? Palladius said: He is the power of our God. Bishop Ambrose said: You have not the freedom to profess it, and by this, anathema to him who does not confess the Son of God to be true God. All the bishops said:
Let him be held anathema who shall not say that Christ the Son of God is true Lord. Again he added: 'Alone true, alone having immortality.' Bishop Ambrose said: Does the Son of God have immortality, or does he not, according to his divinity? Palladius said: Do you admit the Apostle, or not? 'The King of kings, who alone hath immortality' (1 Timothy 6:15-16). Bishop Ambrose said: What do you say concerning Christ the Son of God? Palladius said: Is the name Christ divine, or human? Bishop Eusebius said: According to the mystery of the flesh indeed he is called Christ: but the same is both God and man. Palladius said: The name Christ is the name of the flesh, the name Christ is a human name, and do you answer me. Bishop Eusebius said:
Why do you delay over superfluous matters? When the impiety of Arius was read out, who says of the Father that He alone possesses immortality, you brought forward, in agreement with the impiety of Arius, a testimony from the Apostle, saying: 'Who alone has immortality, and dwells in light inaccessible' (1 Tim. 6:16). But if you understand it rightly, he expressed the dignity of the whole nature in the name of God; for in the name of God both the Father and the Son are signified. Palladius said: And what I asked you, you have refused to answer. Bishop Ambrose said: I ask you plainly for your verdict about yourself: does the Son of God possess immortality according to His divine generation, or does He not possess it? Palladius said: According to His divine generation He is incorruptible; through the flesh He died.
Bishop Ambrose said: It was not the divinity that died, but the flesh that died. Palladius said: First, you answer me. Bishop Ambrose said: Does the Son of God according to His divinity possess immortality, or does He not possess it? Indeed, you have betrayed your frauds and snares in a manner not even according to the profession of Arius. And he added: He who denies that the Son of God possesses immortality—what is your judgment of him? All the bishops said: Let him be held anathema. Palladius said: Is the divine state immortal? Bishop Ambrose said: This too is cunningly put, so that you may express nothing clearly about the Son of God. And I say: the Son of God possesses immortality according to His divinity. Either deny it, '[He] who possesses immortality.' Palladius said:
Did Christ die, or not? Bishop Ambrose said: According to the flesh. Our soul does not die. For it is written: 'Fear not those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul' (Matt. 10:28). Since therefore our soul cannot die, do you suppose that Christ died according to His divinity? Palladius said: Why do you shudder at the word 'death'? Bishop Ambrose said: On the contrary, I do not shudder at it, but I confess it according to my own flesh. For it is the means by which I have been loosed again from the bonds of death. Palladius said: Death is brought about by the separation of the spirit. For Christ the Son of God took flesh, and through the flesh He died. Bishop Ambrose said: It is written that Christ suffered.
Therefore He suffered according to the flesh; according to His divinity He possesses immortality. Whoever denies this is a devil. Palladius said: I do not know Arius. Bishop Ambrose said: Then Arius spoke wickedly, since the Son of God too possesses immortality according to His divinity. And he added: Did he speak well, or ill? Palladius said: I do not consent. Bishop Ambrose said: With whom do you not consent? Anathema upon him who does not declare the freedom of the faith. All the bishops said: Anathema. Palladius said: Say what you will; His divinity is immortal. Bishop Ambrose said: Whose? The Father's, or the Son's also? And he added: Arius has heaped up many impieties; let us pass on to the others. And there was read out: THE ONLY WISE ONE.
Palladius said: The Father is wise of Himself, but the Son is not wise. Bishop Ambrose said: Then the Son is not wise, although He Himself is Wisdom? For we also say that the Son was born of the Father. Bishop Eusebius said: Is there anything so impious, so profane, as what he has said—to deny that the Son of God is Wisdom? Palladius said: He is called Wisdom. Who can deny Wisdom? Bishop Ambrose said: Is He wise, or not? Palladius said: He is Wisdom. Bishop Ambrose said: Wise, therefore, since He is Wisdom. Palladius said: We will answer you according to the Scriptures. Bishop Ambrose said: Palladius has tried (as far as I can see) to deny that the Son of God is even wise.
Bishop Eusebius said: Whoever denies that the Son of God is wise, let him be anathema. All the bishops said: Anathema. Eusebius said: Let Secundianus also answer to this. And when Secundianus kept silent, Bishop Ambrose said: He who is silent wishes to keep his judgment intact. And he added: When he says that the Father alone is good, has he confessed the Son, or has he denied Him? Palladius said: We read, 'I am the good shepherd' (John 10:11); and do we deny it? Who would not call the Son of God good? Bishop Ambrose said: Then Christ is good? Palladius said: Good. Bishop Ambrose said: Arius therefore spoke wickedly about the Father alone, since the Son of God too is God to all. Palladius said: Whoever does not call Christ good, speaks wickedly.
Bishop Eusebius said: Do you confess Christ to be God, and good? For I too am good. He said to me, 'Well done, good servant' (Matt. 25:21); and, 'A good man brings forth good things out of his treasure' (Luke 6:45). Palladius said: I have already spoken; now I will not answer you until the full council is assembled. Bishop Ambrose said: The Jews used to say, 'He is good'; and Arius denies that the Son of God is good. Palladius said: Who can deny this? Bishop Eusebius said: Then the Son of God is good God. Palladius said: The good Father begot a good Son. Bishop Ambrose said: He has begotten us also good, but not according to divinity. Do you call the Son of God good God? Palladius said: The Son of God is good.
Bishop Ambrose said: You see, then, that you call Christ a good Son, but not a good God—which is precisely what is being asked of you. And he added: Whoever does not confess the Son of God, God, to be good God, let him be anathema. All the bishops said: Anathema. Again it was read out: THE ONLY MIGHTY ONE. Bishop Ambrose said: Is the Son of God mighty, or not? Palladius said: He who made all things, is He not mighty? He who made all things, is He less mighty? Bishop Ambrose said: Then Arius spoke wickedly. And he added: Do you condemn Arius at least on this point? Palladius said: How do I know who knows? I answer you for myself. Bishop Ambrose said: Is the Son of the Lord God mighty? Palladius said: Mighty. Bishop Ambrose said: Is God good? Palladius said:
I have already said that the only-begotten Son of God is mighty. Bishop Ambrose said: The mighty Lord? Palladius said: The mighty Son of God. Bishop Ambrose said: Men too are mighty. It is written: 'Why do you boast in malice, you who are mighty in iniquity?' (Ps. 51:3); and elsewhere: 'When I am weak, then am I mighty' (2 Cor. 12:10). This I require of you: that you confess Christ, the Son of God, to be the mighty Lord; or, if you deny it, prove your case. For since I declare one power of the Father and the Son, I thus declare the Son of God to be mighty even as the Father. Do you then hesitate to confess that the Lord, the Son of God, is mighty? Palladius said: I have already said that, according to the disputation, as far as we are able, we answer you.
For you alone wish to be the judges, you wish to be the disputants. We do not answer you now, but in a general and full council we will answer you. Bishop Ambrose said: Anathema upon him who denies that Christ the Lord is mighty. All the bishops said: Anathema. Again it was read out: THE ONLY MIGHTY ONE, JUDGE OF ALL. Palladius said: The Son of God is judge of all. There is one who gives, there is one who has received. Bishop Ambrose said: Did He give by grace, or by nature? Judgment is given to men also. Palladius said: Do you say the Father is greater, or not? Bishop Ambrose said: I will answer you afterward. Palladius said: I will not answer you, if you do not answer me. Bishop Eusebius said:
Unless you first condemn the impiety of Arius in due order, we will give you no opportunity to ask questions. Palladius said: I do not answer you. Bishop Ambrose said: Is the Son of God (as has been read) judge, or not? Palladius said: If you do not answer me, I do not answer you, as an impious man. Bishop Ambrose said: You have my profession, by which I will answer you. Meanwhile let the letter of Arius be read through. And he added: In the letter of Arius you will find this very sacrilege which you are contriving. Palladius said: To what I ask, you give no answer. Bishop Eusebius said: We say that the Son of God is God, equal. Palladius said: You are the judge, and your recorders are here. Bishop Ambrose said: Let your own men write, whoever wish. Palladius said:
Is the Father greater, or not? Bishop Eusebius said: According to divinity the Son is equal to the Father. You have in the Gospel that the Jews persecuted Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal to God (John 5:18). What therefore the impious confessed in persecuting Him, we who believe cannot deny. Bishop Ambrose said: And elsewhere you have: 'Who, although He was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, obedient unto death' (Phil. 2:6-8). And he added: You see that in the form of God He is equal? 'And He took,' it says, 'the form of a servant.'
In what, then, is He less? Surely according to the form of a servant, not of God. Bishop Eusebius said: Just as, being established in the form of a servant, He was not inferior to a servant, so, being established in the form of God, He could not be inferior to God. Bishop Ambrose said: Or else say that according to His divinity the Son of God is less. Palladius said: The Father is greater. Bishop Ambrose said: According to the flesh. Palladius said: 'He who sent me is greater than I.' Was it the flesh that was sent by God, or the Son of God? Bishop Ambrose said: We prove today that the divine Scriptures are being falsified by you. For thus it is written: 'My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you. Let not your heart be troubled. Not as this world gives do I give to you.'
'If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I' (John 14:27-28). He did not say, 'He who sent me is greater than I.' Palladius said: The Father is greater. Bishop Ambrose said: Anathema upon him who adds anything to, or subtracts anything from, the divine Scriptures. All the bishops said: Anathema. Bishop Ambrose said: According to the flesh the Son is less than the Father; according to His divinity He is equal to the Father. I have therefore read that the Son of God is equal to the Father, as the very copies already produced bear witness. But according to the flesh, why do you marvel that He is less, since He called Himself a servant, since He called Himself a stone, since He called Himself less than the angels, because it is written, 'You made Him a little lower than the angels' (Ps. 8:6)?
Palladius said: I see that you make your assertions impiously; we do not answer you without hearers. Bishop Sabinus said: Let no one require a verdict from him who has blasphemed with so countless verdicts. Palladius said: We do not answer you. Bishop Sabinus said: Palladius has already been condemned by all. The blasphemies of Arius are far less than those of Palladius. And when Palladius had risen and wished to go outside: For this reason, he said, Palladius has risen, because he perceives that he must be convicted by the open testimonies of the Scriptures, as he has already been convicted. For it has thus been read that, according to divinity, the Son is equal to the Father. Let him accept also that the Son of God, according to His divinity, has none greater. It is written: