Councils of Ariminum and Seleucia
Vita S. Antoni
Number of quotes: 18
Book ID: 446 Page: 1
Section: 3C1
Reason why two Councils were called.*John’s note: in 358 by the Emperor Constantius*
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Proceedings at Seleucia….
Quote ID: 8821
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 1
Section: 3C1
These men who had always been of the Arian party,…influenced some who seemed to be somewhat, and the Emperor Constantius among them, being a heretic, on some pretence about the Faith, to call a Council; under the idea that they should be able to put into the shade the Nicene Council, and prevail upon all to turn round, and to establish irreligion everywhere instead of the Truth.
Quote ID: 8822
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 3
Section: 3C1
…the sentiments of their heresy are novel, and were not before. But if they add of the Catholic Faith,’ they fall before they know it into the extravagance of the Phrygians, and say with them, To us first was revealed,’ and from us dates the Faith of Christians.’ And as those inscribe it with the names of Maximilla and Montanus, so do these with Constantius, Master,’ instead of Christ.
Quote ID: 8823
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Book ID: 446 Page: 3/4
Section: 3C1,3C2
5. As to the Nicene Council, it was not a common meeting, but convened upon a pressing necessity, and for a reasonable object. The Syrians, Cilicians, and Mesopotamians, were out of order in celebrating the Feast, and kept Easter with the Jews; on the other hand, the Arian heresy had risen up against the Catholic Church, and found supporters in Eusebius and his fellows, who were both zealous for the heresy, and conducted the attack upon religious people. This gave occasion for an Ecumenical Council, that the feast might be everywhere celebrated on one day, and that the heresy which was spring up might be anathematized.*John’s note: Even though the Trinity controversy is the point of this document, and though the subject has already been mentioned, the first reason for the Council is still the correct date for Easter.*
Quote ID: 8824
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Book ID: 446 Page: 5/6
Section: 3C1
And, while the whole assembly was discussing the matter from the Divine Scriptures, these men produced a paper, and, reading out the Consulate, they demanded that it should be preferred to every Council, and that no questions should be put to the heretics beyond it, nor inquiry made into their meaning, but that it should be sufficient by itself;--and what they had written ran as follows:—The Catholic faith was published in the presence of our Master the most religious and gloriously victorious Emperor, Constantius, Augustus, the eternal and august, in the Consulate of the most illustrious Flavii, Eusebius and Hypatius, in Sirmium on the 11th of the Calends of June.
We believe in one Only and True God, the Father Almighty, Creator and Framer of all things:
And in one Only-begotten Son of God, who, before all ages, and before all origin, and before all conceivable time, and before all comprehensible essence, was begotten impassibly from God: through whom the ages were disposed and all things were made; and Him begotten as the Only-begotten, Only from the Only Father, God from God, like to the Father who begat Him, according to the Scriptures; whose origin no-one knoweth save the Father alone who begot Him. We know that He, the Only-begotten Son of God, at the Father’s bidding came from the heavens for the abolishment of sin, and was born of the Virgin Mary, and conversed with the disciple, and fulfilled the Economy according to the Father’s will, and was crucified, and died and descended into the parts beneath the earth, and regulated the things there, Whom the gatekeepers of hell saw (Job xxxviii. 17, LXX.) and shuddered; and He rose from the dead the third day, and conversed with the disciples, and fulfilled all the Economy, and when the forty days were full, ascended into the heavens, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and is coming in the last day of the resurrection in the glory of the Father, to render to every one according to is works.
And in the Holy Ghost, whom the Only-begotten of God Himself, Jesus Christ, had promised to send to the race of men, the Paraclete, as it is written, I go to my Father, and I will ask the Father, and He shall send unto you another Paraclete, even the Spirit of Truth. He shall take of Mine and shall teach and bring to your remembrance all things’ (Job. xiv. 16, 17, 26;xvi. 14). But whereas the term essence,’ has been adopted by the Fathers in simplicity, and gives offence as being misconceived by the people, and is not contained in the Scriptures, it has seemed good to remove it, that it be never in any case used of God again, because the divine Scriptures nowhere use it of Father and Son. But we say that the Son is like the Father in all things, as also the Holy Scriptures say and teach.
Quote ID: 8825
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Book ID: 446 Page: 10
Section: 3C1
…Acacius and his fellows, acting with the boldness of desperation, altogether denied the Nicene formula, and censured the Council, while the others, who were the majority, accepted the whole proceedings of the Council, except that they complained of the word Coessential,’ as obscure and so open to suspicion. When then time passed, and the accusers pressed, and the accused put in pleas, and thereby were led on further by their irreligion and blasphemed the Lord, thereupon the majority of Bishops became indignant, and deposed Acacius, Patrophilus, Uranius, Eudoxius, and George the contractor, and others from Asia, Leontius, and Theodosius, Evagrius and Theodulus, and excommunicated Asterius, Eusebius, Augarus, Basilicus, Phoebus, Fidelius, Eutychius, and Magnus. And this they did on their non-appearance, when summoned to defend themselves on charges which numbers preferred against them.….
And this was the termination of the Council in Seleucia.
Quote ID: 8826
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Book ID: 446 Page: 10
Section: 3C1
…the Ario-maniacs….
Quote ID: 8827
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 10
Section: 3C2
…what can Acacius say of his own master, Eusebius, who not only gave his subscription in the Nicene Council, but even in a letter signified to his flock, that that was true faith, which the Council had declared? for, if he explained himself in that letter in his own way, yet he did not contradict the Council’s terms, but even charged it upon the Arians, that their position that the Son was not before His generation, was not even consistent with His being before Mary.
Quote ID: 8828
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Book ID: 446 Page: 11
Section: 3C1
And, as quarrelling with the Council of Nicaea, they have held many Councils themselves, and have published a faith in each of them, and have stood to none, nay, they will never do otherwise, for perversely seeking, they will never find that Wisdom which they hate. I have accordingly subjoined portions both of Arius’s writings and of whatever else I could collect, of their publications in different Councils; whereby you will learn to your surprise with what object they stand out against an Ecumenical Council and their own Fathers without blushing.
Quote ID: 8829
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 12
Section: 3C1
15. Arius and those with him thought and professed thus: God made the Son out of nothing, and called Him His Son;’ The Word of God is one of the creatures;’ and Once He was not;’ and He is alterable; capable, when it is His Will, of altering.’
Quote ID: 8830
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 12/13
Section: 3C1
Blasphemies of Arius.….
And Ingenerate we call Him, because of Him who is generate by nature. We praise Him as without beginning because of Him who has a beginning. And adore Him as everlasting, because of Him who in time has come to be. The Unbegun made the Son a beginning of things originated; and advanced Him as a Son to Himself by adoption.
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Wise is God, for He is the teacher of Wisdom.
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Understand that the Monad was; but the Dyad was not, before it was in existence. It follows at once that, though the Son was not, the Father was God.
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Wisdom existed as Wisdom by the will of the Wise God.
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At God’s will the Son is what and whatsoever He is.
Quote ID: 8831
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Book ID: 446 Page: 13/14
Section: 3C1
16. And what they wrote by letter to the blessed Alexander, the Bishop, runs as follows:--To our Blessed Pope and Bishop, Alexander, the Presbyters and Deacons send health in the Lord.
Our faith from our forefathers, which also we have learned from thee, Blessed Pope, is this:--We acknowledge 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;…
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For the Father did not, in giving to Him the inheritance of all things, deprive Himself of what He has ingenerately in Himself; for He is the Fountain of all things.
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For He is not eternal or co-eternal or co-unoriginate with the Father,….
Quote ID: 8832
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 14
Section: 3C1
This is a part of what Arius and his fellows vomited from their heretical hearts.….
And Eusebius of Nicomedia wrote over and above to Arius, to this effect, Since your sentiments are good, pray that all may adopt them; for it is plain to any one, that what has been made was not before its origination; but what came to be has a beginning of being.’ And Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine, in a letter to Euphration the Bishop, did not scruple to say plainly that Christ was not true God.
Quote ID: 8833
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 15
Section: 3C1
And George who now is in Laodicea, and then was presbyter of Alexandria, and was staying at Antioch, wrote to Alexander the Bishop; Do not complain of Arius and his fellows, for saying, “Once the Son of God was not, “for Isaiah came to be son of Amos, and, whereas Amos was before Isaiah came to be, Isaiah was not before, but came to be afterwards.’ And he wrote to the Arians, Why complain of Alexander the Pope, saying, that the Son is from the Father? for you too need not fear to say that the Son was from God.’ For if the Apostle wrote (1 Cor. xi. 12), All things are from God,’ and it is plain that all things are made of nothing, though the Son too is a creature and one of the things made, still He may be said to be from God in that sense in which all things are said to be from God.’
Quote ID: 8834
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 15/16/17
Section: 3C1
And one Asterius from Cappadocia, a many-headed Sophist, one of the fellows of Eusebius,…….
19. These bold words against the Saviour did not content him, but he went further in his blasphemies, as follows:
The Son is one among others; for He is first of things originate, and one among intellectual natures; and as in things visible the sun is one among phenomena, and it shines upon the whole world according to the command of its Maker, so the Son, being one of the intellectual natures, also enlightens and shines upon all that are in the intellectual world.
And again he says, Once He was not, writing thus:--And before the Son’s origination, the Father had pre-existing knowledge how to generate; since a physician too, before he cured, had the science of curing.’ And he says again: The Son was created by God’s beneficent earnestness; and the Father made Him by the superabundance of His Power.’ And again: If the will of God has pervaded all the works in succession, certainly the Son too, being a work, has at His will come to be and been made.’ Now though Asterius was the only person to write this, Eusebius and his fellows felt the like in common with him.
Quote ID: 8835
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 17/22/23
Section: 3C1
21. Yet so it is, that they have convened successive Councils against that Ecumenical One, and are not yet tired.….
Thus they thought to hold Councils at their pleasure, as having those who concurred with them, whom they had ordained on purpose for this very object. Accordingly, they assemble at Jerusalem, and there they write thus:--
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(2.) Nor may we, adopting the hazardous position, There was once when He was not,’ from unscriptural sources, imagine any interval of time before Him, but only the God who has generated Him apart from time; for through Him both times and ages came to be. Yet we must not consider the Son to be co-unbegun and co-ingenerate with the Father; for no one can be properly called Father or Son of one who is co-unbegun and co-ingenerate with Him. But we acknowledge that the Father who alone is Unbegun and Ingenerate, hath generated inconceivably and incomprehensibly to all: and that the Son hath been generated before ages, and in no wise to be ingenerate Himself like the Father, but to haFather who generated Him as His beginning; for the Head of Christ is God.’ (1 Cor. xi. 3.)
(3.) Nor again, in confessing three realities and three Persons, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost according to the Scriptures, do we therefore make Gods three; since we acknowledge the Self-complete and Ingenerate and Unbegun and Invisible God to be one only, the God and Father (Joh. xx. 17)of the Only-begotten, who alone hath being from Himself, and alone vouchsafes this to all others bountifully.
(4.) Nor again, in saying that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is one only God, the only Ingenerate, do we therefore deny that Christ also is God before ages:….
*John’s note: These completely re-wrote their statement of faith several times, hoping to be accepted, even divorcing themselves from Arius’ famous declaration, “There was when He was not,” but it did not work.*
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(6.) And those who say that the Father and Son and Holy Ghost are the same, and irreligiously take the Three names of one and the same Reality and Person, we justly proscribe from the Church,….
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For we acknowledge that the Father who sent, remained in the peculiar state of His unchangeable Godhead, and that Christ who was sent fulfilled the economy of the Incarnation.
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…we have a reverent belief in the Son’s words concerning Himself (Prov. viii. 22), The Lord created me a beginning of His ways for His works,’ we do not understand Him to have been originated like the creatures or works which through Him came to be.
Quote ID: 8836
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 31
Section: 3C1
And the number of their Councils, and the differences of their statements is a proof that those who were present at them, while at variance with the Nicene, are yet too feeble to harm the Truth.
Quote ID: 8837
Time Periods: ?
Book ID: 446 Page: 50
Section: 2C
55. After I had written my accounts of the Councils, I had information that the most irreligious Constantius had sent Letters to the Bishops remaining in Ariminum; and I have taken pains to get copies of them….….
Constantius, Victorious and Triumphant, Augustus, to all Bishops who are assembled at Ariminum.
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…their return, that, when they come back with our answer to you, ye may be able to bring matters to a close which so deeply affect the well-being of the Catholic Church.
*John’s note: These were “Arians”, and yet they were fighting to have control of the “Catholic Church”.*
Quote ID: 8838
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