Acesius the Novatian at the Council

The emperor’s diligence leads me to mention another incident that shows his mind and how much he wanted peace. Aiming at harmony in the church, he summoned to the council Acesius too, a bishop of the sect of the Novatians. When the statement of faith had been written out and signed by the synod, the emperor asked Acesius whether he also agreed to this creed and to the settlement of the day on which Easter should be kept. He replied: “The synod has decided nothing new, my emperor. This is how I received by tradition, from the beginning, from the times of the apostles, both the definition of the faith and the time for celebrating Easter.” Then the emperor asked him further: “Why, then, do you separate yourself from communion with the rest of the church?” [a]

Acesius told him what had happened during the persecution under Decius, and pointed to the strictness of that severe canon which declares that people who, after baptism, have committed a sin that the sacred Scriptures call “a sin leading to death” should not be considered worthy to share in the divine mysteries. They should indeed be urged to repent, but they were not to expect forgiveness from the priest; they must look for it from God, who is able to forgive sins and has the authority to do so. When Acesius had said this, the emperor said to him: “Set up a ladder, Acesius, and climb up to heaven alone.”

Neither Eusebius Pamphilus nor anyone else has ever mentioned these things. But I heard them from a man not at all given to lying, who was very old, and who told simply what had happened at the council in the course of a story. From this I conclude that those who have passed over this incident in silence were moved by the same motives that have influenced many other historians, for they often suppress important facts, either from prejudice against some or from partiality toward others.