The Synod at Antioch Accepts the Nicene Creed

Meanwhile the state of the church was far from peaceful. The heads of the sects kept paying court to the emperor, expecting that his protection for themselves would also mean power against those they openly opposed. First the Macedonians presented him a petition, in which they asked that all who said the Son is unlike the Father be expelled from the churches, and that they themselves be allowed to take their place. This petition was presented by Basil, bishop of Ancyra; Silvanus of Tarsus; Sophronius of Pompeiopolis; Pasinicus of Zela; Leontius of Comana; Callicrates of Claudiopolis; and Theophilus of Castabala. When the emperor had read it, he dismissed them with no other answer than this: “I hate quarreling; but I love and honor those who work to bring about agreement.” When this remark became widely known, it checked the violence of those who were eager for dispute, and so the emperor’s purpose was achieved. [a]

At this time the true character of the Acacian sect, and their readiness to fit their opinions to whoever held supreme power, became plainer than ever. They gathered at Antioch in Syria and held a conference with Meletius, who a little before had separated from them and embraced the homoousian position. They did this because they saw that Meletius stood high in the favor of the emperor, who was then living at Antioch. So, all agreeing together, they drew up a statement of their views, acknowledging the homoousion and confirming the Nicene Creed, and presented it to the emperor. It ran as follows.

“The synod of bishops gathered at Antioch from various provinces, to the most devout and God-beloved, our lord Jovian, Victor, Augustus. “We ourselves are fully aware, most devout emperor, that your piety has aimed above all at establishing the peace and harmony of the church. Nor are we unaware that you have wisely judged a confession of the orthodox faith to be the sum and substance of this unity. Therefore, so that we may not be counted among those who corrupt the teaching of the truth, we hereby declare to your piety that we embrace and firmly hold the faith of the holy synod that met earlier at Nicaea. “We do so especially since the term homoousios, which to some seems strange and unsuitable, has been wisely explained by the fathers to mean that the Son was begotten from the Father’s substance, and that he is like the Father in substance. This does not mean that any passion is to be understood in that indescribable begetting. Nor is the term ousia, ‘substance,’ taken by the fathers in any of the usual senses it has among the Greeks. It has been used to overthrow what Arius in his ungodliness dared to say about Christ: that he was made from ‘things that did not exist.’ The Anomoeans, who have lately sprung up, hold this heresy still more boldly, to the utter destruction of the church’s unity. “We have therefore attached to this declaration of ours a copy of the faith set out by the bishops assembled at Nicaea, with which we are also fully satisfied. It is this: ‘We believe in one God the Father Almighty,’ and all the rest of the creed in full. “We, the undersigned, in presenting this statement, wholeheartedly agree with its contents. Meletius, bishop of Antioch; Eusebius of Samosata; Evagrius of Sicily; Uranius of Apamea; Zoilus of Larissa; Acacius of Caesarea; Antipater of Rhosus; Abramius of Urimi; Aristonicus of Seleucia-upon-Belus; Barlamenus of Pergamum; Uranius of Melitene; Magnus of Chalcedon; Eutychius of Eleutheropolis; Isacocis of Greater Armenia; Titus of Bostra; Peter of Sippi; Pelagius of Laodicea; Arabian of Antros; Piso of Adana, through Lamydrion, a presbyter; Sabinian, bishop of Zeugma; Athanasius of Ancyra, through Orphitus and Aetius, presbyters; Irenion, bishop of Gaza; Piso of Augusta; Patricius of Paltus, through Lamyrion, a presbyter; Anatolius, bishop of Beroea; Theotimus of the Arabs; and Lucian of Arca.” [c]

We found this declaration recorded in the work of Sabinus called the Collection of the Acts of Synods. Now the emperor had resolved to calm, if he could, the quarrelsome spirit of the opposing parties by gracious manners and persuasive words toward all of them. He declared that he “would not trouble anyone on account of his religious views, and that he would love and highly esteem those who worked earnestly for the unity of the church.” The philosopher Themistius bears witness that this was his conduct, in the oration he composed on Jovian’s consulship. He praises the emperor for overcoming the schemes of flatterers by freely allowing everyone to worship God as his conscience directed. And, alluding to the check the flatterers received, he remarks wittily that experience has made it plain that such people “worship the purple and not God, and are like the changeable Euripus, which sometimes rolls its waves one way and at other times the very opposite way.” [f]