The Creeds Published at Sirmium

As though they meant to cancel their earlier decisions about the faith, they published new statements of the creed: one composed in Greek by Mark of Arethusa, and others in Latin, which agreed neither in wording nor in meaning with one another, nor with the one written by the bishop of Arethusa. I will add here, after the one prepared in Greek by Mark, one of those drawn up in Latin. The other, which was later read out at Sirmium, will be given when we describe what was done at Ariminum. It should be understood, however, that both Latin forms were translated into Greek. The statement of faith set out by Mark was as follows: [a]

“We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the Creator and Maker of all things, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth is named; and in his only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who was begotten of the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, through whom all things visible and invisible, in the heavens and on the earth, were made. He is the Word, and the Wisdom, and the true Light, and the Life. In the last days, for our sake, he was made man and born of the holy virgin. He was crucified and died, and was buried, and rose again from the dead on the third day, and was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Father. He is coming at the completion of the age to judge the living and the dead and to repay everyone according to his works. His kingdom is everlasting and endures to endless ages, for he will be seated at the Father’s right hand not only in this age but also in the one to come. “We believe also in the Holy Spirit, that is, the Comforter, whom he had promised to his apostles and sent after his ascension into the heavens, to teach them and to bring all things to their remembrance. Through him also the souls of those who have sincerely believed in him are made holy. “But those who say that the Son came from things that did not exist, or from another substance and not from God, and that there was a time or an age when he did not exist, the holy and catholic church recognizes as strangers to her. [c]

“We therefore say again: if anyone says that the Father and the Son are two Gods, let him be anathema. “And if anyone admits that Christ is God and the Son of God before the ages, but does not confess that he served the Father in the making of all things, let him be anathema. “If anyone dares to say that the Unbegotten, or a part of him, was born of Mary, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the Son was from Mary according to foreknowledge, and not that he was with God, begotten of the Father before the ages, and that all things were not made through him, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the being of God expands or contracts, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the expanded being of God makes the Son, or calls the Son the expansion of his being, let him be anathema. “If anyone calls the Son of God the inward word or the spoken word, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the Son who was born of Mary was only a man, let him be anathema. “If anyone, while saying that he who was born of Mary is God and man, means by this the unbegotten God himself, let him be anathema.

“If anyone takes the text, ‘I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God,’ which was spoken to destroy idols and false gods, in the sense the Jews take it, as though it were said to overthrow the only Son of God who is before the ages, let him be anathema. “If anyone, hearing ‘the Word became flesh,’ imagines that the Word was changed into flesh, or that he underwent any change in taking flesh, let him be anathema. “If anyone, hearing that the only Son of God was crucified, says that his divinity underwent any corruption, or suffering, or change, or lessening, or destruction, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the Father did not say to the Son, ‘Let us make man,’ but that God spoke to himself, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that it was not the Son who was seen by Abraham, but the unbegotten God, or a part of him, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that it was not the Son who wrestled with Jacob as a man, but the unbegotten God, or a part of him, let him be anathema. “If anyone takes the words, ‘The Lord rained from the Lord,’ not as referring to the Father and the Son, but says that he rained from himself, let him be anathema. For the Lord the Son rained from the Lord the Father. “If anyone, hearing ‘the Lord the Father, and the Lord the Son,’ calls both the Father and the Son Lord, and in saying ‘the Lord from the Lord’ claims that there are two Gods, let him be anathema. For we do not place the Son on the same level as the Father, but hold him to be subordinate to the Father. For he did not come down to the body without his Father’s will; nor did he rain from himself, but from the Lord (that is, the Father), who holds supreme authority; nor does he sit at the Father’s right hand of himself, but in obedience to the Father, who says, ‘Sit at my right hand.’ Let him be anathema.

“If anyone says that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one person, let him be anathema. “If anyone, speaking of the Holy Spirit the Comforter, calls him the unbegotten God, let him be anathema. “If anyone does not say, as he has taught us, that the Comforter is other than the Son, when he himself has said, ‘The Father, whom I will ask, will send you another Comforter,’ let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the Spirit is a part of the Father and of the Son, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are three Gods, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the Son of God was made by the will of God as one of the creatures, let him be anathema. “If anyone says that the Son was begotten without the Father’s will, let him be anathema. For the Father did not beget the Son against his will, as though forced by some necessity of nature. Rather, as soon as it pleased him, he begot him from himself, outside of time and without suffering, as he has made known. “If anyone says that the Son is unbegotten and without beginning, implying that there are two without beginning and unbegotten, and so making two Gods, let him be anathema. For the Son is the head and beginning of all things, but ‘the head of Christ is God.’ In this way we reverently trace all things up through the Son to the one source of all things, who is without beginning. “Moreover, to give an exact understanding of Christian teaching, we say again: if anyone does not declare that Christ Jesus was the Son of God before all ages, and that he served the Father in the creation of all things, but says that only from the time he was born of Mary was he called Son and Christ, and that he then received the beginning of his divinity, let him be anathema, like the man from Samosata.”

Another statement of the faith, set out at Sirmium in Latin and afterward translated into Greek: [k]

“Since it seemed good that there should be some deliberation about the faith, all points have been carefully examined and discussed at Sirmium, in the presence of Valens, Ursacius, Germinius and others. [l]

“It is clear that there is one God, the Father Almighty, as is declared throughout the whole world, and his only Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, God and Savior, begotten of him before the ages. But we ought not to say that there are two Gods, since the Lord himself has said, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.’ Therefore he is God of all, as the apostle also taught: ‘Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God, who will count the circumcised righteous by faith.’ And on all other matters there is agreement, and no uncertainty. “But a great many people are troubled about what is called substantia in Latin and ousia in Greek, that is, to state the meaning more exactly, the word homoousion or homoiousion. So it is altogether best that none of these terms be mentioned at all, nor preached in the church. The reasons are that nothing is written about them in the holy Scriptures; that these things are beyond human knowledge and human ability; and that no one can explain the Son’s begetting, of which it is written, ‘And who will declare his generation?’ It is plain that only the Father knows how he begot the Son, and again only the Son knows how he was begotten by the Father. [m]

“But no one can doubt that the Father is greater in honor, in dignity and in divinity, and in the very name of Father, for the Son himself testifies, ‘My Father who has sent me is greater than I.’ And no one is unaware that this too is catholic teaching: that there are two persons, of the Father and of the Son, and that the Father is the greater, but that the Son is subject, together with all the things the Father has subjected to him. That the Father had no beginning and is invisible, immortal and beyond suffering, but that the Son was begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, and that no one understands his begetting, as was said before, except the Father alone. “That the Son himself, our Lord and God, took flesh or a body, that is to say human nature, as the angel announced when he brought the good news. And as all the Scriptures teach, and especially the apostle who was the great teacher of the Gentiles, Christ took from the Virgin Mary the human nature through which he suffered. “But the summary and confirmation of the whole faith is that the Trinity should always be kept, as we have read in the Gospel: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ So the number of the Trinity is complete and perfect. And the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, sent by the Son, came as he had promised, to make the apostles and all believers holy and to instruct them.”

They tried to get Photinus, even after his deposition, to agree to these things and sign them, promising to give him back his bishopric if he would recant, anathematize the doctrine he had invented, and adopt their view. But he did not accept their offer, and instead challenged them to a debate. A day was set by the emperor’s arrangement, and the bishops who were there gathered, along with a good number of senators whom the emperor had told to attend the discussion. In their presence Basil, who at that time presided over the church at Ancyra, was appointed to argue against Photinus, and shorthand writers took down what each of them said. The battle of arguments on both sides was very fierce, but Photinus was defeated and condemned. He spent the rest of his life in exile, and during that time he wrote treatises in both languages, for he was not unskilled in Latin, against all heresies and in favor of his own views. Let this be enough about Photinus. [r]

Later the bishops who had gathered at Sirmium were dissatisfied with the form of the creed they had published in Latin, for after it came out it seemed to them to contain many contradictions. So they tried to get it back from the copyists. But since many people hid their copies, the emperor issued edicts ordering that the document be searched for, and threatening punishment to anyone found hiding it. These threats, however, could not suppress what had already come into the hands of many. Let this be enough about these matters.