The Synod at Seleucia in Isauria

But now I must give an account of the other synod, which the emperor’s edict had called in the East as a rival to the one at Ariminum. At first it was decided that the bishops should assemble at Nicomedia in Bithynia. But a great earthquake nearly destroyed that city and kept them from meeting there. This happened in the consulship of Tatian and Cerealis, on the twenty-eighth of August. So they planned to move the council to the neighboring city of Nicaea. But this plan was changed again, since it seemed more convenient to meet at Tarsus in Cilicia. Being dissatisfied with this arrangement as well, they finally assembled at Seleucia, surnamed Aspera, a city of Isauria. This took place in the same year in which the Council of Ariminum was held, in the consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius, and about 160 bishops gathered. Present on this occasion was Leonas, a distinguished officer of the imperial household, before whom the emperor’s edict had ordered the discussion of the faith to be held. Lauricius too, the commander-in-chief of the troops in Isauria, was ordered to be there, to serve the bishops in whatever they might need. In the presence of these men, then, the bishops met on the twenty-seventh of September, and at once began a discussion on the basis of the public records, with shorthand writers present to take down what each one said. Those who want to learn the details of the various speeches will find full accounts of them in the collection of Sabinus; we will note only the more important points. [a]

On the first day of their meeting Leonas told each of them to propose whatever he thought fit. But those present said that no question ought to be debated while the bishops who had not yet arrived were absent. For Macedonius, bishop of Constantinople, Basil of Ancyra, and some others, who were afraid of being charged for their misconduct, had not appeared. Macedonius pleaded illness and did not attend. Patrophilus said he had some trouble with his eyes, and that for this reason he had to stay in the suburbs of Seleucia. The rest offered various excuses to explain their absence. When Leonas, however, declared that the business they had met to consider must be taken up in spite of the absence of these men, the bishops replied that they could not go on to discuss any question until the life and conduct of the accused had been examined. For Cyril of Jerusalem, Eustathius of Sebaste in Armenia, and some others had been charged with misconduct on various grounds long before. A sharp dispute arose over this objection, some saying that all such accusations should be looked into first, and others denying that anything at all should come before matters of faith. The emperor’s orders did much to sharpen this dispute, since letters of his were produced urging now this and now that as the thing to be considered first.

Once the dispute had arisen on this point, a split followed, and the council at Seleucia was divided into two factions. One was led by Acacius of Caesarea in Palestine, George of Alexandria, Uranius of Tyre and Eudoxius of Antioch, who were supported by only about thirty-two other bishops. In the opposite party, which was by far the larger, the leaders were George of Laodicea in Syria, Sophronius of Pompeiopolis in Paphlagonia, and Eleusius of Cyzicus. When the majority had decided to examine matters of doctrine first, the party of Acacius openly opposed the Nicene Creed and wanted to bring in another in its place. The other faction, which was considerably larger, agreed with all the decisions of the Council of Nicaea, but criticized its use of the term homoousion. So they debated this point, with much said on both sides, until late in the evening. Then Silvanus, who presided over the church at Tarsus, insisted very forcefully “that there was no need for a new statement of the faith, but that their duty was rather to confirm the one published at Antioch at the dedication of the church in that city.” At this, Acacius and his party quietly withdrew from the council, while the others brought out the creed composed at Antioch, read it, and then broke up for that day. The next day they assembled in the church of Seleucia, shut the doors, read the same creed again, and ratified it with their signatures. At this point the readers and deacons who were present signed on behalf of certain absent bishops, who had let it be known that they accepted its wording.