Lucifer and Eusebius; the Council of Alexandria

After Athanasius came back, Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia, and Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, a city of Liguria in Italy, returned from the upper Thebaid, where Constantius had condemned them to lifelong exile. To set church affairs in order and bring them into a settled system, Eusebius came to Alexandria, so that there, together with Athanasius, he might hold a council to confirm the doctrines of Nicaea. [a] Lucifer sent a deacon with Eusebius to take his place in the council, and went himself to Antioch to visit the church there in its troubles. A split had been caused by the Arians, who were then led by Euzoius, and by the followers of Meletius, who, as I said earlier, were at odds even with those who held the same views as they did. Since Meletius had not yet returned from exile, Lucifer ordained Paulinus bishop. [b]

Meanwhile the bishops of many cities had gathered in Alexandria with Athanasius and Eusebius and had confirmed the doctrines of Nicaea. They confessed that the Holy Spirit is of one substance with the Father and the Son, and they used the term “Trinity.” They declared that the human nature God the Word took on is to be understood as made up not only of a perfect body but also of a perfect soul, just as the ancient philosophers of the church had taught. The church had been unsettled by questions about the terms “substance” and “hypostasis,” and quarrels and disputes over these words had been frequent. So they decreed, and wisely, I think, that from now on these terms should not be used of God at the outset, except to refute the teaching of Sabellius. Otherwise, because there are so few terms, one and the same thing might seem to be called by three names; rather, each should be understood in a threefold way by its own proper term. [c] These were the decrees passed by the bishops gathered at Alexandria. In the council Athanasius read the work he had written about his flight, to justify himself. [d]