Damasus of Rome, and the Synod That Condemned Auxentius

About this time Liberius died, and Damasus succeeded to the see of Rome. A deacon named Ursicius, who had won some votes but could not bear his defeat, had himself ordained secretly by some bishops of little standing, and tried to divide the people and hold a separate church. He succeeded in making this division: some of the people honored him as bishop, while the rest held to Damasus. This led to much strife and rioting among the people, which at last went as far as wounding and murder. The prefect of Rome was forced to step in and punish many of the people and of the clergy, and so he put an end to Ursicius’s attempt. [a] As to doctrine, however, no dissension arose, either at Rome or in any other of the Western churches. The people were unanimous in holding to the form of belief established at Nicaea, and they regarded the three Persons of the Trinity as equal in dignity and in power.

Auxentius and his followers held a different opinion. He was then presiding over the church of Milan, and together with a few supporters he was set on bringing in innovations and on upholding the Arian doctrine that the Son and the Holy Spirit are unlike the Father, following the question that had most recently arisen, against the unanimous agreement of the Western priests. The bishops of Gaul and of Venetia reported that others among them were making similar attempts to disturb the peace of the church. Not long afterward, therefore, the bishops of several provinces met at Rome and decreed that Auxentius and those who held his views were to be shut out of their communion. They confirmed the traditional faith established by the Council of Nicaea, and they annulled all the decrees issued at Ariminum against that faith, on the ground that these decrees had not received the assent of the bishop of Rome, nor of the other bishops who agreed with him, and that many who had been present at that synod had disapproved of what was enacted there. That this really was the synod’s decision is shown by the letter which Damasus, the Roman bishop, and the rest of the assembly addressed to the bishops of Illyria. It reads as follows: [c]

“Damasus, Valerius, and the other bishops of the holy assembly gathered at Rome, to their dearly loved brothers settled in Illyria: greetings in the Lord. [d] “We believe that you hold fast and teach the people our holy faith, which is founded on the teaching of the apostles. This faith differs in nothing from the one the fathers defined, and it is not permitted for the priests of God, whose right it is to instruct the wise, to think anything else. We have been told, however, by some of our brothers in Gaul and in Venetia that certain people are set on bringing in heresy. “All bishops should guard carefully against this evil, so that none of their flock are led, some by inexperience and others by simplicity, to oppose the right interpretations. “Those who devise strange doctrines are not to be followed; rather, the opinions of our fathers must be kept, however judgments may differ around us. “That is why Auxentius, bishop of Milan, has been publicly declared condemned, above all others, in this matter. It is right, then, that all the teachers of the Roman world should be of one mind, and not defile the faith with various conflicting doctrines. “For when the malice of the heretics first began to ripen, as the blasphemy of the Arians has now done (may it be far from us), our fathers, three hundred and eighteen chosen men, after making inquiry at Nicaea, built a wall against the weapons of the devil and drove back the deadly poison with this antidote. “This antidote is the belief that the Father and the Son have one Godhead, one power, and one substance. It is also necessary to believe that the Holy Spirit is of the same hypostasis. We have decreed that those who hold any other doctrines are to be shut out of our communion. [e] “Some have set out to stain this saving definition and this teaching worthy of worship. But from the very beginning, some of those who made the change at the Council of Ariminum, or who were forced to vote for it, have since made amends in some measure by confessing that they were deceived by certain plausible arguments, which did not seem to them to go against the principles our fathers laid down at Nicaea. “The number of people gathered at the Council of Ariminum proves nothing against orthodox doctrine. For that council was held without the sanction of the bishops at Rome, whose opinion ought to have been received before that of all others, and without the assent either of Vincentius, who kept his office as bishop without stain for a great many years, or of many other bishops who agreed with them. [f] “Besides, as has been said already, the very people who seemed to lean toward something deceptive showed their disapproval of their own proceedings as soon as they came to a better judgment. So your purity must see that this alone is the faith which was established at Nicaea on the authority of the apostles, and which must always be kept unbroken; and that all bishops, whether of the East or of the West, who profess the catholic religion ought to count it an honor to be in communion with us. “We believe it will not be long before those who hold other views are shut out of communion and stripped of the name and rank of bishop, so that the people now crushed under the yoke of those ruinous and deceitful principles may be free to breathe. For these bishops cannot correct the people’s error, since they are held by error themselves. “So let the judgment of your honor also agree with that of all the priests of God, as we believe you are holy and firm in it. That we are right to believe this together with you will be proved by an exchange of letters with your love.” [g]