The Council’s Ruling on Arius and the Passover

It should be known that they affirmed the Son to be of one substance with the Father. And they declared that those are to be excommunicated and voted strangers to the catholic church who say that there was a time when the Son did not exist, and that before he was begotten he was not, and that he was made from what did not exist, and that he is of another hypostasis or substance than the Father, and that he is subject to change or alteration. This decision was approved by Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia; by Theognis, bishop of Nicaea; by Maris, bishop of Chalcedon; by Patrophilus, bishop of Scythopolis; and by Secundus, bishop of Ptolemais in Libya. Eusebius Pamphilus, however, held back his assent for a little while, but after further examination he gave it. [a]

The council excommunicated Arius and his followers and forbade him to enter Alexandria. The words in which he had expressed his opinions were condemned too, and so was a work called “Thalia” that he had written on the subject. I have not read this book, but I understand that it is loose in character, with a license like that of Sotades. It should be known that although Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia, and Theognis, bishop of Nicaea, agreed to the statement of faith the council set out, they neither agreed to nor signed the deposition of Arius. The emperor punished Arius with exile. He sent edicts to the bishops and people of every country, denouncing him and his followers as ungodly, and commanding that their books be destroyed, so that no memory of him or of the teaching he had put forward might remain. Anyone found hiding his writings who did not burn them at once when accused was to suffer the penalty of death.

The emperor wrote letters to every city against Arius and those who had accepted his teaching, and he ordered Eusebius and Theognis to leave the cities where they were bishops. He wrote in particular to the church of Nicomedia, urging it to hold fast to the faith the council had set out, to elect orthodox bishops, to obey them, and to let the past be forgotten. And he threatened with punishment anyone who dared to speak well of the exiled bishops or to adopt their views. In these and other letters he showed his resentment against Eusebius, because Eusebius had earlier taken up the views of the tyrant and joined in his plots. In keeping with the imperial edicts, Eusebius and Theognis were driven out of the churches they held; Amphion received the church of Nicomedia, and Chrestus that of Nicaea. When this controversy over doctrine was ended, the council decided that the Passover feast should be celebrated at the same time everywhere.