The Long Creed, and the Eastern Bishops at Sardica

Three years later the bishops of the East sent to those of the West a statement of faith which, because it had been composed with more words and thoughts than any earlier confession, was called the “Long-Lined Statement.” In this statement they made no mention of the substance of God; but they excommunicated those who maintain that the Son came into being out of what did not exist before, or that he is of another hypostasis and not of God, or that there was a time or an age when he did not exist. Eudoxius, who was still bishop of Germanicia, Martyrius and Macedonius carried this document. But the Western priests would not accept it, for they declared that they were fully satisfied with the doctrines established at Nicaea, and thought it entirely unnecessary to be overcurious about such points. [a]

The emperor Constans had asked his brother to restore Athanasius and his followers to their sees, and had found his request useless because of the opposing influence of those who held the hostile heresy. Moreover, the party of Athanasius and Paul begged Constans to call a synod because of the plots to abolish the orthodox doctrines. So both emperors agreed that the bishops of the East and of the West should be summoned on a set day to Sardica, a city of Illyria. The bishops of the East, who had first gathered at Philippopolis, a city of Thrace, wrote to the bishops of the West, who had already gathered at Sardica, that they would not join them unless they expelled Athanasius and his followers from their assembly and from communion with them, since these had been deposed. Afterward they went to Sardica, but declared that they would not enter the church as long as those they had deposed were admitted there. The bishops of the West replied that they had never expelled these men and would not give way on it now, especially since Julius, bishop of Rome, had examined the case and had not condemned them; and besides, the men were present and ready to defend themselves and to refute once more the offenses charged against them. These declarations, however, came to nothing. The time they had set for settling the differences they had met about ran out, and in the end they wrote letters to one another on these points, which only increased their former ill will. Then, meeting separately, they issued opposite decisions. [d]

The Eastern bishops confirmed the sentences they had already passed against Athanasius, Paul, Marcellus and Asclepas. They deposed Julius, bishop of Rome, because he had been the first to admit into communion those they had condemned. Hosius the confessor was also deposed, partly for the same reason, and partly because he was the friend of Paulinus and Eustathius, the rulers of the church in Antioch. Maximus, bishop of Trier, was deposed because he had been among the first to receive Paul into communion and had brought about his return to Constantinople, and because he had shut out from communion the Eastern bishops who had gone to Gaul. Besides these they deposed Protogenes, bishop of Sardica, and Gaudentius: the first because he favored Marcellus, though he had earlier condemned him, and the second because he had taken a different course from that of Cyriacus, his predecessor, and had supported many people whom they had deposed.

After issuing these sentences, they informed the bishops of every region that they were not to hold communion with those who had been deposed, nor write to them, nor receive letters from them. They also ordered them to believe what was said about God in the statement of faith they attached to their letter. In it the term “of one substance” was not mentioned; but those were excommunicated who said that there are three Gods, or that Christ is not God, or that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are the same, or that the Son is unbegotten, or that there was a time or an age when he did not exist.