The Roman Synod of Damasus on Ariminum

That this formula was condemned by all the champions of the truth, and especially by those of the West, is shown by the letter they wrote to the Illyrians. The first to sign it was Damasus, who obtained the leadership of the church of Rome after Liberius and was adorned with many virtues. With him signed ninety bishops of Italy and of Galatia, now called Gaul, who met together at Rome. I would have included their names, but I thought it unnecessary. [a]

“The bishops assembled at Rome in holy synod, Damasus and Valerian and the rest, to their beloved brothers the bishops of Illyria: greetings in God. [d] We believe that we, the priests of God, by whom it is right for the rest to be instructed, are holding and teaching our people the holy creed that was founded on the teaching of the apostles and in no way departs from the definitions of the fathers. But through a report from our brothers in Gaul and Venetia we have learned that certain men have fallen into heresy. It is the duty of the bishops not only to take precautions against this harm, but also to stand against whatever divergent teaching has arisen, whether from incomplete instruction or from the simplicity of those who read unsound commentators. They should take care not to slide into slippery paths, but rather, whenever divergent counsels reach their ears, to hold fast the teaching of our fathers. It has therefore been decided that Auxentius of Milan is specially condemned in this matter. So it is right that all the teachers of the law in the Roman Empire should be well instructed in the law, and should not foul the faith with divergent teachings.

When the wickedness of the heretics first began to flourish, and when, as now, the blasphemy of the Arians was creeping to the front, our fathers, three hundred and eighteen bishops, the holiest leaders of the church in the Roman Empire, deliberated at Nicaea. The wall they set up against the weapons of the devil, and the antidote with which they drove back his deadly poisons, was their confession that the Father and the Son are of one substance, one Godhead, one virtue, one power, one likeness, and that the Holy Spirit is of the same essence and substance. Whoever did not think so was judged to be separated from our communion. Their deliberation deserved all respect, and their definition was sound. But certain men have tried, by other, later discussions, to corrupt and foul it. Yet at the very outset the error was set right, so far as this: the bishops whom they tried at Ariminum to force into tampering with the faith or making innovations in it confessed that they had been led astray by opposing arguments, or admitted that they had not seen anything in it contrary to the view of the fathers delivered at Nicaea. No prejudice could arise from the number of bishops gathered at Ariminum, since it is well known that neither the bishop of the Romans, whose opinion ought to have been waited for before all others, nor Vincent, whose spotless episcopate had lasted so many years, nor the rest gave their agreement to such teachings. And this is all the more significant because, as has already been said, the very men who seemed to have been tricked into giving way testified themselves, in their wiser moments, that they disapproved. [e]

Your sincerity, then, sees that this one faith, which was founded at Nicaea on the authority of the apostles, ought to be kept secure forever. You see that the bishops of the East, who confess themselves catholic, glory in it together with us, the western bishops. We believe that those who think otherwise ought, before long and without delay, to be put out of our communion and stripped of the name of bishop, so that their flocks may be freed from error and breathe freely. For they cannot be expected to correct the errors of their people when they themselves are the victims of error. May the judgment of Your Reverence be in harmony with that of all the priests of God. We believe that you are fixed and firm in it, and so we ought rightly to believe along with you. May your love make us glad with your reply. Beloved brothers, farewell.”