Other Letters Ascribed to Athanasius

A memorandum on other letters ascribed to Athanasius. [a] The collection of letters above is complete on the principle stated in the introduction to these letters. But one or two fragments have been left out, and they may be listed here.

First, a fragment of a letter “to Eupsychius,” probably the Eupsychius who was one of the fathers at the Council of Nicaea, mentioned in Athanasius’s Circular to the Bishops of Egypt and Libya. Montfaucon prints the Greek in his edition of Athanasius’s works, with a Latin translation. It was cited at the Second Council of Nicaea, in the sixth session. But although it has links with the Second Discourse Against the Arians, where Athanasius speaks of the high priest’s clothing, it has the look of an argument written against Monophysitism. [b] Second, a letter “to Epiphanius,” against certain people who, in a quarrelsome spirit, follow the Jews in their way of celebrating Easter. It comes from the Easter Chronicle. [c] Third, fragments of a “Letter to the People of Antioch.” This is not the synodal letter to the people of Antioch, the Tome, printed earlier in this book. These fragments are also an argument against Monophysitism, and almost Nestorian in their teaching: they say that Jesus Christ “is not the same,” that is, before the ages and to the ages, and they speak of Christ as “two persons.” They come from Facundus, who says the letter was written against the Apollinarians, and who gives it on the authority of Peter, Athanasius’s successor. [d] Fourth, a letter “To Eusebius, Lucinianus, and their companions,” first printed by Mai in his collection of ancient writers. It is a very small fragment. A note to the Letter to Rufinianus, earlier in this book, quotes part of it. [e] Fifth, spurious letters: to Jovian; two to Castor; one to a “bishop of the Persians”; and letters to and from the popes Liberius, Mark, Julius and Felix, put together from late and spurious decretals and the like. [f]