Part 23

With this Act they put an End to the Sessions, and immediately dispatched Ten Deputies to acquaint the Emperor with what had passed, pursuant to his express Command. The like Number was sent by the _Arians_, who had assisted at the Council. These, traveling with great Expedition, arrived at _Constantinople_, where the Court then was, some time before the others; and, being immediately admitted to the Emperor, they prejudiced him to such a Degree against the Orthodox Party, that he would not so much as see their Deputies, pretending to be wholly taken up with the Affairs of the State. They were therefore obliged to deliver the Letter, which the Council had written on this Occasion, to one of his Ministers[893]. They expected every Day to be admitted to an Audience, or, at least, to receive an Answer, and be dismissed. [Sidenote: _who leaves_ Constantinople _without seeing them_.] But, after they had been thus kept for some time in Expectation, the Emperor all on a sudden left _Constantinople_, in order to head his Army against the _Barbarians_, who had broken into the Empire. He was no sooner gone than one of the Ministers came to acquaint them, that it was the Emperor’s Pleasure they should repair forthwith to _Adrianople_, and there wait his Return[894]. However, before he set out, he writ to the Council, giving them notice of his sudden Departure from _Constantinople_; and alleging, by way of Excuse for not having seen or heard their Deputies, the present Situation of public Affairs, which had engrossed his whole Attention, whereas, the discussing and settling of spiritual Affairs required a Mind quite free and disengaged from all worldly Cares. [Sidenote: _He endeavours to tire their Patience with Delays._] He concluded his short Letter with intreating them not to think of separating till he was at Leisure to settle, in Conjunction with them, Matters of so great Importance to the Church, and the whole Christian World[895]. The Design of the most wicked _Constantius_, as _Athanasius_ styles him[896], was to tire out the Bishops with such Delays, hoping they would, in the End, chuse rather to sign the last _Sirmian_ Confession, which he was bent upon establishing in the room of the _Nicene_, than to be long kept, as it were, in Exile, at a Distance from their Sees[897]. But this he could not compass for the present, the Bishops declaring, in their Answer to his Letter, that they could not, and hoped they never should, upon any Consideration whatsoever, depart from what they had so unanimously settled and decreed[898]. _Socrates_ writes, that the Bishops, after having waited some time in vain for the Emperor’s Answer to their Letter, left _Rimini_, and retired to their respective Sees[899]. And here he ends his Account of that Council. It were greatly to be wished, that nothing else could be said of it; but several contemporary and unexceptionable Writers, and _Hilarius_ among the rest[900], assure us, that _Constantius_ _changed at last the Faith of the Western Bishops into Impiety_. Of this deplorable Change they give us the following Account.

[Sidenote: _Their Deputies ordered to_ Nice _in_ Thrace;]

The _Arians_, taking Occasion from the last Letter of the Bishops at _Rimini_ to incense _Constantius_ against them, prevailed upon him to order their Deputies to a City in _Thrace_, known at that Time by the Name of _Nice_, but formerly called _Ostudizus_, and placed by _Sanson_ a few Leagues to the East of _Adrianople_. This Place they chose, that the Symbol, which they designed to impose upon them, might be confounded by the ignorant People with that of the great Council of _Nice_ in _Bithynia_[901]. The Deputies no sooner arrived there, than a Confession of Faith was proposed to them intirely agreeable to the last made at _Sirmium_, except that in this new Creed the Son was declared _like to the Father_, without the Addition of the Words _in all Things_. This they rejected at first with great Resolution and Intrepidity; but the _Arians_ were no less resolute, and therefore left nothing unattempted they could think of to carry their Point[902]. But finding Hope and Fear, Threats and Promises, equally ineffectual, they proceeded at last to open Force and Violence[903]. What Kind of Violence was employed against them, the Author does not tell us; but _Marcellinus_ and _Faustinus_ ascribe their retracting what they had declared to be holy, and approving what they had condemned as impious, to the Love of their Sees, and the Dread they were in of being driven from them[904]. [Sidenote: _where they sign the_ Sirmian _Confession_.] Be that as it will, it is certain, that they yielded at last; that they accepted and signed, without the least Limitation or Restriction, the above-mentioned Confession of Faith; consented to the Suppression of the Word _Consubstantial_; declared void and null all the Acts and Proceedings of the Council of _Rimini_; anathematized, as heretical, all Opinions contrary to the Doctrine contained in the said Confession; and, finally, admitted to their Communion _Ursacius_, _Valens_, _Germinius_, and _Caius_, whom they had not long before deposed as Heretics[905]. _Restitutus_, Bishop of _Carthage_, and one of the most eminent Prelates at that Time in the Church, signed the first, and the other Deputies after him, according to the Dignity of their Sees. The Emperor, transported with Joy at the News of their Compliance, which he looked upon as a signal Victory, gave them immediately Leave to return to _Rimini_. At the same time he wrote to _Taurus_, charging him anew not to suffer the Bishops to depart till they had all signed the same Confession of Faith, and impowering him to send into Exile such as by their Obstinacy should distinguish themselves above the rest, provided they were not above Fifteen in Number[906]. [Sidenote: Constantius _orders the Bishops at_ Rimini _to suppress the Words_ Substance _and_ Consubstantial.] He likewise writ to the Bishops, commanding them, on Pain of incurring his Indignation, to suppress for ever the Words _Substance_ and _Consubstantial_, severely reprimanding them for presuming to depose _Ursacius_ and his Collegues, and assuring them, that they should not be allowed to return to their Sees, till they had intitled themselves to his Favour by an intire and unreserved Compliance with his Will[907]. To this Letter the _Arians_, who had assisted at the Council, to the Number of Eighty, returned a most submissive Answer, and even thanked the Emperor for the great Pains he took to establish the true Doctrine[908]. However, _Taurus_ declared that he could by no means suffer them to depart till the rest had agreed with them, and the whole Assembly was of one Mind. The orthodox Bishops shewed at first some Resolution, and even refused to communicate with their own Deputies. But this Resolution soon vanished; they were eager to return to their Sees; the Emperor was inflexible; _Taurus_ took care to render the Place both inconvenient and disagreeable to them. [Sidenote: _The greater Part yield._] Some therefore fell off, others followed their Example, the rest began to waver, and, being so far got the better of, yielded soon after, and went over to the _Arian_ Party in such Crouds, that in a very short time the Number of the orthodox Bishops, who continued steady, was reduced to 20[909]. At the Head of these was _Phœbadius_, the celebrated Bishop of _Agen_, who seemed invincible; but nevertheless was overcome in the End, not by the Menaces of the Emperor, or his Prefect, but by the Craft and Subtilty of _Ursacius_ and _Valens_, who, finding they could by no other Means prevail upon him to accept the _Sirmian_ Confession, declared, that to put an End to the unhappy Divisions that had so long rent the Church, they had at last resolved to agree to such Alterations and Additions as should be judged proper and necessary by him and his Collegues. This Declaration was received by all with great Joy: _Phœbadius_ triumphed, thinking he had carried his Point, and saved the Reputation of the Council. [Sidenote: _The others imposed upon by the_ Arians.] To the Symbol were immediately added several Anathemas against the _Arian_ Heresy, and an Article declaring _the Son equal to the Father, without Beginning, and before all Time_. When this Article was read, _Valens_ desired, that, in order to leave no room for new Disputes or Chicanery, they would add, that _the Son was not a Creature like other Creatures_[910]. This was evidently supposing the Son to be a Creature only exalted above all other Creatures; so that by admitting such an Article they condemned the Doctrine which they designed to establish, and established that which they designed to condemn. And yet of this neither was _Phœbadius_ aware, nor any of his Party, as they afterwards solemnly declared[911]. A most unaccountable Oversight, and hardly credible! But _Theodoret_[912], _Ambrose_[913], _Sulpitius Severus_[914], and _Fulgentius_[915], took it upon their Word, and so must we. Neither Party could brag of the Victory; for the _Arians_ had anathematized the Heresy of _Arius_; and on the other hand the orthodox Bishops had deliberately agreed to the suppressing of the Words _Substance_ and _Consubstantial_, and inadvertently acknowleged the Son to be a Creature; which was all the _Arians_ aimed at, or could desire. The Council being thus ended, new Deputies were sent to acquaint the Emperor with what had passed, who being highly pleased with the Report made by _Ursacius_ and _Valens_ (for they were at the Head of the Deputation) immediately granted the Bishops Leave to return to their respective Sees, after they had been about Four Months at _Rimini_.

The Council no sooner broke up than the _Arians_ began to proclaim aloud the Victory they had gained, bragging, that it had not been defined in the Council of _Rimini_, that the Son was not a Creature, but only that he was not like other Creatures; and declaring it was, and had always been their Opinion, that the Son was no more like the Father, than a Piece of Glass was like an Emerald[916]. [Sidenote: _They discover their Mistake._] _Phœbadius_, and the other Bishops who had adhered to him, were returned to their Sees with great Joy, flattering themselves that they had sufficiently established the Catholic Doctrine, and prevented all future Disputes: but, finding that the _Arians_ pretended their Tenets had been confirmed by this very Council, and seriously reflecting on the Articles, which they themselves had agreed to, they discovered at last how grosly they had been imposed upon, and publicly retracted all they had said, done, or signed, repugnant to the Truths of the Catholic Church[917]. However, _Gregory_ Bishop of _Elvira_ refused to communicate with any of the Bishops who had assisted at the Council of _Rimini_, and was on that account commended by _Eusebius_ of _Vercelli_[918]. [Sidenote: _Are judged Guilty by the exiled Bishops._] The exiled Bishops, and those who lay concealed, agreed among themselves by Letters, to declare them for ever incapable of performing any Episcopal or Sacerdotal Functions, and to admit them to the Communion of the Church only in the Capacity of Laymen[919]. When Peace was restored to the Church by the Death of _Constantius_ in 361. most of the orthodox Bishops were for deposing all those of the Council of _Rimini_, and placing others in their room. But this Sentence the People would not suffer to be put in Execution, rising every-where in Defence of their Pastors, and in some Places insulting, beating, and even killing, those who came to depose them[920].

[Sidenote: _Great Disagreement in the Council of_ Seleucia.]

As for the Council of _Seleucia_, it met on the 27th of _September_ 359. and consisted only of One hundred and Sixty Bishops, all _Arians_, or _Semi-Arians_, except Twelve or Thirteen orthodox Bishops from _Egypt_[921]. This Assembly _Gregory Nazianzen_ calls the _Tower_ of _Calane_, or _Babel_, the Council of _Caiaphas_[922]. And indeed with a great deal of Reason; for nothing was there seen but Tumult, Confusion, and Disorder. The _Anomeans_ and _Semi-Arians_ appeared so irreconcilably incensed against each other, and carried on their Debates with so much Animosity and Bitterness, that the Quæstor _Leonas_, whom the Emperor had appointed to assist at the Council, thinking it impossible they should ever agree in any one Point, rose up at their Fourth Meeting, while they were in the Heat of the Dispute, and, withdrawing abruptly, put an End to that Session, nay, and to the Council; for, being invited the next Day, the First of _October_, to the Assembly, he refused to go, saying, that he did not conceive his Presence to be at all necessary, since they might quarrel and scold as much as they pleased without him[923]. This he did, says _Sozomen_, to favour the _Anomeans_, who thence took Occasion to absent themselves from the Council, which, as it was chiefly composed of _Semi-Arians_, seemed determined to condemn their Doctrine[924]. [Sidenote: _The_ Semi-Arians _condemn and depose the_ Arians.] However, the _Semi-Arians_ met by themselves; and, finding they could by no means prevail upon the _Anomeans_ to return to the Council, they condemned their Doctrine as heretical and blasphemous, excommunicated and deposed the leading Men of their Party, appointed others in their room, and gave Notice thereof to their respective Churches[925]. Before they broke up, they dispatched Ten Deputies to acquaint the Emperor with the Transactions of the Council. But the Bishops whom they had deposed, arriving at Court before them, and being by their Friends there immediately introduced to _Constantius_, they prejudiced him against the Council of _Seleucia_ to such a Degree, that it was some time before he could prevail upon himself to hear the Deputies. [Sidenote: _They sign the last Confession of_ Sirmium.] However, he heard them at last, and, by threatening them with Exile if they did not comply, obliged them to sign the last Confession of _Sirmium_, which had been rejected by the Council as _Arian_[926]. In this he spent the whole Day, and great Part of the Night, preceding the First of _January_, though he was obliged to make the necessary Preparations for entering on that Day his Tenth Consulate with the usual Pomp and Solemnity[927].

[Sidenote: _The_ Arians,_in their Turn, condemn and depose the_ Semi-Arians, _and also sign the last Confession of_ Sirmium.]

In the Beginning of the Year 360. the _Anomeans_ assembling by themselves at _Constantinople_ as the _Semi-Arians_ had done at _Seleucia_, in order to ingratiate themselves with the Emperor, not only received the last _Sirmian_ Confession, but condemned all other Confessions or Symbols that had been made till then, or should be made for the future. They then declared all the Acts of the Council of _Seleucia_ void and null; and, to be even with the _Semi-Arians_, deposed, under various Pretences, such of their Party as had most contributed to the deposing of them, and even prevailed upon the Emperor to send them into Exile[928].

[Sidenote: _An Order from the Emperor injoining all Bishops to sign the_ Sirmian _Confession_.]

They did not stop here, but obtained of _Constantius_ an Order, which was published throughout the Empire, commanding all Bishops to sign the _Sirmian_ Confession, on pain of forfeiting their Dignity, and being sent into Exile[929][N18]. This Order was executed with the utmost Rigour in all the Provinces of the Empire, and very few were found, who did not sign with their Hands what they condemned in their Hearts[930]. Many, who till then had been thought invincible, were overcome, and complied with the Times; and such as did not, were driven, without Distinction, from their Sees, into Exile, and others appointed in their room, the signing of that Confession being a Qualification indispensably requisite both for obtaining and keeping the Episcopal Dignity[931]. Thus were all the Sees throughout the Empire filled with _Arians_, insomuch that in the whole East not one orthodox Bishop was left, and in the West but one, _viz._ _Gregory_ Bishop of _Elvira_ in _Andalusia_, and he, in all Likelihood, obliged to absent himself from his Flock, and lie concealed, as were probably Pope _Liberius_, and _Vincentius_ of _Capua_, if what _Theodoret_ relates of them be true, _viz._ that they never consented to the Decrees of _Rimini_[932], and thereby retrieved the Reputation they had lost, the former by signing the _Sirmian_ Confession of the Year 357. and the other by communicating with the _Arians_ in 353. as I have related above. [Sidenote: _It was probably signed by_ Liberius.] But what _Theodoret_ writes may be justly called in question; for it is not at all probable, that the Emperor, and the _Arian_ Party, so warmly bent on establishing that Confession throughout the Empire, would have suffered the Bishop of the Imperial City, of the first See, to reject it, without deposing him, as they had done the Bishops of all the other great Sees, and appointing another more compliant in his room. This could not be prevented by his concealing himself in the Caverns and Cœmeteries about _Rome_, as he is said to have done in his Acts quoted by _Baronius_[933], though he might by that means have escaped being sent into Exile. Besides, had he, instead of complying with the Emperor’s express Command, withdrawn and absconded, I cannot think that his Antagonist _Felix_, who was still alive, and had done nothing we know of to disoblige the Emperor, and the _Arian_ Party, by whom he had been formerly raised to that See, would have neglected so favourable an Opportunity of recovering his antient Dignity. If what _Theodoret_ says be true, _Gregory Nazianzen_ is highly to blame for not excepting _Liberius_; when he writ, that the Bishops either all complied, or were driven into Exile, excepting a few, who were too insignificant to be taken notice of by the Emperor, or his Ministers[934]. [Sidenote: Arianism _universally obtains_.] Be that as it will, it is certain, that at this time the _Arian_ Doctrine universally obtained; that the Face of the Church appeared quite deformed and disfigured[935], that the whole World saw itself, with Astonishment, all on a sudden become _Arian_[936]; that the Boat of St. _Peter_, to use St. _Jerom_’s Expression, tossed by furious Winds, by violent Storms, was upon the Point of sinking, and no Hopes of Safety seemed to be left[937].

Footnote N18:

This Confession is called sometimes the _Confession of_ Nice _in_ Thrace, and sometimes the _Confession of_ Rimini; but it differed from both. By the Confession of _Nice_, the Son was acknowleged to be like to the Father, without the Addition of the Words _in all Things_, which were an essential Part of the last Confession of _Sirmium_. In that of _Rimini_ the Son was said _not to be a Creature like other Creatures_, and there were no such Words in the Confession of _Sirmium_. But by all Three the Word _Consubstantial_ was rejected, and no other would satisfy the Orthodox, acknowleging the Son to be _of the same Substance with the Father_. Both the _Arians_ and _Semi-Arians_ allowed the Son to be like to the Father: but that Likeness was by them very differently understood and interpreted. The _Arians_ held him to be _like_ rather by Grace than by Nature, and as like as a Creature could be to the Creator[N18.1]. The _Semi-Arians_ confessed him to be like in _Nature_, in _Existence_, in _Essence_, in _Substance_, and in _every thing else_. But the Orthodox maintained him to be of the _same Substance_ with the Father, and consequently of the _same Existence_, _Essence_, &c. and, to express this _Sameness_ or _Identity_, they chose the Word _Consubstantial_.

Footnote N18.1:

Ruff. l. 1. c. 25.

The following Year 361. the _Anomeans_, not fully satisfied with the Confession of Faith, which, at their Suggestion, the Emperor had taken so much Pains to establish throughout the Empire, assembled, with his Leave, at _Antioch_, and there drew up a new Symbol, or Creed, wherein it was expresly said, that _the Son was in every thing unlike to the Father_, and that _He was made out of nothing_. [Sidenote: Constantius _designs to establish the Doctrine of the_ Pure Arians;] _Constantius_ had formerly expressed the greatest Abhorrence to this Doctrine, and had even banished those who held, and refused to anathematize, such _impious Blasphemies_, as he then styled them[938]. But, having lately changed his Opinion, which was chiefly owing to the great Influence the Eunuch _Eusebius_ had over him, he was now no less sanguine for the _Unlikeness_ of the Son to the Father, than he had been hitherto for the _Likeness_[939]. In order therefore to abolish the antient, and establish this new Creed in its room, he appointed a Council to meet at _Nice_ in _Bithynia_[940], which, without all Doubt, he would have treated in the same manner as he had done that of _Rimini_. [Sidenote: _but is prevented by Death_.] But, as the Bishops were preparing to set out for the appointed Place, they were stopped by the sudden and unexpected News of the Emperor’s Death, which put an End to all his Councils, and was heard with equal Joy by those of the _Orthodox_ and _Semi-Arian_ Party. He was succeeded by _Julian_, surnamed the _Apostate_, who immediately recalled all those who had been banished by _Constantius_ on account of their Religion[941]. [Sidenote: _The exiled Bishops recalled by_ Julian.] Whatever was his Motive, the Church reaped great Advantages from the Return of so many eminent Prelates, who, in the worst of Times, had, with an invincible Firmness and Constancy, stood up in her Defence. Among the rest returned, on this Occasion, the famous _Meletius_ Bishop of _Antioch_, _Eusebius_ of _Vercelli_, _Lucifer_ of _Cagliari_, who had been all Three confined to the most distant Parts of _Thebais_ in _Egypt_, _Cyril_ of _Jerusalem_, _Pelagius_ of _Laodicea_ in _Phœnicia_, and, to the inexpressible Joy of the Orthodox Party, their great Champion _Athanasius_ Bishop of _Alexandria_[942], who immediately resumed, undisturbed, his Episcopal Function; _George_, the Usurper of his See, having been assassinated a little while before by the Pagans of _Alexandria_, on account of his Avarice and Cruelty[943]. In other Places the Orthodox Bishops, finding the _Arians_ in Possession of their Sees, contented themselves with being acknowleged by those of their Communion, without attempting to drive out their Antagonists, which would have created great Confusion, and endless Disturbances in the Church. _Julian_ refused to interpose his Authority in favour of either Party, saying, that as he was not so well acquainted with the Nature of their Disputes as a just and impartial Judge ought to be, he hoped they would excuse him, lest he should be guilty of some Injustice, and settle Matters of such Importance among themselves. _Athanasius_ entered _Alexandria_ in a kind of Triumph, which is described in a lively manner by _Gregory Nazianzen_, who seems to have pleased himself with displaying, in that Description, all the Eloquence he was Master of[944].

[Sidenote: _The Council of_ Alexandria.]