CHAPTER XVIII

THE EMPEROR OF THE WEST REQUESTS HIS BROTHER TO SEND HIM SUCH PERSONS AS COULD GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE DEPOSITION OF ATHANASIUS AND PAUL. THOSE WHO ARE SENT PUBLISH ANOTHER FORM OF THE CREED

WHEN the Western emperor was informed of the unjust treatment to which Paul and Athanasius had been subjected, he sympathized with their sufferings; and wrote to his brother Constantius, begging him to send three bishops to explain to him the reason of their deposition. In compliance with this request, Narcissus the Cilician, Theodore the Thraeian, Maris of Chalcedony, and Mark the Syrian, were deputed to execute this commission; who on their arrival refused to hold any communication with Athanasius, but suppressing the creed which had been promulgated at Antioch, presented to the emperor Constans another declaration of faith composed by themselves, in the following terms:—

ANOTHER EXPOSITION OF THE FAITH

“We believe in one God the Father Almighty, the Creator and Maker of all things, of whom the whole family in heaven and upon earth is named (Eph. 3:15); and in his only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, begotten of the Father before all ages; God of God; Light of Light; by whom all things in the heavens and upon the earth, both visible and invisible, were made; who is the Word, Wisdom, Power, Life and true Light: who in the last days for our sake was made man, and was born of the holy virgin; was crucified, and died; was buried, arose again from the dead on the third day, ascended into the heavens, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and shall come at the consummation of the ages, to judge the living and the dead, and to render to every one according to his works: whose kingdom being perpetual, shall continue to infinite ages; for he shall sit at the right hand of the Father, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. We believe in the Holy Spirit, that is, in the Comforter, whom the Lord, according to his promise, sent to his apostles after his ascension into the heavens, to teach them, and bring all things to their remembrance: by whom also the souls of those who have sincerely believed on him shall be sanctified. But the catholic Church accounts as aliens, those who assert that the Son was made of things which are not, or of another substance, and not of God, or that there was ever a time when he did not exist.”

Having delivered this creed to the emperor, and exhibited it to many others also, they departed without attending to any thing besides. But while there was yet an inseparable communion between the Western and Eastern churches, there sprang up another heresy at Sirmium, a city of Illyricum: for Photinus who presided over the churches in that district, a native of Galatia Minor, and a disciple of that Marcellus who had been deposed, adopting his master’s sentiments, asserted that the Son of God was a mere man. We shall however enter into this matter more fully in its proper place.