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| Photinus, Bishop of Sirmium. His Heresy, and the Council convened at Sirmium in Opposition thereto. The Three Formularies of Faith. This Agitator of Empty Ideas was refuted by Basil of Ancyra. After his Deposition Photinus, although solicited, declined Reconciliation.
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Chapter VI.—Photinus,
Bishop of Sirmium. His Heresy, and the Council convened at Sirmium in
Opposition thereto. The Three Formularies of Faith. This Agitator of
Empty Ideas was refuted by Basil of Ancyra. After his Deposition
Photinus, although solicited, declined Reconciliation.
About this time,1291
| 1291Athan. de Synodis, 8, 9; Soc. ii.
29–31, 37; Sulp. Sev. H. S. ii. 36, 37.
|
Photinus, who administered the church of Sirmium, laid before the
emperor, who was then staying at that city, a heresy which he had
originated some time previously. His natural ease of utterance and
powers of persuasion enabled him to lead many into his own way of
thinking. He acknowledged that there was one God Almighty, by whose own
word all things were created, but would not admit that the generation
and existence of the Son was before all ages; on the contrary, he
alleged that Christ derived His existence from Mary. As soon as this
opinion was divulged, it excited the indignation of the Western and of
the Eastern bishops, and they considered it in common as an innovation
of each one’s particular belief, for it was equally opposed by
those who maintained the doctrines of the Nicæan council, and by
those who favored the tenets of Arius. The emperor also regarded the
heresy with aversion, and convened a council at Sirmium, where he was
then residing. Of the Eastern bishops, George, who governed the church
of Alexandria, Basil, bishop of Ancyra, and Mark, bishop of Arethusa,
were present at this council; and among the Western bishops were Valens, bishop of Mursa, and
Hosius the Confessor. This latter, who had attended the council of
Nicæa, was unwillingly a participant of this; he had not long
previously been condemned to banishment through the machinations of the
Arians; he was summoned to the council of Sirmium by the command of the
emperor extorted by the Arians, who believed that their party would be
strengthened, if they could gain over, either by persuasion or force, a
man held in universal admiration and esteem, as was Hosius. The period
at which the council was convened at Sirmium, was the year after the
expiration of the consulate of Sergius and Nigrinian; and during this
year there were no consuls either in the East or the West, owing to the
insurrections excited by the tyrants. Photinus was deposed by this
council, because he was accused of countenancing the errors of
Sabellius and Paul of Samosata. The council then proceeded to draw up
three formularies of faith in addition to the previous confessions, of
which one was written in Greek, and the others in Latin. But they did
not agree with one another, nor with any other of the former
expositions of doctrine, either in word or import. It is not said in
the Greek formulary,1292
that the Son is consubstantial, or of like substance, with the Father,
but it is there declared, that those who maintain that the Son had no
commencement, or that He proceeded from an expansion of the substance
of the Father, or that He is united to the Father without being subject
to Him, are excommunicated. In one of the Roman formularies,1293
| 1293Soc. ii. 30, Latin text translated into Greek.
|
it is forbidden to say, of the essence of the Godhead which the Romans
call substance, that the Son is either consubstantial, or of like
substance with the Father, as such statements do not occur in the Holy
Scriptures, and are beyond the reach of the understanding and knowledge
of men. It is said, that the Father must be recognized as superior to
the Son in honor, in dignity, in divinity, and in the relationship
suggested by His name of Father; and that it must be confessed that the
Son, like all created beings, is subject to the Father, that the Father
had no commencement, and that the generation of the Son is unknown to
all save the Father. It is related, that when this formulary was
completed, the bishops became aware of the errors it contained, and
endeavored to withdraw it from the public, and to correct it; and that
the emperor threatened to punish those who should retain or conceal any
of the copies that had been made of it. But having been once published,
no efforts were adequate to suppress it altogether.
The third formulary1294
| 1294Athan. de Synodis, 8; Soc. ii. 37, text
translated into Greek.
|
is of the same import as the others. It prohibits the use of the term
“substance” on account of the terms used in Latin, while
the Greek term having been used with too much simplicity by the
Fathers, and having been a cause of offense to many of the unlearned
multitude, because it was not to be found in the Scriptures, “we
have deemed it right totally to reject the use of it: and we would
enjoin the omission of all mention of the term in allusion to the
Godhead, for it is nowhere said in the Holy Scriptures, that the
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are of the same substance, where the word
person is written. But we say, in conformity with the Holy Scriptures,
that the Son is like unto the Father.”
Such was the decision arrived at in the presence of the
emperor concerning the faith. Hosius at first refused to assent to it.
Compulsion, however, was resorted to; and being extremely old, he sunk,
as it is reported, beneath the blows that were inflicted on him, and
yielded his consent and signature.
After the deposition of Photinus, the Synod thought it
expedient to try whether it were not somehow possible to persuade him
to change his views. But when the bishop urged him, and promised to
restore his bishopric if he would renounce his own dogma, and vote for
their formulary, he would not acquiesce, but challenged them to a
discussion. On the day appointed for this purpose, the bishops,
therefore, assembled with the judges who had been appointed by the
emperor to preside at their meetings, and who, in point of eloquence
and dignity, held the first rank in the palace. Basil, bishop of
Ancyra, was selected to commence the disputation against Photinus. The
conflict lasted a long time, on account of the numerous questions
started and the answers given by each party, and which were immediately
taken down in short-hand; but finally the victory declared itself in
favor of Basil. Photinus was condemned and banished, but did not cease
on that account from enlarging his own dogma. He wrote and published
many works in Greek and Latin, in which he endeavored to show that all
opinions, except his own, were erroneous. I have now concluded all that
I had to say concerning Photinus and the heresy to which his name was
affixed. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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