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| The Long Formulary and the Enactments issued by the Synod of Sardica. Julius, Bishop of Rome, and Hosius, the Spanish Bishop, deposed by the Bishops of the East, because they held Communion with Athanasius and the Rest.
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Chapter XI.—The Long
Formulary and the Enactments issued by the Synod of Sardica. Julius,
Bishop of Rome, and Hosius, the Spanish Bishop, deposed by the Bishops
of the East, because they held Communion with Athanasius and the
Rest.
Three years afterwards, the
bishops of the East1245
| 1245Athan. de Synodis, 26, in ten heads, and
given by Soc. ii. 19, and with like introduction.
|
sent to those of the West a formulary of faith, which, because it had
been framed with verbiage and thoughts in excess of any former
confession, was called μακρόστιχος
ἔκθεσις.1246
| 1246For the whole section, Soc. ii. 19, 20; Athan. de
Synodis, 26. Cf. Hil. Frag. ii. and iii.; Sulp. Sev. H.
S. ii. 36.
|
In this formulary they made no mention of the substance of God, but
those are excommunicated who maintain that the Son arose out of what
had no previous existence, or that He is of Another hypostasis, and not
of God, or that there was a time or an age in which He existed not.
Eudoxius, who was still bishop of Germanicia, Martyrius, and
Macedonius, carried this document, but the Western priests did not
entertain it; for they declared that they felt fully satisfied with the
doctrines established at Nicæa, and thought it entirely
unnecessary to be too curious about such points.
After the Emperor Constans1247
| 1247Soc. ii. 20, but Soz. has other details.
|
had requested his brother to reinstate the followers of Athanasius in
their sees, and had found his application to be unavailing, on account
of the counteracting influence of those who adopted a hostile heresy;
and when, moreover, the party of Athanasius and Paul entreated Constans
to assemble a Synod on account of the plots for the abolition of
orthodox doctrines, both the emperors were of the opinion that the
bishops of the East and of the West should be convened on a certain day
at Sardica, a city of Illyria. The bishops of the East, who had
previously assembled at Philippopolis, a city of Thrace, wrote to the
bishops of the West, who had already assembled at Sardica, that they
would not join them, unless they would eject the followers of
Athanasius from their assembly, and from communion with them, because
they had been deposed. They afterwards went to Sardica, but declared
they would not enter the church, while those who had been deposed by
them were admitted thither. The bishops of the West replied, that they
never had ejected them, and that they would not yield this now,
particularly as Julius, bishop of Rome, after having investigated the
case, had not condemned them, and that besides, they were present and
ready to justify themselves and to refute again the offenses imputed to
them. These declarations, however, were of no avail; and since the time
they had appointed for the adjustment of their differences, concerning
which they had convened, had expired, they finally wrote letters to one
another on these points, and by these they were led to an increase of
their previous ill-will. And after they had convened separately, they
brought forward opposite decisions; for the Eastern bishops confirmed
the sentences they had already enacted against Athanasius, Paul,
Marcellus, and Asclepas, and deposed Julius, bishop of Rome, because he had been the first to admit
those who had been condemned by them, into communion; and Hosius, the
confessor, was also deposed, partly for the same reason, and partly
because he was the friend of Paulinus and Eustathius, the rulers of the
church in Antioch. Maximus, bishop of Treves, was deposed, because he
had been among the first who had received Paul into communion, and had
been the cause of his returning to Constantinople, and because he had
excluded from communion the Eastern bishops who had repaired to Gaul.
Besides the above, they likewise deposed Protogenes, bishop of Sardica,
and Gaudentius;1248
| 1248He was bishop of Naïssus in Mœsia
Superior.
|
the one because he favored Marcellus, although he had previously
condemned him, and the other because he had adopted a different line of
conduct from that of Cyriacus, his predecessor, and had supported many
individuals then deposed by them. After issuing these sentences, they
made known to the bishops of every region, that they were not to hold
communion with those who were deposed, and that they were not to write
to them, nor to receive letters from them. They likewise commanded them
to believe what was said concerning God in the formulary which they
subjoined to their letter, and in which no mention was made of the term
“consubstantial,” but in which, those were excommunicated
who said there are three Gods, or that Christ is not God, or that the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the same, or that the Son is
unbegotten, or that there was a time or an age in which He existed
not.1249
| 1249This section concerning the Synod of the Eastern
bishops is probably from Sabinus. Cf. Hil. Frag. iii.
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