Amphilochius of Iconium, Synodal Letter

Epistula synodalis

Synodal Letter of Amphilochius, bishop of Iconium.

Even before we received the letters from your love, report had announced to us both the sincerity of your faith and its array against dangers and its endurance in sufferings for Christ and your love for God and the certainty of future hope in you. And since we have also encountered the letters of your piety, we have seen truly the character of an apostolic church and the zeal of good shepherds and an unwearying diligence befitting true Christians. For that you neither took into account the length of the journey nor brought your inquiries separately, but made the request jointly through your letters, has made us very hopeful that, having written in harmony, you will also receive the answers from us in harmony; and we have received the unanimity in your letters as a kind of prelude to a more perfect unanimity. And it was indeed our prayer to receive the most wonderful Bishop Basil, who is named with all reverence, as present at the synod and as a participant, or rather as a leader in the matters concerning you. But since an overwhelming bodily illness prevented him from arriving, it is indeed a mark of your perfect love not to overlook the letters of our humble self. However, we have not permitted your holy church to be deprived of his voice; but having his treatise labored by him specifically on this subject, we have him speaking in harmony with us through his writing. What then is the answer to the inquiry? We acknowledge the holy synod of the fathers in Nicaea as a truly catholic and apostolic synod, and we keep the faith set forth by the fathers at that time unshaken and I pray that it remain inviolate forever. It was then more necessary for the fathers to explain more broadly about the glory of the Only-begotten, since at that time they were zealous to cut out the newly sprouted heresy of Arius, destroying its first seeds before the thorn could become completely rough. But since the question concerning the Spirit was passed over in silence at that time, for this reason they added nothing more broadly; however, for those who read intelligently, the teaching concerning the Spirit in that creed is sufficient. Just as they dogmatized to believe in the Father and the Son, so also to believe in the Spirit, neither introducing some other nature to the divine and blessed Trinity nor cutting off anything from the Trinity in the exposition of the faith. But since Satan has recently attempted to throw the churches into confusion and instilled in some a hesitation concerning the Spirit, it is necessary to run back to the source of the faith from which the fathers at Nicaea also drew when they made the exposition of the faith. What then is the perfection of our faith? The tradition of the Lord which after the resurrection from the dead He enjoined upon His holy disciples, commanding: Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is clear that we received the commandment not only to baptize in this way, but also to make disciples in this way, so that through this commandment both the disease of Sabellius is shut out, the three hypostases having been clearly handed down to us, and the mouths of the Anomoeans and of the Arians and of the Pneumatomachi are stopped, since three persons and hypostases are indicated, but one nature and godhead is confessed. It is necessary, therefore, for us to baptize as

Epistula synodalis

Ἀμφιλοχίου ἐπισκόπου Ἰκονίου ἐπιστολὴ συνοδική.

Καὶ πρὶν κομίζεσθαι τὰ παρὰ τῆς ἀγάπης ὑμῶν γράμματα, περιήγγειλεν εἰς ἡμᾶς ἡ φήμη καὶ τὸ τῆς πίστεως ὑμῶν ἀκραιφνὲς καὶ πρὸς τοὺς κινδύνους παρατεταμένον καὶ πρὸς τὰ παθήματα τὰ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ καρτερικὸν καὶ τῆς εἰς θεὸν ἀγάπης καὶ τὸ τῆς μελλούσης ἐλπίδος ἐν ὑμῖν βέβαιον. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ τοῖς γράμμασι τῆς εὐλαβείας ὑμῶν ἐντετυχήκαμεν, εἴδομεν ὄντως ἐκκλησίας ἀποστολικῆς χαρακτῆρα καὶ ποιμένων ἀγαθῶν ζῆλον καὶ σπουδὴν ἄοκνον ἀληθινοῖς χριστιανοῖς πρέπουσαν. Τὸ γὰρ μήτε τῆς ὁδοῦ μῆκος ὑπολογίσασθαι μήτε διεσπασμένως τὰς πεύσεις προσα γαγεῖν, ἀλλὰ κοινῇ διὰ τῶν γραμμάτων ποιήσασθαι τὴν ἐρώτη σιν, λίαν ἡμᾶς εὐέλπιδας πεποίηκεν ὅτι συμφώνως ἐπιστείλαντες συμφώνως καὶ τὰς ἀποκρίσεις παρ' ἡμῶν δέξασθε· καὶ οἷόν τι προοίμιον τῆς τελειοτέρας ὁμονοίας τὴν ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν ὑμῶν ὁμόνοιαν ἐδεξάμεθα. Καὶ δι' εὐχῆς μὲν ἦν ἡμῖν καὶ τὸν θαυμασιώ τατον καὶ μετὰ πάσης αἰδοῦς ὀνομαζόμενον ἐπίσκοπον Βασί λειον καὶ παρόντα δέξασθαι τῇ συνόδῳ καὶ κοινωνόν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἔξαρχον τῶν πρὸς ὑμᾶς πραγμάτων ἔχειν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐκεῖνον ἀρρωστία σώματος ὑπερβάλλουσα πρὸς τὴν ἄφιξιν διεκώλυ σεν, τελείας μέν ἐστιν ἀγάπης ὑμῶν μήτε τὰ τῆς ἡμετέρας βραχύτητος παριδεῖν γράμματα. Οὐ μέντοι τὴν ἁγίαν ὑμῶν ἐκκλησίαν ἄμοιρον καὶ τῆς ἐκείνου φωνῆς περιείδομεν· ἀλλ' ἔχοντες αὐτοῦ σύγγραμμα περὶ ταύτης ἰδικῶς αὐτῷ τῆς ὑποθέσεως πεπονημένον κἀκεῖνον διὰ τοῦ γράμματος ἔχομεν ἡμῖν συμφθεγγόμενον. Τίς οὖν ἡ πρὸς τὴν πεῦσιν ἀπόκρισις; Τὴν ἁγίαν σύνοδον τῶν πατέρων τῶν ἐν Νικαίᾳ σύνοδον ὄντως καθολικὴν καὶ ἀποστολικὴν γνωρίζομεν, καὶ πίστιν τὴν ἐκτεθεῖσαν ὑπὸ τῶν πατέρων τηνικαῦτα φυλάττομεν ἀκίνητον καὶ πρὸς τὸ διηνεκὲς ἀσπάρακτον μένειν εὔχομαι. Γέγονε δὲ τότε τοῖς πατράσιν ἀναγ καιότερον πλατύτερον ἐξηγήσασθαι περὶ τῆς δόξης τοῦ μονογε νοῦς, ἐπειδὴ τότε νεωστὶ φυομένην τὴν αἵρεσιν τοῦ Ἀρείου διὰ σπουδῆς ἔσχον ἐκκόψαι τὰ πρῶτα αὐτῆς προαναιροῦντες σπέρ ματα, πρὶν τελέως ἐκτραχυνθῆναι τὴν ἄκανθαν. Σεσιγημένου δὲ τηνικαῦτα τοῦ κατὰ τὸ πνεῦμα ζητήματος διὰ τοῦτο πλατύτερον μὲν οὐδὲν προσέθεσαν· τοῖς μέντοι γε συνετῶς ἀναγινώσκουσιν αὐτάρκης καὶ ἡ περὶ τοῦ πνεύματος ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ πίστει διδασκα λία. Ὥσπερ εἰς πατέρα καὶ υἱὸν πιστεύειν, οὕτω καὶ εἰς τὸ πνεῦμα πιστεύειν ἐδογμάτισαν, μήτε ἑτέραν τινὰ φύσιν ἐπεισάγοντες τῇ θείᾳ καὶ μακαρίᾳ τριάδι μήτε τι τῶν ἐκ τῆς τριάδος ἀποτέμνοντες εἰς τὴν τῆς πίστεως ἔκθεσιν. Ἐπεὶ δὲ πρόσφατον ὁ σατανᾶς διασαλεύειν τὰς ἐκκλησίας ἐπιχειρῶν ἐνέβαλέ τισι περὶ τοῦ πνεύματος δισταγμόν, ἀναγκαῖον ἐπὶ τὴν πηγὴν ἀνατρέχειν τῆς πίστεως ἐξ ἧς καὶ οἱ κατὰ Νίκαιαν πατέρες ἀναρυσάμενοι τὴν ἔκθεσιν τῆς πίστεως ἐποίησαν. Τίς οὖν ἡμῶν ἡ τῆς πίστεως τελειότης; Ἡ τοῦ κυρίου παράδοσις ἣν μετὰ τὴν ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀνάστασιν τοῖς ἁγίοις αὐτοῦ μαθηταῖς ἐνετείλατο προστάξας· Πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος. ∆ῆλον ὅτι τὴν ἐντολὴν ἐδεξάμεθα οὐ μόνον εἰς τὸ βαπτίζειν οὕτως, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὸ μαθητεύειν οὕτως, ὡς διὰ ταύτης τῆς ἐντολῆς καὶ τὴν Σαβελλίου νόσον ἀποκλεισθῆναι τῶν τριῶν ὑποστάσεων καθαρῶς ἡμῖν παραδοθεισῶν, καὶ τῶν Ἀνο μοίων καὶ τῶν Ἀρειανῶν καὶ τῶν Πνευματομάχων ἐμφραγῆναι τὰ στόματα τῶν μὲν προσώπων καὶ τῶν ὑποστάσεων τριῶν δηλου μένων, τῆς δὲ φύσεως καὶ τῆς θεότητος μιᾶς ὁμολογηθείσης. Ἀνάγκη τοίνυν οὕτως ἡμᾶς βαπτίζειν ὡς