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I will not hide the truth) we were grieved over him with an unbearable grief, along with many in our country who fear the Lord, over the signing of the creed, that was brought from Constantinople by the party of George. Then, as was his way, being disposed to satisfy all with gentleness of manner and reasonableness in fatherly compassion, having already fallen into the illness from which he also departed from this life, he summoned us and said, with the Lord as his witness, that he had agreed to the document from Constantinople, but had decided nothing for the setting aside of the creed set forth by the holy Fathers at Nicaea; nor did he hold otherwise in his heart than as he had received from the beginning, but also prayed not to be separated from the company of those blessed bishops, the three hundred and eighteen, who announced the pious proclamation to the inhabited world; so that we, having resolved all division from our hearts, might come to communion and cease from grieving. Such then was our relationship with the man. But if anyone says that we have consented to any blasphemy against him, let him not murmur it servilely in a corner, but let him stand forth openly and refute it with boldness.

52.t CANONICALS

52.1 Just as a grievous rumor which resounded in our ears distressed us before, so has the most God-beloved bishop, our brother Bosporius, gladdened us by recounting the better things concerning your reverence. For he said that, by the grace of God, all those rumored things are fabrications of men who do not accurately know the truth concerning you. He added that he also found among you impious slanders against us, and of such a kind as would be spoken by those who do not expect to give an account for an idle word to the Judge on the day of His just recompense. And so I thanked the Lord that I myself was healed of the injury concerning you, which, it seems, I had accepted from the slander of men, and that I heard that you have put away the false suspicions about us, from what you heard from our brother who gave assurance; who, in what he presented to you concerning himself, certainly also demonstrated our own position. For the mind of faith is one in both of us, since we are also heirs of the same Fathers who at Nicaea once proclaimed the great kerygma of piety; all other parts of which can be learned without slander, but the term 'homoousios', having been badly understood by some, there are some who have not yet accepted; whom one might justly blame and yet again deem them worthy of forgiveness. For not to follow the Fathers and to place their voice as more authoritative than one’s own opinion is worthy of accusation, as it is full of self-will; but again, to hold it suspect, having been slandered by others, this in a way seems to free them moderately from the accusation. For in fact, those who assembled in the case of Paul of Samosata slandered the word as not having a good meaning. For they said that the term 'homoousios' presents the idea of both a substance and the things from it, so that the substance being divided up gives the name 'homoousios' to the things into which it was divided. And this notion has some reason in the case of bronze and the coins made from it, but in the case of God the Father and God the Son, no substance older than or set over both is contemplated; for to think and to utter this is beyond impiety. For what could be older than the Unbegotten? And from this blasphemy the faith in the Father and the Son is also destroyed; for things subsisting from one are siblings to one another. 52.2 And since at that time there were still those who said that the Son was brought into being out of non-existence, in order that they might cut out this impiety also, the 'homoousion'

51

ἀποκρύψομαι τἀληθές) ἐλυπήθημεν ἐπ' αὐτῷ λύπην οὐκ ἀνεκτήν, μετὰ πολλῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ πατρίδι φοβουμένων τὸν Κύριον, ἐπὶ τῇ ὑπογραφῇ τῆς πίστεως, τῆς ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Γεώργιον ἀπὸ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως κομισθείσης. Εἶτα, οἷος ἐκεῖνος πραότητι τρόπου καὶ ἐπιεικείᾳ πάντας πληροφορεῖν ἐν σπλάγχνοις πατρικοῖς ἀνεχόμενος, ἤδη καταπεσὼν εἰς τὴν ἀρρωστίαν ὑφ' ἧς καὶ μετῆλθεν ἀπὸ τοῦ βίου, προσκα λεσάμενος ἡμᾶς ἔφη ὑπὸ μάρτυρι τῷ Κυρίῳ συντεθεῖσθαι μὲν τῷ ἀπὸ Κωνσταντινουπόλεως γραμματείῳ, μηδὲν δὲ ἐπ' ἀθετήσει τῆς κατὰ Νικαίαν ὑπὸ τῶν ἁγίων Πατέρων ἐκτεθείσης πίστεως προελέσθαι· μηδὲ ἄλλως ἔχειν ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ἢ ὡς παρέλαβεν ἐξ ἀρχῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ εὔχεσθαι μὴ χωρισθῆναι τῆς μερίδος τῶν μακαρίων ἐκείνων ἐπισκόπων, τῶν τριακοσίων δέκα καὶ ὀκτώ, τῶν τὸ εὐσεβὲς κήρυγμα διαγγειλάντων τῇ οἰκουμένῃ· ὥστε ἡμᾶς, λύσαντας πᾶσαν τῶν καρδιῶν τὴν διάκρισιν, προσελθεῖν τῇ κοινωνίᾳ καὶ λυπουμένους παύσασθαι. Τὰ μὲν οὖν ἡμέτερα πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα τοιαῦτα. Εἰ δέ τις λέγοι τινὰ βλασφημίαν εἰς αὐτὸν ἡμῖν συνεγνωκέναι, μὴ κατὰ γωνίαν θρυλείτω δουλοπρε πῶς, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ φανερὸν ἀντικαταστὰς διελεγχέτω μετὰ παρρησίας.

52.τ ΚΑΝΟΝΙΚΑΙΣ

52.1 Ὅσον ἠνίασεν ἡμᾶς πρότερον φήμη λυπηρὰ τὰς ἀκοὰς ἡμῶν

περιηχήσασα, τοσοῦτον ηὔφρανεν ἡμᾶς ὁ θεοφιλέσ τατος ἐπίσκοπος, ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν Βοσπόριος, τὰ χρη στότερα τῆς εὐλαβείας ὑμῶν διηγησάμενος. Ἔφη γὰρ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάριτι πάντα ἐκεῖνα τὰ θρυληθέντα ἀνθρώπων εἶναι κατασκευάσματα οὐκ ἀκριβῶς τὴν καθ' ὑμᾶς ἐπι σταμένων ἀλήθειαν. Προσεπετίθει δὲ ὅτι καὶ διαβολὰς εὗρε παρ' ὑμῖν καθ' ἡμῶν ἀνοσίας καὶ τοιαύτας οἵας εἴποιεν ἂν οἱ μὴ ἐκδεχόμενοι καὶ περὶ ἀργοῦ ῥήματος δώσειν λόγον τῷ Κριτῇ ἐν ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἀνταποδόσεως αὐτοῦ τῆς δικαίας. Ὥστε ηὐχαρίστησα τῷ Κυρίῳ αὐτός τε ἰαθεὶς τὴν ἐφ' ὑμῖν βλάβην, ἥν, ὡς ἔοικεν, ἐκ συκοφαντίας ἀνθρώπων ἤμην παραδεξάμενος, ὑμᾶς τε ἀκούσας ἀποτε θεῖσθαι τὰς ψευδεῖς περὶ ἡμῶν ὑπολήψεις, ἐξ ὧν ἠκού σατε τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἡμῶν βεβαιωσαμένου· ὃς ἐν οἷς τὸ καθ' ἑ αυτὸν ὑμῖν παρέστησε συναπέδειξε πάντως καὶ τὸ ἡμέ τερον. Ἓν γὰρ ἐν ἀμφοτέροις ἡμῖν τὸ τῆς πίστεως φρόνημα, ἐπειδὴ καὶ τῶν αὐτῶν Πατέρων κληρονόμοι τῶν κατὰ τὴν Νικαίαν ποτὲ τὸ μέγα τῆς εὐσεβείας ἐξαγγει λάντων κήρυγμα· οὗ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα πάντα μαθεῖν ἐστιν ἀσυκοφάντητα, τὴν δὲ τοῦ ὁμοουσίου φωνήν, κακῶς παρά τινων ἐκληφθεῖσαν, εἰσί τινες οἱ μήπω παραδεξάμενοι· οὓς καὶ μέμψαιτο ἄν τις δικαίως καὶ πάλιν μέντοι συγγνώ μης αὐτοὺς ἀξιώσειεν. Τὸ μὲν γὰρ Πατράσι μὴ ἀκολουθεῖν καὶ τὴν ἐκείνων φωνὴν κυριωτέραν τίθεσθαι τῆς ἑαυτῶν γνώμης ἐγκλήματος ἄξιον, ὡς αὐθαδείας γέμον· τὸ δὲ πάλιν ὑφ' ἑτέρων διαβληθεῖσαν αὐτὴν ὕποπτον ἔχειν, τοῦτο δή πως δοκεῖ τοῦ ἐγκλήματος αὐτοὺς μετρίως ἐλευθεροῦν. Καὶ γὰρ τῷ ὄντι οἱ ἐπὶ Παύλῳ τῷ Σαμοσατεῖ συνελθόντες διέβαλον τὴν λέξιν ὡς οὐκ εὔσημον. Ἔφασαν γὰρ ἐκεῖνοι τὴν τοῦ ὁμοουσίου φωνὴν παριστᾶν ἔννοιαν οὐσίας τε καὶ τῶν ἀπ' αὐτῆς, ὥστε καταμερισθεῖσαν τὴν οὐσίαν παρέχειν τοῦ ὁμοουσίου τὴν προσηγορίαν τοῖς εἰς ἃ διῃρέθη. Τοῦτο δὲ ἐπὶ χαλκοῦ μὲν καὶ τῶν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ νομισμάτων ἔχει τινὰ λόγον τὸ διανόημα, ἐπὶ Θεοῦ δὲ Πατρὸς καὶ Θεοῦ Υἱοῦ οὐκ οὐσία πρεσβυτέρα οὐδ' ὑπερκειμένη ἀμφοῖν θεωρεῖται· ἀσεβείας γὰρ ἐπέκεινα τοῦτο καὶ νοῆσαι καὶ φθέγξασθαι. Τί γὰρ ἂν γένοιτο τοῦ ἀγεννήτου πρεσβύτερον; Ἀναιρεῖται δὲ ἐκ τῆς βλασφημίας ταύτης καὶ ἡ εἰς τὸν Πατέρα καὶ Υἱὸν πίστις· ἀδελφὰ γὰρ ἀλλήλοις τὰ ἐξ ἑνὸς ὑφεστῶτα. 52.2 Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐξ οὐκ ὄντων εἰς τὸ εἶναι παρῆχθαι τὸν Υἱὸν ἔτι τότε ἦσαν οἱ λέγοντες, ἵνα καὶ ταύτην ἐκτέμωσι τὴν ἀσέβειαν, τὸ ὁμοούσιον