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But when the emperor arrived for the ordination of Paul (for he happened to be away at the time), he was angry that the episcopate had been entrusted to an unworthy man. And through the plotting of those who were hostile to Paul, he convened a synod, drove him from the church, and handed over the throne of Constantinople to Eusebius, the bishop of Nicomedia. 3.5.1 And having done these things, he came to Antioch in Syria. Now that the church there had been completed, which Constantine, while still alive, had begun to build, using his son Constantius as his minister, being extraordinary in size and beauty, it seemed a good time to Eusebius and his party, who had long desired this, 3.5.2 for a synod to be held. They indeed, and others of the same mind with them, numbering ninety-seven bishops, then assembled at Antioch from various places, on the pretext of dedicating the new church, but as the result showed, for the purpose of altering the decrees of Nicaea. At that time Placetus, after Euphronius, presided over the church of Antioch, and it was the fifth 3.5.3 year after the death of Constantine the Great. When all the bishops had assembled, and the emperor Constantius was also present, the majority were indignant and severely accused Athanasius of having disregarded the ecclesiastical canon which they themselves had established, and of having retaken the church of Alexandria before being permitted by a synod. On this account, they also alleged that he was the cause of the death of citizens, since when he entered the city, a sedition was stirred up and many 3.5.4 were killed, and others were handed over to the courts. And when a very great slander had been woven against Athanasius by such words, they voted for Gregory to preside over the church of Alexandria. 3.5.5 From this, they then moved on to the investigation of the dogma, and while they found no fault with the decrees of Nicaea, they sent letters to the bishops of each city, in which they declared that, being bishops, they had not followed Arius (for how could they, when he was a presbyter?), but having become examiners of his faith, they had rather received him, and that they believed according to the faith handed down from the beginning. 3.5.6 This was the one which they subjoined to their letter, making no mention at all of the substance of the Father or of the Son, or of the name homoousios, but was ambiguous in its concepts, so that neither those who held the views of Arius nor those who followed the synod of Nicaea could object to the arrangement of the words as being unknown to the sacred scriptures. 3.5.7 For having omitted what each party did not accept, they set down in this creed the terms acknowledged by both; for they confessed that the Son is with the Father and is only-begotten and is God and exists before all things, and has taken on flesh and has fulfilled the Father's will, and the other things they similarly confessed; but whether 3.5.8 he is co-eternal and consubstantial with the Father or the opposite, they did not write. But, 3.5.8 as it seems, regretting this creed, they put forth another besides this one, which in other respects, I think, agreed with the dogma of those who assembled at Nicaea, unless some meaning unknown to me is hidden in the words; but I do not know why, having declined to call the Son consubstantial, they declared him to be unchangeable and unalterable in his divinity, the exact image of the substance and will and power and glory, and the firstborn of all creation. 3.5. And they said they had found this creed written in the own hand of Lucian, who was martyred in Nicomedia, a man most highly esteemed in other respects and who had accurately studied the sacred scriptures to the utmost; but whether they said this truly, or were dignifying their own writing with the authority of the martyr, I cannot say. 3.5.10 And there took part in this synod not only Eusebius, who after Paul was expelled moved from Nicomedia and held the throne of Constantinople, but also Acacius the successor of Eusebius Pamphili, and Patrophilus of Scythopolis, and Theodore of Heraclea, which was formerly called Perinthus, and Eudoxius of Germanicia, who afterwards with Macedonius

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δὲ τὴν Παύλου χειροτονίαν παραγενόμενος ὁ βασιλεύς (ἔτυχε γὰρ τότε ἀπό3.4.3 δημος) ἐχαλέπαινεν ὡς ἀναξίῳ τῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἐπιτραπείσης. ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς τε τῶν πρὸς Παῦλον ἀπεχθανομένων σύνοδον καθίσας, τὸν μὲν ἀπεώσατο τῆς ἐκκλησίας, Εὐσεβίῳ δὲ τῷ Νικομηδείας ἐπισκόπῳ τὸν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως θρόνον παρέδωκε. 3.5.1 Καὶ ὁ μὲν τάδε πράξας εἰς ᾿Αντιόχειαν τῆς Συρίας ἧκεν. ἤδη δὲ ἐξεργασθείσης τῆς ἐνθάδε ἐκκλησίας, ἣν μεγέθει καὶ κάλλει ὑπερφυᾶ ἔτι περιὼν Κωνσταντῖνος, ὑπουργῷ χρησάμενος Κωνσταντίῳ τῷ παιδί, οἰκοδομεῖν ἤρξατο, εἰς καιρὸν ἔδοξε τοῖς ἀμφὶ τὸν Εὐσέβιον πάλαι τοῦτο σπουδάζουσι 3.5.2 σύνοδον γενέσθαι. οἳ δὴ τότε καὶ ἕτεροι τῶν τὰ αὐτὰ φρονούντων αὐτοῖς εἰς ἐνενήκοντα καὶ ἑπτὰ τελοῦντες ἐπισκόπους πολλαχόθεν εἰς ᾿Αντιόχειαν συνῆλθον, προφάσει μὲν ἐπὶ ἀφιερώσει τῆς νεουργοῦ ἐκκλησίας, ὡς δὲ τὸ ἀποβὰν ἔδειξεν, ἐπὶ μεταποιήσει τῶν ἐν Νικαίᾳ δοξάντων. ἡγεῖτο δὲ τηνικαῦτα τῆς ᾿Αντιοχέων ἐκκλησίας Πλάκητος μετὰ Εὐφρόνιον, πέμπτον δὲ 3.5.3 ἔτος ἠνύετο ἀπὸ τῆς Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ μεγάλου τελευτῆς. ἐπεὶ δὲ πάντες οἱ ἐπίσκοποι συνῆλθον, παρῆν δὲ καὶ ὁ βασιλεὺς Κωνστάντιος, ἠγανάκτουν οἱ πλείους καὶ δεινῶς ᾿Αθανάσιον ἐπῃτιῶντο ὡς ἱερατικὸν ὑπεριδόντα θεσμόν, ὃν αὐτοὶ ἔθεντο, καὶ πρὶν ἐπιτραπῆναι παρὰ συνόδου τὴν ᾿Αλεξανδρέων ἐκκλησίαν ἀπολαβόντα. ἐκ τούτου δὲ καὶ θανάτου πολιτῶν αἴτιον αὐτὸν ἔλεγον ὡς, ἡνίκα εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἰσῄει, στάσεως κινηθείσης καὶ πολλῶν 3.5.4 μὲν ἀναιρεθέντων, τῶν δὲ δικαστηρίοις παραδοθέντων. μεγίστης τε διαβολῆς ὑπὸ τοιούτων λόγων κατὰ ᾿Αθανασίου ὑφανθείσης ἐψηφίσαντο Γρηγόριον τῆς ᾿Αλεξανδρέων ἐκκλησίας προστατεῖν. 3.5.5 ᾿Εκ τούτου δὲ μεταβάντες εἰς τὴν περὶ τοῦ δόγματος ζήτησιν τοῖς μὲν ἐν Νικαίᾳ δόξασιν οὐδὲν ἐμέμψαντο, γράμματα δὲ διεπέμψαντο τοῖς κατὰ πόλιν ἐπισκόποις, οἷς ἐδήλωσαν, ὡς ἐπίσκοποι ὄντες οὐκ ἠκολούθησαν ᾿Αρείῳ (πῶς γὰρ πρεσβυτέρῳ ὄντι;), δοκιμασταὶ δὲ γενόμενοι τῆς πίστεως αὐτοῦ μᾶλλον αὐτὸν προσήκαντο, πιστεύειν δὲ σφᾶς κατὰ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς παραδο3.5.6 θεῖσαν πίστιν. εἶναι δὲ ταύτην ἣν ὑπέταξαν τῇ αὐτῶν ἐπιστολῇ, οὐσίας μὲν πατρὸς ἢ υἱοῦ ἢ τοῦ ὁμοουσίου ὀνόματος μηδαμῶς μεμνημένην, ἐπαμφοτερίζουσαν δὲ ταῖς ἐννοίαις, ὡς μήτε τοὺς τὰ ᾿Αρείου φρονοῦντας μήτε τοὺς ἑπομένους τῇ ἐν Νικαίᾳ συνόδῳ δύνασθαι τῇ συντάξει τῶν ῥημάτων ἐπισκήπ3.5.7 τειν ὡς ἀγνώστων ταῖς ἱεραῖς γραφαῖς. παραλιπόντες γάρ, ἅπερ ἑκάτεροι οὐ προσίεντο, τὰ παρ' ἑκατέρων ὁμολογούμενα τεθείκασιν ὀνόματα ταύτῃ τῇ γραφῇ· συνεῖναι μὲν γὰρ τὸν υἱὸν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ μονογενῆ καὶ θεὸν εἶναι καὶ πρὸ πάντων ὑπάρχειν, σάρκα τε ἀνειληφέναι καὶ τὴν πατρῴαν πεπληρωκέναι βουλήν, καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὁμοίως συνωμολόγησαν· πότερον δὲ 3.5.8 συναΐδιος καὶ ὁμοούσιός ἐστι τῷ πατρὶ ἢ τοὐναντίον, οὐκ ἐνέγραψαν. με3.5.8 ταμεληθέντες δὲ ὡς ἔοικεν ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ γραφῇ, πάλιν ἑτέραν παρὰ ταύτην ἐξέθεντο, τὰ μὲν ἄλλα, ὡς οἶμαι, συνᾴδουσαν τῷ δόγματι τῶν ἐν Νικαίᾳ συνελθόντων, εἰ μή τις ἐμοὶ ἄδηλος διάνοια τοῖς ῥητοῖς ἀφανῶς ἔγκειται· οὐκ οἶδα δὲ ἀνθ' ὅτου ὁμοούσιον εἰπεῖν τὸν υἱὸν παραιτησάμενοι ἄτρεπτόν τε καὶ ἀναλλοίωτον τῆς θεότητος ἀπεφήναντο, οὐσίας τε καὶ βουλῆς καὶ δυνάμεως καὶ δόξης ἀπαράλλακτον εἰκόνα καὶ πρωτότοκον πάσης κτίσεως. 3.5. ἔλεγον δὲ ταύτην τὴν πίστιν ὁλόγραφον εὑρηκέναι Λουκιανοῦ τοῦ ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ μαρτυρήσαντος, ἀνδρὸς τά τε ἄλλα εὐδοκιμωτάτου καὶ τὰς ἱερὰς γραφὰς εἰς ἄκρον ἠκριβωκότος· πότερον δὲ ἀληθῶς ταῦτα ἔφασαν ἢ τὴν ἰδίαν γραφὴν σεμνοποιοῦντες τῷ ἀξιώματι τοῦ μάρτυρος, λέγειν οὐκ ἔχω. 3.5.10 Μετέσχον δὲ ταύτης τῆς συνόδου οὐ μόνον Εὐσέβιος, ὃς μετὰ Παῦλον ἐκβεβλημένον ἐκ Νικομηδείας μεταστὰς τὸν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως εἶχε θρόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ᾿Ακάκιος ὁ Εὐσεβίου τοῦ Παμφίλου διάδοχος καὶ Πατρόφιλος ὁ Σκυθοπόλεως καὶ Θεόδωρος ὁ ῾Ηρακλείας τῆς πρὶν Περίνθου ὀνομαζομένης, Εὐδόξιός τε ὁ Γερμανικείας, ὃς ὕστερον μετὰ Μακεδόνιον